Fight for Your Pastor E-Book

Peter Orr

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Practical Ways to Support and Care for Your Pastor Do you pray for your pastors? Do you encourage them? Do you have realistic expectations for them? The office of pastor is simultaneously a rewarding and draining position. Pastors today have immense pressure on their shoulders and they need the support of their congregations.  Peter Orr has written Fight for Your Pastor as an exhortation for church members to stand behind their pastors through the difficulties of ministry. Orr specifies ways in which congregations can be intentional in caring for church leaders, including prayer, encouragement, generosity, and forgiveness. Featuring stories from current pastors about their struggles, this book is perfect for thoughtful church members eager to understand the weight of their pastors' positions and support leaders in their important ministry.  - For Thoughtful Christians: Specifically those wanting to know more about their pastors and how to care for them - Current: Features insight from pastors about their personal experiences in ministry - Applicable: Gives practical examples of how to love and care for pastors, including specific prayers for church leaders and the best ways to encourage them 

Leseprobe

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“As a pastor’s wife, I see how prayerfully and methodically my husband fights for the spiritual vitality of those we love and serve. I praise God when a man or woman in our church encourages him, prays for him, gently questions him, and thanks him, because each time it is a cup of cold water to a thirsty soul. My husband always says, ‘No one is suffering from too much encouragement.’ Least of all our pastors. This book, if read and practiced, will not only be a blessing to your pastor (and his wife!), but will strengthen your entire church and community.”

Christine Hoover, author, How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife; host, The Ministry Wives Podcast

“A single preposition can make a world of difference! This book is entitled Fight for Your Pastor not Fight Your Pastor. Peter Orr wisely and winsomely helps us to see the for and then provides practical ways to make it a reality—and all with a touch of humor thrown in. Given everything that has unfolded for churches and their pastors in the last few years, this timely book will encourage church members to be faithful sheep as they seek to encourage faithful shepherds. The content carried even more weight for me since I personally know Peter as a Christian brother who has modeled a genuine love for Christ’s church—for both its pastors and its people.”

Jonny Gibson, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Westminster Theological Seminary; Teaching Elder in the International Presbyterian Church, United Kingdom

“It is to our advantage—to our own benefit and joy, says Hebrews 13:17—to have happy pastors, not groaning clergy. Of course, at the end of the day, the pastors’ gladness and resilience is not the church’s final responsibility. But we can pray for them. We can fight for them instead of against them. Joyless pastors plague the church! Dear God, make them truly, deeply happy and be pleased to use their congregants to be some small but real ingredient in their joy. Peter Orr’s wise and timely book is a great place to start for how we can do our part.”

David Mathis, Senior Teacher and Executive Editor, desiringGod.org; Pastor, Cities Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota; author, Workers for Your Joy: The Call of Christ on Christian Leaders

Fight for Your Pastor

Fight for Your Pastor

Peter Orr

Foreword by Dane C. Ortlund

Fight for Your Pastor

Copyright © 2022 by Peter Orr

Published by Crossway 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design and illustration: Jordan Singer

First printing, 2022

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-8476-3 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-8479-4 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-8477-0Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-8478-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Orr, Peter, 1972- author. 

Title: Fight for your pastor / Peter Orr. 

Description: Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2022005725 (print) | LCCN 2022005726 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433584763 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433584770 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433584787 (mobipocket) | ISBN 9781433584794 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Clergy. | Clergy—Prayers and devotions. | Clergy—Salaries, etc. 

Classification: LCC BV4380 .O77 2022 (print) | LCC BV4380 (ebook) | DDC 248.8/92—dc23/eng/20220622

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022005725

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022005726

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

For Ben, Russ, Paul, Andrew, and Leo

Contents

Foreword by Dane C. Ortlund

Introduction

1  Fight!

2  Encourage!

3  Listen!

4  Give!

5  Forgive!

6  Submit!

7  Check!

Conclusion

Appendix 1: What If I Differ with My Pastor on Politics?

Appendix 2: When and How Should I Leave a Church?

Acknowledgments

General Index

Scripture Index

Foreword

“Fight for Your Pastor,” this book is titled—not “Fight with Your Pastor.” Pastors are just as fallible and fallen as any of us, yet the pressures they are under are unique and unremitting. Peter Orr sees what is at stake in the war zone of a pastor’s heart and calls all of us to obey the New Testament and not just to tepidly receive our pastor’s ministry, but also to proactively fight for his ministry, heart, and joy. He needs it.

A pastor is called to love, encourage, and build up his people. He must lead the way in this. But this will be a joy to him, and sustainable, only if the people self-consciously reciprocate that love and encouragement. Orr offers this important book out of a heart for the members of a church to hold up the hands of their spiritual leader, like Aaron and Hur holding up the hands of Moses (Ex. 17:12).

What kind of revival might break out if thousands of churches threw their arms around their pastors in the way this book prescribes? What we have here is the formula for apostolic Christianity itself—pastor and people loving and blessing one another, shepherd to sheep and sheep to shepherd, igniting a beauty of fellowship for which the world has no category.

Encouragement given is the glorious alternative to the common tragedy of withheld love and encouragement. Orr shows us how vital it is for a pastor’s longevity in ministry for his people to receive his ministry and to tell him they are receiving it. Perhaps as churchgoers we think that it is enough not to criticize our pastor. It isn’t. We must positively uphold him with life-giving words of specific and sincere encouragement. Our joy as members and his joy as a pastor are bound up with one another.

If he is such a poor pastor that you can’t find anything to say to encourage him, then you need to find a new church. If you can find something to say, then you must. What you must not do is stay, saying nothing. Withheld love is a grievous failure; the devil smiles. For while overt or public criticism will end a man’s ministry in the short term, the simple tragedy of withheld love will end a man’s ministry in the long term. A ministry to silent parishioners is not sustainable.

I am deeply thankful for Peter Orr’s exhortation for every church member to fight for their pastor. This is a wise book, and a needed one.

Dane C. Ortlund

Naperville Presbyterian Church

Naperville, Illinois

Introduction

“Apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”

2 Corinthians 11:28

“Is there a day that goes by when I don’t wonder how to get out of ministry?”

An anonymous pastor1

As a seminary professor in Australia, I have been involved in training hundreds of men and women for ministry over the last decade. A significant number of those who have completed training and are in ministry—whether as senior pastors, women’s workers, or assistants—are facing personal, psychological, or relational challenges. These difficulties are so intense that many are leaving their posts—some to parachurch ministries, some to secular jobs, and some—tragically—leaving the faith altogether.

Two friends immediately come to mind. One recently wrote to me, “I always thought energy and optimism were my secret power—the thing that kept me from burnout. But here I am, struggling to function and on four weeks of medical leave to recover from it all. I’m not fully aware of what caused it. I think just the collective toll of a thousand difficulties and disappointments.” Another pastor friend had to take medical leave because of some serious accusations made against him. He developed mouth ulcers, struggled to sleep, and was consumed with anxiety. After a year of intense stress, he was exonerated, but the effects remain with him and his family.

Of course, every Christian faces difficulty—Jesus called us to a life of carrying our crosses as we follow him. However, the challenges of those in pastoral ministry are often more acute. They have the same struggles as every Christian—following and living for Jesus in a world that hates him. However, they have the added role of leading other Christians who don’t always want to be led and proclaiming the gospel to a world that does not want to hear. Being in Christian leadership has always been challenging, but recently it seems that the pressures have multiplied. Think of the difference between climate and weather. The “climate” for pastoral ministry is constant. The world, the flesh, and the devil are long-term climate factors that remain between Christ’s first and second coming. But it feels as if—in the West, at least—there’s been a change in the “weather.” There is now a general weather front of apostasy, secularism, unbelief, and so on that is making the life of a pastor—particularly a conservative, complementarian, and evangelical one—more difficult.2 Whether on matters of sexual ethics, gender, or the uniqueness of Christ, a faithful pastor who proclaims and stands for the word of God faces rising hostility from the world.

Pressure doesn’t come only from outside. High-profile scandals have rocked the evangelical world, and these have raised questions about pastoral “power.” Congregation members are wary—rightly so—of overbearing pastors. However, for every bullying or abusive pastor, there are many more who are seeking, however imperfectly, to faithfully lead our churches. But because of the failings of a few, even these godly men are now regarded with suspicion. It is hard to rebuke a congregation member (something Paul expects a pastor to do: Titus 2:15) when so many voices are proclaiming that pastors are drunk on power.

The pressures caused by the recent pandemic further increased the pastor’s burden. Many had to pivot quickly to online ministries. They were hit with criticism for not closing down quickly enough or for not opening up soon enough—or, conversely, for closing down in the first place. They faced the discouragement of congregation members continuing to stay away from church “because of COVID”—while happily attending restaurants, sporting events, and so on. A pastor friend of mine was complimented for his online resources since they enabled a family to “do church” at a more convenient time. Even better—by playing the service at 1.5 speed, “church took less time” out of the family schedule. With compliments like that, who needs criticism!