Don’t Be Surprised by Difficulty in Ministry
By Glenna Marshall
When church ministry feels hard, I am usually tempted to think that no other church has the struggles that mine does. I wonder what we’re doing wrong, why our people have their specific struggles, and why I feel so discouraged when attendance is low or when people leave the church. In years past, I’ve believed that we were unique in our ebbs and flows of inner turmoil and dysfunction—with more flowing than ebbing, to be honest. I was vaguely aware of troublesome issues in my home church, but since I wasn’t the pastor’s wife back then, I wasn’t privy to a lot of the burdens that the elders carried as they preached and provided oversight for the members.
As I’ve grown up in ministry, moving from a new pastor’s wife at twenty-four to a more seasoned one at forty, I’ve learned that my illusion of unique discord in my church wasn’t actually that unique. All churches have problems. All churches have problems because all churches are made up of imperfect people, and as such, those imperfect people will sin against one another, drift from faithfulness, and fight besetting sins. The people in leadership are not exempt from those daily struggles with sin and faithfulness, either. Our life as a church will be a fight for our faithfulness first to Christ and then to one another—often for long seasons. I don’t know why I was surprised by discord in the church when we first started out in ministry, but I was. And the more I learned about people and their personal struggles, the more disillusioned I became by it all.
Here’s what I didn’t know: ministry life is guaranteed to be hard. This calling will rarely be an easy one. That’s not to say it is without joy—it absolutely brings joy that is rooted in our hope of eternity with Christ. But, we shouldn’t be surprised when suffering comes to us through the doors of the church where we serve.
We like to throw around phrases like, “Let’s get back to the first century church!” or “Let’s be like the church in Acts!” I get the sentiment behind those desires; I’ve expressed them myself. But do we really know what we’re asking for? I have certainly romanticized first century church life, but as I’ve studied many of the epistles in the New Testament over the past couple of years, I’ve realized that they were full of problems, too.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians? He was warning the church about false teaching from the religious elite, and correcting stratification and legalism in the body.
Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians? Some of the church members were flaunting incestuous relationships that even the pagans would frown upon!
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians? He was writing after a visit to the troublesome church in Corinth went so badly, he had to leave before it got worse.
James’ letter to Christians? He was exposing dead faith and correcting partiality within the church.
Peter’s first letter? Christians should expect suffering in following Christ.
Paul’s letter to Titus and the church on the island of Crete? He exhorted them to hold fast to sound doctrine and not be corrupted by false teaching that was infiltrating the church.
I could go on, but you get the idea. The early church was just as full of problems and discord as our churches are today. We will always be fighting against sin and fighting for faithfulness to Jesus. We can’t change the difficult nature of ministry life. But we can change our response to it by refusing to be surprised by the difficulties we encounter in church ministry. I’m not saying we should “lower the bar,” so to speak. I’m saying we should listen to Peter when we wrote the following words: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). We will have a difficult enough time standing firm in steadfastness when trials come, but if we are constantly blindsided by those trials, we’ll struggle more as we first seek to find equilibrium before addressing the challenges. We should expect ministry life to be hard. It isn’t strange for sin to wreck things, for problems to arise, for things to go badly sometimes. This is life on a broken, fallen planet that longs for the return of Christ to set things right. We are fighting a war we can’t see as we stand firm on truth and love the people of God until we see him face to face. Expect it to feel like war.
But, don’t miss Peter’s other words right after verse twelve. “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter. 4:13). God will not waste your sufferings, even the ones that come at the hands of other believers. He will use the trials of this life to sanctify you even as he uses them to sanctify the people of your church as well. You can actually rejoice because in suffering, you will be made more and more into the image of Christ who was well acquainted with grief and sorrow. And when he does return to make everything new, your joy will be immeasurable.
Ministry life is hard. The church can be a painful place for the pastor’s family. Some seasons will feel full of sorrow and hurt. And yet, this calling matters for eternity. We press on because Jesus pressed on, faithful to the end. We keep showing up—serving, loving, praying, teaching, forgiving, apologizing, learning, growing—because the Lord is with us. We might look at the mess of things around us and wonder what God can do with it all, but we can entrust the state of our churches with the One who loves his bride. We can have unshakeable hope for our churches because they belong to Christ.
“Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.” -2 Corinthians 1:7
Glenna Marshall is married to her pastor, William, and lives in rural Southeast Missouri where she tries and fails to keep up with her two energetic sons. She is the author of The Promise is His Presence: Why God is Always Enough (P&R) and Everyday Faithfulness: The Beauty of Ordinary Perseverance in a Demanding World (Crossway, June 2020).