Why Some Pastors and Churches Struggle While Others Are Thriving – So What’s Our Part?

Just recently I read an article in a popular Christian magazine on how 12 churches were profiled due to a thriving congregation and attendance increase in spite of the uncertain economy. I was interested in how and why these churches were surviving when I coach pastors and their wives who come to me because they are burned out and ready to close it up and walk. So, are these pastors and churches special in God’s eyes? Why such a tremendous gap with some churches thriving and others closing up? After reading this article one could be inspired if they didn’t know what I know about the pastors who’ve had enough and want real change or they’re gone.

But what interested me the most was after reading the article, the resource box at the bottom read: This magazine is looking for healthy churches to be featured in future issues of the magazine. And then gave a website address if you cared to share how your church is thriving.

Oh, how we need encouragement in this day and hour. How nice that we can read about the large, healthy churches and share in the joy of blessings coming their way. They are healthy because their pews are filled, the people are involved in church activities, and many are hungry for the Lord and even though statistics inform us that only 1% of church goers financially support the church, 1% of a lot of people can mean the church doors remain open. The size of these churches ranged from 700 members of the smallest to over 32,000 in the largest.

So, that still leaves the question, what’s happening with the smaller churches, why are they closing and pastors walking out to the tune of 1500 per month? I won’t pretend to have all the answers and certainly I cannot share everything herein. But let me point out a few relevant things here.

If we could ask the Lord to come to a meeting and then ask him why it seems he prospers large congregations and is less supportive of smaller ones, what do you think he would say? Well, I always go to the word to find the character of Christ in similar or other situations to answer these things. We know Jesus came for the lost and the sinner not the righteous because he says so in Mark 2:17 when he said, “Sick people need the doctor, not healthy ones.” Does that mean he doesn’t love healthy people? No, it just means he came to help those who need it. Then in Luke 4:18, he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because”, and then he lists why he came to earth; to heal the brokenhearted, deliver the captives, give sight to the blind and the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors. Does that mean the Lord doesn’t love the joyful, carefree, prosperous Christian? Of course not, he advised those who are doing well to help the ones who are not.

I’ve learned over the years that when a pastor is about to hang it up and walk, he or she is suffering from a broken heart, captive to numerous personal and ministry struggles, downtrodden due to oppressors from within and without who are used by the enemy to thwart every good work and passion that God carefully placed within them. The pressure is so deep being hit from so many directions; they just want relief from the battle of their souls.

When the rich man came to Jesus proclaiming that he had kept the Ten Commandments from his youth, Jesus didn’t spend time praising him nor publicly applaud his success, instead he instructed him to use his wealth and his stated righteousness to help those who weren’t as blessed.

Of the twelve churches and pastors who were featured for their ‘healthy’ churches, one in particular stood out among the rest for me. This pastor recognized the tough times for many in his congregation. In order to help those who had lost jobs or experienced salary cuts, he posted an Acts 4 tree for others to respond. And do you know what happened? Those who weren’t struggling stepped up and took the place of those who were. What kind of a bond do you think the people in that church are experiencing today? What kind of love is transferring in their hearts?

I recently spoke with a pastors’ wife who shared that she and her husband both work full time as well as share church responsibilities. They struggle to even keep their congregation going. She said they are at the point of hanging it up and walking out, the congregation shows up and just sits there. So we’re looking at some problems deeper than just a simple lack of financial support.

So, what would Jesus say here? Does the character of Christ even remotely indicate a favor for larger churches over smaller ones? The Bible repeatedly explains that when you have a word, a very good word, a call from the Lord, you need to find a platform and release that, it’s called evangelizing the gospel. But God also informs us that we have an enemy who will do whatever he can to postpone, stifle, prevent, destroy the pastor, his word, his ministry and his marriage in order to ‘get even’ with God for kicking him out of heaven. God’s people are racing to get the word out; the enemy is racing to stop it.

Satan hates it when churches prosper and he hates it when anyone helps the ‘little guy’ out from underneath the stronghold of oppression. Pastors believe in demons, in theory, some try not to translate it every moment into reality for fear that people might label him ‘crazy’. Yet they confess to me the intensity of the spiritual attack they experience and I can tell you this, they must have a tremendous word inside them to be so targeted.

If 4,000 new churches begin each year, but 7,000 churches close, it should be obvious we have a major problem here. These are undeniable statistics. We don’t have to guess what the Lord would say here. Quite frankly, the money situation is only a drop in the bucket compared to their greatest problems of dealing with contention, problem people, discouragement, depression, marriage problems, and yes they are targeted in their morals as well as just a general lack of support.

Pastors are honorable gifts placed in our lives. We need each and every one of them to find their place of value, large or small. If Christ came not for the free but for the captive, and if he came for the weak not the strong, the debilitated rather than the ‘healthy’, why don’t we take the pages of our magazines and newsletters and use this space to speak about a huge problem of pastors leaving their posts and their mandates that God gave them?

Once a problem is out in the open, and the devil can’t hide it anymore, help is sure to come. There are way too many loving, righteous Christian’s who are looking for a cause to support. Let’s first expose the problem and then deliver the solution.

In order to survive, pastors need to get into relationship with a mentor or coach. This should be someone with wisdom, experience and the discernment to pinpoint problem areas while using Bible principles. Also, pastors need to find other pastors to form mutual, trusting relationships, where they can talk and pray for each other, without fear. This can be accomplished through an online membership group.

Every pastor is the apple of God’s eye. We can pray and pray and ask God to help them and we should, but didn’t he already say, “You help them?” Let’s ask ourselves, what can we do? What’s our part? God’s looking for a willing heart.