Mike Bonem
Dear board member / elder / deacon,
I want to share a secret with you. It’s not the kind of secret that is confidential. Rather, it’s the kind that is mostly invisible but needs to be brought to light. Especially for you and your peers on the board.
The secret is that the last 15 months have been very difficult for your pastor and other staff leaders in your church or ministry. We’ve heard a lot about the incredible stress on medical professionals, teachers, and front line workers. But we’ve heard very little about the toll on ministry leaders. You may be asking, “What toll? They scaled back during the pandemic.” So let’s take a closer look.
Leaders who previously found deep fulfillment in comforting church members that were suffering and grieving were forced to do their ministry remotely. Pastors accustomed to reading people’s faces as they preached have been forced to deliver sermons to a camera. A decision that could be made in 5 minutes pre-covid now takes over an hour, and often has to be revisited later. And any decision related to regathering can trigger intense scrutiny and sometimes nasty emails. These are just a few of the things they’re dealing with on the job, not to mention personal challenges like remote school for their children or serious covid cases in their families.
You may say, “Other pastors might be struggling, but ours seems to be OK.” While I hope that is the case, it is more likely that your pastor’s version of “OK” is more of a facade than a reality. Many pastors don’t want to burden the congregation with their problems, so they choose to suffer in silence.
If you’re thinking everything is fine now that the pandemic is receding, think again. There are still many questions about the future – programming decisions, financial uncertainties, staffing needs. The leaders charged with providing these answers are tired and frayed from the experiences of the last year.
I’m not blaming you for not knowing about the stress being carried by your pastor. The last year has probably been chaotic and busy for you as well. And your pastor could have been more forthcoming. You can’t be blamed for unintentional ignorance.
But now you know. And your knowledge calls for action. So here are three important questions you can ask your pastor or ministry leader:
- How is it with your soul?
- What plans have you made to rest and recharge this summer?
- How can we (as board members) help?
If the leader’s answer to any of these questions is evasive, ask again. Once you have real answers, let the Holy Spirit guide you to a plan that will demonstrate your care for your pastor and your church.
Mike, might I add to your list the stress of pitching in to help neighboring congregations, or sibling congregations in the same denomination, whose leaders have no idea how to do the technology, or, in my case, left during the pandemic. My observation and experience is that these congregations seldom acknowledge, let alone thank, the leaders who step into the gap for them. It is just seen as part of “being church’, and met with a sense of entitlement, rather than gratitude. It doubles the workload without much, or any, increase in compensation