My wife and I are taking a little vacation in a couple of weeks. Our ideas of vacation are very different. She will plan out our itinerary every day, making sure we have a fun-packed time. She is awesome and I do end up enjoying myself. However if it was up to me I would just hang out and rest, sit by the beach, wander through the mountains, take lots of naps. I like resting.
The word rest is in the Bible over 500 times but I can’t remember hearing one sermon on this topic…hmm. I finished reading Hebrews 3 and 4 which talks about rest and verse 4:9 says, “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.” However this promise is conditional and in earlier verses it says that not everyone will enter. The illustration is given of the Hebrews walking in circles for 40 years before entering the Promised Land. We all know that even God rested on the 7th day; so maybe it is something we need to understand and appreciate.
There is something wrong with the current, familiar church structure. Take a look at some of these statistics I found on soulshepherding.org. A quick web search will give you even more grim statistics concerning Pastors.
75% of pastors report being “extremely stressed” or “highly stressed”
90% work between 55 to 75 hours per week
70% of pastors say they have a lower self-esteem now than when they entered ministry
70% constantly fight depression
50% feel so discouraged that they would leave their ministry if they could, but can’t find another job
80% believe their pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families and 33% said it was an outright hazard
80% of ministry spouses feel left out and unappreciated in their church
77% feel they do not have a good marriage
41% display anger problems in marriage (reported by the spouse)
38% are divorced or divorcing
50% admit to using pornography and 37% report inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church
65% feel their family is living in a glass house
It is no wonder we don’t hear sermons on rest…the system is designed to overwork and burn out pastors.
As a facilitator of a house church the biggest struggle is to get people to participate. The conventional church conditions people to rely on the pastor for everything. Just come to church and get fed. I refuse to fall into that trap.
I found that over time people do understand and begin to participate, and when they do, it is such a joy to witness. When everyone shares we begin to see God from different perspectives and we understand Him in different ways. We all have valuable input even children and youth. It’s a shame that in a conventional setting youth and children are sent away.
There is wisdom in how God instructed us to gather and participate revealed in the Book of Acts. It really works and it is worth the effort to get there.