Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Hey Fletch … I feel like I’m a paid, professional Christian. I work in a church as a pastor and it is feeling like a job. The joy is begging to fade away. Help!

DRF—You are a full-time, vocational Christian leader. Pastoral work can be grueling. Emails and texts come at all hours. Weekends can get eaten up in ministry activities. You are engaged in a spiritual battle of enormous proportions. Huge numbers of people rely on you for guidance, shepherding, leadership and care.

Here’s a suggestion. Find some areas where you can be “John or Jane Doe.” Have some fun in areas where you can be people who are not in your congregation. I like to do this with scuba diving. There is a tight camaraderie among scuba divers. You have to trust and really on your diving partner. Underwater, no one talks to me! I get to enjoy the great world that God created. After the dive, we talk about the recent dive and past dives.

You are paid to be a Christian leader but are not a professional Christian. Enjoy time with people who don’t see you in the church leadership role. It will help bring back “joie de vivre”—exuberant enjoyment of life.