Sometimes it’s the short quip, quote or piece of advice that changes your life. I can think of a number of them which have blessed me beyond words. Here are a few samples:
- Chuck Swindoll’s wonderful list of things he’d learned that he couldn’t control. It was one of the most relaxingthings I ever read. “What? Swindoll can’t control anything either?”
- Warren Weirsbe’s observation that “Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to take a nap.”
- NBA center Darrell Dawkins’ great observation: “When all is said and done there’s nothing left to say or do.” And then there’s (I don’t know who said it first)…
- “Right actions produce right feelings.”
I love these things and you probably love a few of them too.
I’ve written eight weekly blog posts now on how pastors can find joy. I can’t continue this forever, so I’m going to wrap it up today with some rapid-fire suggestions.
I know full well that some of them will be “old hat” for many of you, but there’s also the chance that one or more of them just might bless your blesser significantly.
And yes, you’re welcome to send me more.
Over the past eight weeks I’ve shared five reasons why the pastor’s joy is so important, fourteen reasons why it’s sochallenging and, seventeen suggestions for achieving “pastoral joy.”
- Work at getting good at rejoicing in the Lord.
- Take responsibility for your own joy.
- Dig deep into your position in Christ.
- Seek to get Jesus Christ obviously present and actively in charge of your church.
- Pursue the joy that comes from fruit bearing.
- Keep one foot on solid ground as you descend into the “hole” of another’s sorrow.
- Be gracious to yourself.
- Cultivate hope (joy borrowed from the future).
- Expect that trouble will increase your capacity for joy.
- Share your story and His story.
- Find a good pastor fellowship instead of looking for bosom friends in your church.
- Stop taking responsibility for other people’s choices.
- Develop godly assertiveness.
- Work towards a reasonable, joy-producing job description.
- Go to a pastor’s retreat center, or create your own re-energizing retreats.
- Seek the fulness of the Spirit, every day and every hour.
- Embrace the meekness and humility of Christ.
Buckle your seatbelt. Here are nine more suggestions:
- Worship your way to joy.
When you really don’t feel like it, one of the most powerful things you can do is to stop in your tracks and worship. Just do it. If you sing, sing loud. If you play an instrument, play it loud. Take your time. This is similar to the counsel of Paul in Philippians 4:6-7, to pray with thanksgiving, the two words we tend to skip over in the passage.
- Take days off, vacations and sabbaticals.
I can’t go into this in any detail here but here’s the Cliff’s Notes version: Whatever your theology regarding the Sabbath, I believe that God commanded His “original” chosen people to take one day a week for rest and worship because He loved them. He knew they needed it
So do we. Taking a piece of Monday and another piece of Saturday “off” doesn’t cut it. I believe you need one whole, complete 24-hour day. If you don’t do this and you’re not very joyful don’t ask God to give you your money back. He told you that this wouldn’t work; you have six days to complete your work. After 144 hours, you’re done.
Similarly, God built “vacations” (the feasts and festivals) into the annual calendar of the Jewish nation – several of them. The Jewish people needed them and so do we. Europeans take vacations more seriously than we Americans. Be brave. Your church won’t die. Go away.
Likewise, sabbaticals are one of the best trends in the Church today. Historically, many of us quit our churches and left town when all we needed was a real sabbatical of two to three months. It will help you remember that you are more than a pastor; you’re a person.
- Pursue sleep and health.
Don’t miss that quote from the great Warren Weirsbe at the beginning of this post. When children need naps, they get grumpy. So do pastors. But pastors can’t cry and think that they shouldn’t take naps, so they send emails and put things on social media instead.
A decent night’s sleep is a wonderful thing and a gift from God (Psalm 127). Some of you don’t want this gift because you think that you have to save the world. Some of you think too highly of your own work and too little of God’s work. God wants you to go to bed and go to sleep so He can repair the damage you’ve done during the day.
I don’t mean to belittle the health struggles that some of you have; I’ve had, and have, my own. You can’t just think or believe your way to health if God has chosen to allow you to suffer with some thorns – or afflictions which are greater than thorns – in the flesh.
But we can all try to take care of ourselves; we can try to be healthy and that’s all that God asks. He doesn’t want us to burn out or rust out; He wants us to serve Him for a long time and go to heaven after we have properly worn out, having served Him as long as possible.
- Look at multiple metrics.
Many good people have written about this – and I have too. Very simply put, pastors tend to obsess over one metric: Sunday morning worship service attendance.
Not every healthy church is going to keep growing indefinitely in Sunday morning attendance, so learn to look at multiple metrics, including the presentation of the gospel by your church members to lost people, professions of faith, significant steps of growth and obedience – in your own life as well as in the lives of your church people – etc.
- Enjoy at least one hobby.
Everybody needs one.
Yes, it’s possible to have too many hobbies and it’s possible to be overly preoccupied with one hobby but far more pastors err on the side of having no hobby.
Do something that works for you. I’m an underground singer-songwriter. That really is “a thing,” but for me it’s quite literal as I sing and play in the basement. It impresses no one but it does me a world of good.
- Consider a bi-vocational or a co-vocational ministry.
It also helps your church to remember that you are more than just their pastor and that you can’t do everything for them.
Consider the fact that some of the most famous names in the Church are and have been co-vocational (which means, bi-vocational “on purpose,” rather than out of necessity).
- Enjoy your family as much as possible.
If your family is more sorrow-producing than joy-producing you can skip over this suggestion. I understand that there are good pastors who are great husbands and fathers, whose families are very challenging. God understands, and so do I.
But most pastors – or at least many pastors – have the privilege of having families which they can truly enjoy, most of the time.
My point is simply: Don’t miss this. Rejoice with the wife that God has given you. Enjoy the ministry of making her feel like a queen. If you have hilarious children, enjoy them as much as possible; they’re going to grow up incredibly quickly, so while you have the chance to be silly with them…be silly with them.
I treasure the memory of every minute I spent playing with my son before he had the audacity to grow up.
And don’t answer the phone every time it rings. Your church members don’t and you don’t have to either. You can tell them I said so.
- Enjoy your church people as much as possible.
Same advice as above. It was a great blessing to me, during my interim ministry days, when I decided that I was going to enjoy as many of my church people as possible as much as possible.
You probably have some great people in your church. Even if you are an introvert – you can learn to view a church foyer full of people as an opportunity to learn, grow and laugh.
No, you can’t unload your secrets on them. Yes, they’re going to replace you pretty quickly after you move away. Yes, some of them are going to move away and some will depart for other churches. But you can still enjoy them while you have them, “for all they’re worth.”
- Consider a fresh start.
I realize that this suggestion might be shocking, but I’ve come to believe that some pastors are in situations that are so bad as to make it almost impossible for any human being who is trying to lead them to be joyful.
Sometimes a pastor is just so done in a particular location that his only pathway to joy is to head down the road to a new ministry. Read more on this here.
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So there you have them: 26 suggestions for pastoral joy. Some were profound; some not so much.
Pastor: May God give you the blessing of being able to grow into a truly joyful pastor. I’m praying for you.
