The Cost of Leadership

The Cost of Leadership

My wife and I were discussing church leadership recently. We generally agree on things but on this occasion she said something I had never really thought about before. “Do you think it’s easy being a church leader?” Well, let me ask you all the same question – do YOU think it’s easy being a leader or a pastor in today’s church?

Let me give you my own response and you can compare it with your own.

In a word, NO – being a leader in today’s church is one of the most difficult jobs in the universe. Forget the admin side of leadership. After all, if there’s no money in the bank, then you can’t pay the rent and salaries and other running costs, then you appeal to your congregation. If that doesn’t work then you have to cut staff or you just find somewhere else, hopefully cheaper, to hold your meetings. I do not belittle the finance side but we have Jehovah Jireh – God our Provider and He does provide for His people. Then there’s the physical organisation – who’s doing the speaking; who’s doing coffees etc and so on. No – ALL of this pales into insignificance beside the real tests of leading and pastoring.

Most churches fail because of politics and gossip and in-fighting. All this is commonly referred to as “sin”. Yes – it’s hard to believe but it’s true – SIN is the main cause of failures in leadership. You see, it's all down to one thing in a leader or pastor – are they servants or are they ‘generals’? Are they wanting to be served or to serve? And there’s only one way to be a servant.

In order to serve your church, a pastor needs to love the people, then love the people some more, then love the people again. In my own, admittedly limited experience, churches where the leadership loves the people are much more likely to succeed than those where the leadership wants to be in control. You see, control such as we see in so many churches today is a variant of witchcraft. Yes – witchcraft !! Control spread dissidence – “why can I not do or say that?”. Control fosters ambition, politics, and gossip – who has the pastors ear today? Who will he listen to? Control, in short, builds a church on sand rather than on the Rock.

Oh, there are many good people in such churches, but there are many more of whom Ezekiel 34:2-10 says “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.” ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: “As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock”— therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them.”

And that’s just for the shepherds – the leaders and pastors.

Ezekiel 34:19-22 goes on to say this of the sheep – “And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.” ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.”

I say to you again, a pastor needs to love the people, then love the people some more, then love the people again. It really is the only way. Yet how many are truly willing to pay the price?