“It’s much more difficult to oversee a church than to run a business.”
That statement was made by a business executive who had resigned from a large international corporation to accept a position as the administrator of a large church. Others, including ministers and elders in small churches, have echoed that conviction.
Business analyst Peter Drucker once suggested that the three most difficult jobs he could imagine were hospital administrator, university president, and megachurch minister because those tasks require the leader to wear many different hats and meet many different expectations. Likewise, overseeing a church of any size is difficult, and listed below are ten reasons why:
1. A cumbersome structure. The lines of authority are clearly drawn in most businesses. However, church leaders often work within two leadership silos — the church staff and church elders, who often battle each other for control.
2. Murky goals. In businesses, everyone understands the organizational goals of making an honest profit, developing satisfied customers, and creating a positive work environment. Yet when you ask church leaders, “How do you measure a win?” the responses vary. Is their goal to increase church attendance? Have more baptisms? Change lives? Provide community service? Complete construction of new buildings? Keep people happy? Or simply to please God? Success is a moving target for many churches, and the minister, with so many different expectations, is always vulnerable to criticism or removal.
3. The ministry attracts more than its share of odd people. The business world rejects applications of those who don’t fit their organization. Yet the church welcomes misfits, and we seek to save society’s outcasts, which is how it should be! However, disenfranchised people can be emotionally draining and sometimes make life difficult for church leaders, especially if they become leaders!
4. Long-term members consider themselves experts in how the church should be run. Few people in the business world know what goes on in the day-to-day operation and don’t pretend to know. Yet people who have been going to church for a while consider themselves experts on what a church should be. They are similar to sports fans who sit in the stands and consider themselves more knowledgeable than the coach.
5. Spiritual issues can trigger strong emotional reactions. Reasonable people can become irrational if they feel the church is threatening their most dearly held values. Pastors bold enough to teach what the Bible says about divorce, homosexuality, or other controversial Biblical issues discover that otherwise intelligent people can become unreasonable. And sometimes, it can be over something as simple as failing to mention the memorial flowers or moving the American flag on the platform!
6. Christians are notoriously poor at confronting. Accountability and confrontation are expected in the business world. Yet because the church is supposed to be a loving family, many are reluctant to confront disagreements. Consequently, problems fester.
7. The church is almost entirely dependent upon volunteers. The business world has leverage over employees, yet church leaders rely on people voluntarily giving their time and money. When people don’t follow through with their commitments, it creates frustration and stress.
8. The moral standards are higher than in other occupations. This is as it should be. We are to walk worthy of the calling we’ve received. Yet the moral standards for ministry apply 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which can result in unrealistic expectations of leaders.
9. There are few ways to vent frustrations appropriately. A CEO of a business can get angry, slam the table, and even curse, causing employees to walk on eggshells for a few hours. However, those responses are unacceptable in ministry, where leaders are always expected to be Christ-like. However, one serious misstep can abruptly end a pastor’s ministry.
10. The high demand for weekly presentations to constituents. A CEO must face stockholders once or twice a year. If he is a poor public speaker, it does not matter if the company is making a profit. In comparison, a pastor faces his constituency each week, and his job performance is primarily evaluated on whether he can preach in such a way that it keeps their attention yet does not alienate them or their family. To preach each week is similar to having a lengthy term paper due every seven days. It is an awesome and overriding pressure.
When the Apostle Paul listed the hardships he faced, including shipwrecks, imprisonments, and beatings, he added, “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches” (2 Cor 11:28).
Pastors, elders, and others who lead the church need our prayers and support because they have a pressure-packed, difficult assignment. They remain in ministry because God has called them to serve in the most vital work in the world. While they may occasionally complain about how difficult it is, they know the church — with all its problems — is still the body of Christ, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.
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