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I just read a terrifying article. Nothing wrong with the article. The content was dead on, and I knew it as soon as I saw it. You might want to read it, too, if you are a part of a church. If you are a pastor, you should read it and then share it with the people who hold you up when you feel like you are falling apart.

Ministry Best Practices: The Most Dangerous Jobs

They bring out some serious points. Ministers are quitting their jobs over the same things all across the country. Forty percent of us seem to be having issues with problem members at least once a month.

And the number one reason we leave ministry is the constant battle of convincing congregations that we aren’t crazy.

The #1 reason pastors leave the ministry is that church people are not willing to go the same direction and goal of the pastor. Pastors believe God wants them to go in one direction but the people are not willing to follow or change.

But the real problem I see my colleagues facing has much more to do with the tasks we are sent to do and the support we rarely see to get those tasks done.

I took an informal poll consisting of myself as the sole respondent. The single question I asked myself was this: “How many of your friends used to be pastors in the United Methodist Church?”

The answer was a little frightening. I ran out of fingers to count on. As I reviewed the stories, I found myself wondering how many of them had been sent in to turn a church around, and were then abandoned when the church bristled at the notion of change.

When the issues are difficult, there’s a great deal of stress. Sometimes the easiest way to relieve the stress is to appoint the pastor elsewhere. But is that always the best way to resolve the issues? Sometimes, I wish that pastors were required to pitch their way out of a bad inning. Sometimes, I wish that church members were called into account for their bad behavior instead of moving the pastor to “protect” him or her.

Can a District Superintendent take care of the day-to-day work of the District and still manage a deteriorating conflict situation? Should they have to? I’m raising the call, again, for the formation of a team of volunteers to help resolve conflicts and arbitrate disagreements within local churches.

Granted, no pastor ever has the right to inflict harm upon a church. But when we do the task we were sent to do, someone is going to get their back up. And people can say and do horrible things when they are scared and stressed about changes as profound as a paradigm shift.

Do pastors make mistakes? Yes, we all do. Each year at the Memphis Annual Conference, my colleagues and I answer that we are blameless only because of God’s grace and help to live. I know we make mistakes all the time. We are human.

But there are limits to the ability of a human being to serve as the sole link between the local church and the expectations of the denomination.

When the expectations rise, I am committed to standing with the leaders I have called upon to make those changes. Pastors working in the current environment are asking, more loudly than ever, if they will have the same support from the Districts and Conferences they serve.