Bible Students

Some Thoughts on David Pooler’s: “Pastors and Congregations at Risk: Insights from Role Identity Theory”

Self care is certainly difficult, and asking for help is even more so. Making time to take care of oneself is hard enough as it is, but attempting to admit defeat and show vulnerability, as a pastor no less, must seem like an unsurpassable hurdle to many. Today, congregations need pastors more than they should. The pastor has been elevated far above his natural position and has been removed from being one of the flock to being a supposedly flawless individual, on stage for the whole audience to critique. This results in a pastor who is stretched thin and who is heading toward a massive burnout. Church members do not want to listen to their pastor, but instead want their pastor to cater to their every desire, and to tickle their ears. Pastors also can very much feel pressured into their positions by other people, which can result in crumbling under the pressure. This crumbling can lead to a massive outbreak of sin in their life, especially sexual in males, at least of the public variety of sin. Many leaders of the church have been exposed as having secret sexual affairs, and it is no wonder with a lack of self care being an epidemic today. Pastors are expected to be without sin. However, pastors are just as human as the rest of the people in the congregation. A pastor can quickly fall into sin just as any other person, and due to their position and power can create broken relationships and people in an instant. Pastors can take advantage of the weak in the flock who trust them very easily. This is especially apparent in terms of sexual misconduct, when a powerful male pastor takes advantage of his trust in the congregation to have sexual relations with a misguided and vulnerable sheep. 

The prevention method to get away from this epidemic is accountability. In order for pastors to be able to be held accountable, pastors must also be expected to be sinners. Pastors are sinners who can fall into sin the same as anyone else. The difference is that pastors need to pick themselves up as an example to the rest of the flock. Pastors must be vulnerable if they are to show themselves to be an example. This shift from super-human to vulnerable shepherd is a scary one, likely both from the perspective of the church leader and the church lay-man. However, it is necessary. The pastor is not a super-human.

Additionally, they must be able to be weak and have normal expectations placed on them. Congregations often place overly high expectations on their pastors, which lead to burnouts. In fact, not only do these overly high expectations often lead to pastors being overwhelmed, many pastors also identify themselves with being needed in their congregation, and so must perform for the whole congregation or feel a lost sense of identity. That seems incredibly unhealthy. The Christian leader must be able to have time to focus on who they are, not only what they do. The pastor must be able to take time for self care in order to remain a faithful minister of God, not a performer for a congregation. 

Often, pastors can cease to see themselves as a part of the flock. In fact, they may stop seeing themselves as a regular part of family or friend relationships. Pastors can not be pastors only to be separate and set apart from other people. The call to pastoring is not a call to sole status as authority, but a call to serve God. Congregations expect the pastor to have a call to serve them first, and place the expectation of flawless performance on them. The pastor then sees that flawless performer as their identity they need to live up to, rather than placing their identity in Christ. Their very humanity is discounted. Their super-human identity becomes the center of who they are. 

Instead of the one-man team, the pastor needs accountability, vulnerability, and support. The role of pastor can not be against vulnerability, lest the pastor burn out. Pastors need personal lives, and can not only be performers for an audience of a congregation. Pastors need personal places where they are able to address their personal unresolved problems. They are, after all, human. They must foster personal relationships with equals and have hobbies unrelated to work. They must do what they can, in short, to live regular lives. If the pastor attempts to live the life of a super human, they will inevitably fail. Additionally, pastors must understand the power differential between themself and the congregation, which can lead to abuse of the congregation when the pastor does not properly use his authority. On this note, accountability must be had especially with technology and other forms of private communication. Apart from these guidelines, the pastor is doomed for failure.