The Pastor’s Joy Challenge – Part One: Why Your Joy Is So Important

The images are unforgettable:

Let’s start with Karl Malden, playing the formidable Reverend Ford in the 1960 film, Pollyanna. As our 11-year old, innocent, orphaned, heroine¹ cowers in terror in her pew, the Right Reverend begins his sermon by thundering that “DEATH COMES UNEXPECTEDLY!”

As the story unfolds, the amazing Pollyanna manages to transform some of the crankiest people in Harrington, including the consistently grumpy Reverend Ford.

And then there was the Leadership magazine cartoon which depicted an overweight, long-faced, forlorn looking man standing on a subway beside a woman who has just asked him a question. The answer? “No mam, I’m not a preacher, I’ve just been ill for a few days.”

And then there was me. I arranged an annual performance review to be conducted by my board members which included their grading me on the individual aspects of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22,23. I did okay until they got to the one about joy. Fortunately, they graded on a curve and I kept my job, but the message was unmistakable: my brethren didn’t see me as being a joyful pastor.

As a veteran of that performance review, I have nothing but sympathy for pastors who struggle with being as joyful as they would like to be. It’s a herculean challenge.

For every pastor who has a natural-born, sanguine, light-hearted, bouncy, carefree, “Tiggerish” personality, there are probably ten of us who are “born old” and become increasingly somber as the years take their toll. We begin as Tigger and end up more like Eeyore.²

Here’s where I’m headed with this series of three posts: Just below I’ll share some reasons why the pastor’s joy quotient is important. Next week I’ll try not to make anyone more miserable as I write about why joy is such a challenge for pastors. With the third post in the series I’ll share – as one who made a lot of progress after his tough performance review – how pastors can improve their joy, though all the world be allied against them.

So, in no particular order, here’s why the pastor’s joy matters (a lot, as a matter of fact):

(1) If the pastor doesn’t seem joyful, outsiders won’t be attracted to his life, his ministry or his church. Reverend Ford is “exhibit A.” If children are afraid of you, there’s something wrong for children are hard to fool. Most people won’t even be able to articulate this, but if they’re not happy to see you arrive at the party, it’s time to start asking “why?”

(2) If the pastor doesn’t seem joyful, his church members won’t view his Christian life as “working.” They know that the aforementioned fruit of the Spirit includes joy. Many of them know about the concept of “rejoicing in the Lord,” found not just in the Apostle Paul’s amazing letter to the Philippians, but all over the Bible. They know that the same Apostle, who had an extremely challenging ministry, said crazy sounding things like, “I have great confidence in you. I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles, my joy knows no bounds” II Corinthians 7:4.Fair or not, they expect us to be as joyful as Paul.

(3) If the pastor doesn’t seem joyful, his church members won’t want to emulate his lifestyle. Who wants to look like the guy on the subway in the Leadership cartoon? This expectation is not completely unfair, as the Apostle Paul told people to emulate his lifestyle (Philippians 4:9) and encouraged his converts to learn the Christian life both by hearing his words and by imitating his life (I Thessalonians 1:6-7). This is real disciple-making in the real world: allowing and inviting people to “do as we do” and “become what we are.”

(4) If the pastor doesn’t seem joyful, people won’t want to bring their friends. It’s that simple. People who find their pastor to be winsome and personable invite their friends to join them on Sundays. Those who don’t, don’t.

(5) Here’s the end of the matter: If the pastor doesn’t seem joyful, he won’t be able to do his work effectively, at least for long. If the church keeps him around, and the brethren stick with their church and their pastor, the whole church body will eventually take on the joyless character of the preacher. I have been the guest speaker in churches like this and it was no fun.

Next week we explore why the pastor’s joy challenge is so great, followed by a post on how pastors can fight and claw their way to joy. It can be done.  And don’t be afraid to email me at churchwhisperer@gmail.com, even if you just need a shoulder to cry on. 

 ¹Played brilliantly by Haley Mills, whom I wanted to marry.

²For the uninitiated, both characters are from the Winnie The Pooh children’s books.