Church Leaders and Stress





I read in “Confessions of a Reformission Rev.” by Mark Discol that in the early days of Mars Hill Church that Mark was stressed out. While leading this church in the early days, stress had caused him to gain 40 pounds, given him an eye twitch, and very high blood pressure. According to his account, his blood pressure was so high he could have had a heart attack. Mark was only around 28 years old at the time. Now that is some heavy duty stress. Being in church leadership can create a lot of stress on a person; especially if you try to do it all on your own.

My job can leave me stressed out at times. I have even had my own eye twitch a time or two. I hate eye twitches, they are aggravating. I really need to manage the amount of stress I allow in my life. I have a history of mental breakdowns in my family so I try to keep things light. If stress gets higher than I can manage, I go for a hike or walk. Nature has always energized and relaxed me. In the last year, I’ve kept stress down my exercising more. I go to the gym during lunch and either walk the treadmill or ride the stationary bike and after work, I lift weights. This has reduced my stress level, my waist line, and weight. I’ve lost 30 pounds doing this and I have very little stress.

Knowing that God is in charge of the church helps keep the stress level down for me as a church leader. It’s not up to us leaders of the church to grow the attendance. God is the one who adds and takes away. He is the one who builds and destroys. It’s not us doing anything. It’s not God and us doing anything. It’s all about God and what He is doing in the church. If we can understand and accept this truth, more church leaders will not need to be on medications for stress and high blood pressure.

God has given us principles that are designed to help keep stress levels down. There is the office of Deacons so the Pastors can use their time studying God’s word. The deacons are to serve the tables and minister to the needy. The office of the Elders is designed to help Pastors lead the church. If Pastors equip their people to lead, a lot of what causes stress for a leader will decline.

I think the most important thing to remember in keeping stress down is that God will never give you more than you can handle. You don’t have to shoulder the burdens of leadership. Our shoulders aren’t designed to carry heavy weight. God’s shoulders are designed to handle all the weight in the world. Remember Matthew 11:29-30:
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

We don’t see yokes much these days. Jesus’ metaphor in this passage is unfamiliar to us in our time and culture. But in the first century, everyone knew what a yoke was and the purpose it served. Yokes were custom-made by carpenters to fit on the back of an ox so the animal could be harnessed for work. The better the yoke fit, the more productive the ox would be.

William Barclay, a great commentator, wrote that some carpenters in the first century may have hung signs outside their door that said, “My yokes fit well.” Carpenters were highly skilled at making a yoke that would fit an ox just right. Barclay also notes that when Jesus said, “My yoke is easy,” it could just as easily be translated, “My yoke fits well.”

Christ is the head of the church, and He will lead His church. Followers tend to have less stress because they are following the leader. Let’s follower after Christ and He will do His thing. His way of leadership is so much better than ours.

Stressed out? Remember to follow the Leader. Let God carrier the heavy burden of leadership of your church. After all, He gave His life for it.

[NOTE: Italicized taken from “Leadership from the Inside Out: Examining the Inner Life of a Healthy Church Leader’ by Kevin Harney, pages 173-174.]

18 Inches From Heaven

I’m reading a book about John Wesley’s life and the forming of the United Methodist Church. I’ve heard the name and sung his songs all my life so I wanted to read more about him. The most amazing thing I’ve learned is that John Wesley wasn’t a Christian when he came to the Gravesend colony in Georgia in 1735 to be a missionary. By his own account, he had a head knowledge and the rules of the Anglican Church but not a true conversion which is found only in Christ. On the voyage to America from England, his ship was caught in a great storm. With him on the ship was a group of Moravians (a German Protestant denomination) who did not seem to be afraid if the ship sunk because of the storm. When John Wesley asked why they weren’t afraid, the leader of the group told him that their entire group knew Christ as Savior and heaven awaited them when death does take them. The Moravians believed that faith in Christ alone is the way for salvation. This was too simple for John Wesley. In fact most of England thought this was too simple so the Moravians were on their way from Germany to the new world (America) to preach Christ. Through his friendship with this group’s Bishop (David Nitschman), John Wesley became to true Christian several years later. John Wesley took this new found message of salvation back to England and changed England and the world.

This part of John Wesley’s life reminds me of a phrase I heard my childhood pastor use many times; “Some people will miss heaven by 18 inches.” The meaning to this phrase means that people have a head knowledge of Christ and what He did on the cross, but never have received Him into their hearts and lives.

Test yourselves to see what you have. Do you only have a head knowledge or do you have Christ in your heart? Christ is the only way to heaven and He only is the way into heaven. John 14: 6 says, “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” You can’t work your way to heaven, it’s because of what Christ did for us on the cross that we have access to the Father and salvation. Ephesians 2:8 - 10 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Do you have true peace or just religion? Religion is spelled “DO.” Religion is based on what you think you most “DO” to enter heaven. True peace in Christ is spelled “DONE.” Our salvation is based on what Christ has “DONE” on the cross. Our hope is based on nothing less than Jesus blood and His righteousness. How far are you from entering the peace of heaven? Are you only 18 inches away? Stop putting your hope for eternal salvation on anything but Christ. If you say I have Jesus Christ and fill in the blink, you don’t have true salvation. True salvation is Christ alone. Examine yourself to see where you are on this matter.

In The Image of The Father

I was looking in a mirror the other day and saw my father looking back at me. As I get older I’m starting to look more like my earthly dad. I do have traits of my mom like my red hair, but for the most part, I’m starting to look more like my dad. I know that over the last few years I’m acting more like my father according to my wife; especially if I say or do something weird. She says, “You’re acting like your dad;” where I reply, “thank you.” As a child, I learned how to react to situations by watching my dad. I learned a lot of behaviors from him (good, bad, or indifferent).

I think that same should be said with our Heavenly Father. Since I am a child of God because of what Christ did on the cross, I have His spiritual DNA. As I grow older in the faith, I start to see Him in the way I act and talk. When I’m close to Him, my reactions are the way I see Him react in His Word (the Bible).

Most of who we are is set in our DNA; such as our physical appearance (hair color, eyes color, height, etc.). Our behavior is affected by our environment for the most part. Do I have a quick temper because of my red hair or the fact that over my life time I saw my father react with a quick temper more times than not? I do have a quick temper when not in the spiritual, but when I’m in the spirit I’m long suffering because of what I’ve learned by reading Psalm and Proverbs as a teenager. I’m who I am as a person due to a combination of my DNA and what I’ve learned by watching. The same is said as a Christian. I’m who I am in Christ because of Him rewriting my DNA and what I learned by reading His Word.

As Christians, we should be all about learning to be like Christ. That’s the meaning of the word “Christian;” Christ-like. He has given us His DNA when He drew us to Himself. When Christ saves us, He makes us part of His family. When we read the Bible, we see how He acts and reacts to different situations. He is the ultimate example of what we should be while on earth.

If you are like me, as a child I wanted to be just like my dad. I remember putting on his boots (huge compared to my feet) and walking around the house. I wanted to spend time with him and he with me. I remember dad watching the “Looney Tunes” with me. I truly thought that he loved watching them as much as I did, but years later he told me he wanted to be with me so he watched the show with me. As Christians, we are given God’s DNA and shown how to act in Him. Just as it took years of spending time with my dad for me to have a lot of his mannerisms, it takes time spending time with Christ to start to see Him in us. But before you know it, the similarities are undeniable.