Pastor Carey Nieuwhof (www.careynieuwhof.com), of Toronto, Canada, recently wrote an article titled, “5 Things Your Pastor Wishes He Could Tell You.” With his permission, here is an abbreviated version of his article:
If you’re like me, there are some things you just never get around to saying out loud. It’s not that you don’t want to … it’s just that you don’t. Yet saying them could help you and maybe even help scores of great people who are working so hard at your church. They might even make things … better. So here are five things I think most pastors wish they could tell their congregations:
1. I’m trying to step off the pedestal people keep putting me on.
I’m not better than anyone else. Really. I have never believed I’m better than anyone else. And I promise you, if we got to hang out more, it wouldn’t take long for you to see I don’t belong on a pedestal either.
I’m not in ministry because I’ve got this all figured out, or because it was an ambition of mine. God’s the One Who asked me to do this, so I obeyed.
God belongs on the pedestal. So why don’t we keep him there and keep ourselves (especially me) below it?
2. I also have doubts.
I realize you might think my faith is rock solid. And in the end, it actually is quite strong. But I have days when I’m not sure my prayers make it past the ceiling. I have days when I read the scriptures and it seems like just another book. And I have days when I wonder where God is in the middle of this. Just like you.
But I can’t let my faith go or shake it, because God’s faithfulness keeps overshadowing my doubts. So don’t let your doubts do you in. Persist through them. I have and I do, and all I keep finding is the faithfulness of Christ. You will, too.
3. I don’t always know what to do.
I know you know this, but I don’t have all the answers and I don’t always know what to do. Yet, there’s something in all of us that wants our leaders to know what’s next. You need to know I’m doing my best to surround myself with incredibly wise people. Together, we are far smarter and wiser than any of us is alone.
As we pursue Christ as best we can, we’ll figure out where He is in the middle of all this. So let’s pursue Him together.
4. I so appreciate it when you cut my family some slack.
It’s fine for you to put me under a microscope. I get that. But, this church is a place where my family is growing up. It’s a place where my kids are asking their own questions and where my wife comes on her good days and bad days.
When you treat them as people who are on their own faith journey and hold them up to no greater standards than you do any other family, you give my family an incredible gift. (And LifePoint Church, you do this so very well. Thank you!)
5. I’m more grateful for you than you realize.
I realize how demanding life is and how busy you are.
I know you worked late on that project this past week … and still came to the event at the church.
I realize you haven’t had eight hours sleep in about three years and your kids are driving you crazy … and you took time to seek God today.
I realize your family argued on the car ride to church and still walked through the door anyway.
I realize the school trip cost more than you thought and you’d really like to get to Disney this year, but you’re giving anyway.
I know that you serve in a number of organizations in the community, but you still throw your weight behind this mission at the church we’re in together.
Thank you. Really.
The church is the most blessed organization in the world. We have an eternal mission that will make far more sense when we stand before Christ than it does most days now. Only then will we see how important what we’re doing now really is. We rely on the good will and the hard work of hundreds of people to be the church. And I want you to know how incredibly grateful I am for you.