WHEN YOUR WORK GOES UNNOTICED
L. Andrew Pryor
July 1, 1990
You spend extra hours preparing a particular sermon. But no one notices.
You make six visits to a parishioner in intensive care. When he recovers and returns to church, he points out how much his wife wished you'd seen her while he was in the hospital.
A woman in worship stands during prayer requests and notes, with just a touch of hurt, that her Aunt Lizzie's name isn't printed in the prayer list. Of course, this woman doesn't mention publicly-or privately-that you recently took most of a day to drive out of town to visit Aunt Lizzie.
Such experiences are not unique, nor is the pastor's resulting discouragement. It hurts when people don't notice or appreciate our efforts. Ministerial banter often touches on blue Mondays and the resignation letters we mentally compose. Discouragement is no stranger to ministers.
What discouraged ministry looks like
How we deal with discouragement impacts both the minister and the church. It can prompt some ministers to leave their churches. It can lead others to abandon ministry entirely. Before discouragement runs its full course, however, it entices us to dilute our ministry. Here are a few symptoms.
Preoccupation with money. When we are discouraged, we're more likely to fix our focus on our relatively lower salary. Our paychecks seem to shout on behalf of the congregation, "We don't appreciate you!" Working alongside church members who earn twice or three times my salary, I've sometimes wondered if they respect my leadership. Certainly, many churches ought to pay their ministers more. But in times of discouragement, ministers can let such thoughts skew their perspective.
Letdown. Some days discouragement can lead us to walk away from the office at noon, fully knowing how many lessons and sermons ...
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