Buddy, can you spare a dime?
November 5, 2013
Perhaps I am alone in this but maybe, just maybe, there are others out there who are fed up of hearing just how hard the ministry is. Indeed, the 'ministry is hard and dangerous' style of writing is almost a genre in itself these days.
The latest addition to the Ministry Hall of Pain comes from Mark Driscoll. The article is interesting as a sign of the times. For years I have pointed out to students that the 'I was dragged into ministry kicking and screaming' line has been a staple of ministerial testimonies since at least Gregory of Nazianzus (with Calvin being perhaps the most obvious example). In recent times, however, that cliche seems to have been replaced with the 'As a pastor, I have received death threats' narrative as a means of helping to give the story a touch of authenticity. This article does not disappoint on that score.
Such threats are no doubt nasty and frightening. But does the wider world need to know about them? Does placing such knowledge in the public sphere serve to do anything other than enhance our own delusions of importance?
More to the point, is ministry --- particularly well-paid ministry in a large, vibrant church --- really that hard? Perhaps it is. But is it as hard as working in the secular world, where one's faith might be subject to ridicule on a daily basis and where one might actually lose one's promotion or even position because of one's Christian convictions? Is preparing sermons as hard and boring and depressing as working in a dead-end job on a shop floor somewhere? Is such well-paid ministry as mega church pastors enjoy as depressing or worrying or even frightening as working for minimum wage and fretting about how to pay this month's bills? I very much doubt it. It seems to me that many of us work in churches where we as ministers are among those most protected from the harsh realities and dangers of life in a post-Christian world. So we should not flatter ourselves about how hard and dangerous our calling is.
Perhaps it is time for those of us who have ministerial jobs which we by and large enjoy and
which actually shield us from much of the aggressively secular world out there to spend less time puffing ourselves up as martyrs to a cause or as danger men living risky lives on the edge and instead give thanks for the comparatively easy green pastures in which we have been allowed to lie down.
The latest addition to the Ministry Hall of Pain comes from Mark Driscoll. The article is interesting as a sign of the times. For years I have pointed out to students that the 'I was dragged into ministry kicking and screaming' line has been a staple of ministerial testimonies since at least Gregory of Nazianzus (with Calvin being perhaps the most obvious example). In recent times, however, that cliche seems to have been replaced with the 'As a pastor, I have received death threats' narrative as a means of helping to give the story a touch of authenticity. This article does not disappoint on that score.
Such threats are no doubt nasty and frightening. But does the wider world need to know about them? Does placing such knowledge in the public sphere serve to do anything other than enhance our own delusions of importance?
More to the point, is ministry --- particularly well-paid ministry in a large, vibrant church --- really that hard? Perhaps it is. But is it as hard as working in the secular world, where one's faith might be subject to ridicule on a daily basis and where one might actually lose one's promotion or even position because of one's Christian convictions? Is preparing sermons as hard and boring and depressing as working in a dead-end job on a shop floor somewhere? Is such well-paid ministry as mega church pastors enjoy as depressing or worrying or even frightening as working for minimum wage and fretting about how to pay this month's bills? I very much doubt it. It seems to me that many of us work in churches where we as ministers are among those most protected from the harsh realities and dangers of life in a post-Christian world. So we should not flatter ourselves about how hard and dangerous our calling is.
Perhaps it is time for those of us who have ministerial jobs which we by and large enjoy and
which actually shield us from much of the aggressively secular world out there to spend less time puffing ourselves up as martyrs to a cause or as danger men living risky lives on the edge and instead give thanks for the comparatively easy green pastures in which we have been allowed to lie down. 
