To all who are churchgoers: Be gracious to your pastors.

In the span of two weeks I have had to make two major decisions with regards to church direction and I cannot imagine doing so without a committed staff team as well as encouraging members.

Many pastors, like me, are highly deliberative by nature and make decisions with great thought and care. In decision making, we need to address the needs of congregants while keeping an eye out for signs of fatigue in staff and volunteers.

The cultural expectations of what a modern day pastor is to be are excessive.

Pastors are expected to be biblical scholar, strategic planner, community organizer, counselor, therapist and executive director, all at the same time.

Since the events of 2020, it has been observed that there has been an increased number of pastors leaving or at least entertaining thoughts about leaving their ministry.

Sadly many of them do not leave because their sense of calling has changed or even because of the complexity of pastoring in these times.

Many leave because of a deep exhaustion and frustration that comes from strife and a lack of concern or support from within their own communities. The silence can be deafening.

There is much we can do, or not do, to further exacerbate the stress that is upon many faith leaders.

The weight of decision making, difficulty of making sense of the times and the need to manage polarising views from within can be overwhelming to say the least.

We can’t do much to improve or resolve the situation that is at hand. But there is much we can do, or not do, to further exacerbate the stress that is upon many faith leaders.

So as a pastor, on behalf of myself and my friends, I ask for grace.

This article was first published on Pastor Andre’s Facebook page and is republished with permission.