September 18, 2024 -- Glenn Daman
The call to ministry is a call to suffering. When we began ministry, we started with an idealistic view that we would serve a growing congregation of people enthralled with our messages, receptive to our leadership, and loving in response. Yet the dream soon becomes a nightmare. While it is true that most people love and appreciate our ministry, we also encounter criticism, rejection, and hardship. Sometimes, this rejection comes from people we consider our closest friends. Ministering to broken people is often messy, challenging, and discouraging. Paul understood the cost and severity of suffering when he wrote, “for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:11). In his ministry, he faced affliction, rejection, conflicts, fears, and depression (2 Cor. 1:87:5-6). When he arrived in Corinth, he became so discouraged and gripped by fear that Jesus appeared to him to encourage him to continue (Acts 18:9-10). Ministry will challenge us in ways we never dreamed of and bring our greatest joys and deepest pain. In ministry we will face agony and tears (2 Cor. 2:4) and constant pressure and stress (2 Cor. 11:28).
Yet even as we face the daily pressures of ministry, the greatest pain we will experience comes not from our ministry but our own struggles. As we minister to broken people, we face our own brokenness. Sometimes, our emotional and spiritual tank is empty, but we still have to get up on Sunday and encourage the people. As we shepherd and care for the people, there are times when we are the ones that need shepherding, especially in rural ministry where we have no other staff or support. We are far removed (both in distance and thought) from denominational leaders.
For the last six months, my wife and I have been facing the reality of pain. In February, my wife discovered a small lump in her breast. Because it was small, the Doctors were confident that it was localized and curable. It would involve some chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, but the prognosis was good, and it seemed as if it would be just another small bump in the road. However, the biopsy came back a little disconcerting as she was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer, which is the most aggressive form. However, they were confident it was still localized since it was small. With treatment, the prognosis was favorable. However, they ordered a comprehensive scan of the body to make sure. Instead of the results confirming our hopes, it revealed our greatest fear, for the cancer had metastasized to the liver. Instead of the doctors discussing a cure, the narrative was about control. The prognosis went from a 94% survival rate to a 10% survival rate. The discussion went from several months of treatment to ongoing chemotherapy. Instead of talking about when we would retire and what we would do after retirement, our conversation now centered on how we will live and work around the chemotherapy and how we will deal with the challenges ahead. Instead of having our plans and goals, we are now thrust into a world of uncertainty where we do not know the future. We were confronted with questions that we find easy to answer for others but difficult to answer when confronted in our own lives: Why was God allowing this to happen? How can we continue to serve when our tank is empty? Where does a pastor go when he needs a shepherd?
As we have been walking through the valley of the shadow of deep darkness (Ps. 23), we have experienced the truths we have preached for years. First, God gives us the grace to face the circumstances we are confronted with at the time when we need it. Even amid the uncertainty of life, we can have the confidence that God is in control and He has a plan for our lives, and that plan is perfect. He does give us the peace that surpasses all comprehension (Phil 4:7). The promises we preach are not just platitudes that we proclaim to others; they are true, and God does sustain us with the assurance of His presence and His Word.
Second, our most effective ministry is not accomplished through our strengths but through our weaknesses. We often see adversity and suffering as a hindrance to ministry. In reality, the opposite is true. Adversity and suffering are God’s instructors to equip us for ministry. God does not allow the sufferings and struggles of ministry to descend upon us to drive us out of ministry. He allows suffering to prepare us for ministry (2 Cor. 1:3-7). For Paul, our ministry is not grounded in our skills, talents, and abilities but in our weaknesses and struggles so that the “faith of people would not rest upon the wisdom of men but on the wisdom of God” (2 Cor. 2:3-5). When we are at our weakest, God becomes most evident in our lives. Paul realized this in his own life when he affirms, “If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness” (2 Cor. 11:30). To be called into ministry is to be constantly delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in others (2 Cor. 4:11-12).
We do not know what the future will hold. We are now living in a world of insecurity. We do not like it. We do not wish it upon anyone else. But we would not have it any other way. When we are running on empty, God’s grace is realized, and His power is manifested in us. The call to ministry is a call to suffering, but it is through our suffering that God’s power is most evident, and our ministry is most effective. God does not promise us freedom from suffering, but he does promise His empowerment to sustain us amid our suffering so that we might have a more significant impact for His kingdom. That is a lesson my wife and I are learning today.
Glenn Daman has been a pastor of rural churches for 37 years, currently serving as the Pastor of River Christian Church and the author of When Shepherds Weep: Finding Tears of Joy for Wounded Pastors.” He is also the author of The Forgotten Church, Shepherding the Small Church, Leading the Small Church, Developing Leaders in the Small Church and the Lighthouse: Discovering Security in the Radiance of God’s Character, daily devotionals on the attributes of God. He has been married to his wife Becky for 38 years.
Comments