From the very beginning of my journey in pastoral
ministry very sweet and sincere people have told me they were praying for
me. It did not take very long into that journey for me to realize that I
needed a lot of prayers. Pastoral ministry presents many unique
challenges. One pastor friend of mine is fond of comparing pastoring to
herding cats! It is a pretty fair analogy! Pastors grieve over the lostness
of the world and their communities often in agonizing prayer that no one
sees. Many sleepless nights are all-too-familiar to pastors as friends
leave the church, as messages fail to be visibly impactful, and people in the
church cannot seem to get along with one another. The enemy of our souls
throws everything, including the kitchen sink, at us trying to get us to
stumble, and, better yet, fall and hurt as many people as possible on our way
down. Pastors face all the temptations and difficulties that any other
human being faces, plus several others besides. All of this is widely
known and discussed. There have been many books and articles written to
encourage pastors who are experiencing discouragement. Retreats, and even
entire retreat centers, have been established for healing and restoration after
pastoral burn-out and the accompanying mental and emotional exhaustion.
Even posts on social media remind Christians to pray regularly for their
pastors, which is much needed, and much appreciated.
In the early years of my ministry I believed that I had one of the hardest,
maybe the hardest job/task in the world. While it is consuming in
every way, I have come to believe there are some things that are far more
difficult due to the spirit of our age, the self-centeredness of our world
(including vast numbers of church members), and Satan’s highly successful
ability to hoodwink people and get them to place their focus on almost
everything except God, His Word, His true expectations for us, and baring
witness to the lost world in which we live.
I have come to realize and appreciate the utterly brutal reality of being a
youth minister in these dark and difficult days before the Lord’s return.
As hard as it is to be a pastor to people at times, youth ministers are faced
with unimaginable challenges of which no one could have dreamed such a short
time ago. Every youth pastor comes face to face with kids struggling to
find their own identities, often through a process of acting out and
experimentation with anything and everything from drugs and alcohol, sex, to
many other forms of reckless behavior. We are long past the days where
the biggest issues were abstaining from listening to rock music, not attending
R-rated movies, and not dating anyone who was a potential candidate for
marriage. Now the issues are so much more serious and potentially
disastrous – even deadly.
Another big change is that if you looked at youth groups of past decades you
would find the bulk comprised of active church member’s kids; even pastor’s and
deacon’s kids. But now you look at many youth groups and see kids from
homes that parents rarely come at best and at worst are, in no way, connected
with any church, much less the one their kids occasionally attend!
Youth ministers lack the core support they once had from parents, because there
are often no parents to be found. It is not uncommon for kids to report
of total dysfunction in their home life involving all sorts of things that were
nearly unheard of 1 or 2 generations ago. Added to the youth minister
having to carry the burden of these things he is often criticized by those who
frequently remind him of the good old days when they (the criticizer) were in
youth and just how it was and their simplistic solution is to just do things
like they were done back then and highly committed, well-behaved, smiling youth
would break down the doors to get in! With my heart and soul I wish it
were just that simple. We grieve that it is not the way it once was and
will never be again.
In time past, new babies were brought to the nursery on their first Sunday and
grew slowly through the church’s Sunday School program advancing all the way to
adulthood. Many of those became Sunday School teachers, deacons, pastors,
and other leaders and other constants of the church. But now, Sunday
School is an empty basement or wing of the church and the youth minister is
implicitly or explicitly expected to be a miracle worker who overcomes 12-18
years of neglect. Some pastors have even resigned themselves to preaching
on a level of a children’s Sunday School class simply because their congregants
no longer have a foundation on which to build and there is little choice but
work hard to lay such a foundation.
Youth ministers desperately need our prayers, emotional support, physical
support, and spiritual support as they are being tasked with the impossible
while many hurl insults and throw rotten tomatoes from the balcony and
sidelines. Dedicated youth ministers have big hearts, great love for the
Lord, and love for young people, and it is discouraging and hurtful to often
not see the fruits of their labors However, God sees their work and
labors of love and will reward them for working to do what few others in this
entire world are willing to do. Please pray for our youth ministers!
Music ministry was once a very popular vocational pursuit on Christian college
campuses and in seminaries, but those days are past. When churches are in
need of music ministers they are scarce. I have been told by more than
one denominational leader that “Music ministers are as rare as hen’s
teeth.” Why has there been such a decline in the number of music
ministers? Professors, denominational leaders, pastors, and even former
and current music ministers themselves will all tell you the predominant reason
is that church music has become perhaps the biggest hot-button issue of the
last 25 years. James Dobson on his Focus on the Family Radio
broadcast once did a few shows devoted to music and it generated the most
aggressive responses of any topic he ever did, according to his own
report. Some wrote or called in totally adamant that hymns only should be
sung, while others were equally adamant that newer music was essential to reaching
a younger generation and also to keep our worship fresh and lively.
Professors at our Christian colleges and seminaries report that aspiring music
ministers are frequently discouraged from pursing vocational music ministry by
their parents and even their pastors because of the enormity of controversy
they are unknowingly seeking to enter. No parent wants to see one they
love face opposition, rejection, and the level of scorn that is known to be
directed at those who do not meet their expectations and cater to their
preferences.
The immaturity of the modern church is expressed in a number of ways such as
biblical illiteracy, lack of prayer, lack of attendance, immoral practices, and
selfishness. This has showed up as church members have left churches
because of their disdain for the music (both changes and lack of
changes). Further, many others have made the decision to attend a church,
mainly or exclusively, on the basis of the music. For every one instance of
someone telling me they have concern about a doctrinal matter, there are easily
20 expressions of concern about music. Rarely is there a question of
doctrinal soundness, but almost always it is an issue of preference. One
thing all seem to agree on is that there will be no music controversies in
Heaven. The reason all tend to give for why they believe this to be the
case is that it is because everyone will see the light and will then do it
“their” way. Everyone, I have ever talked to who held a strong opinion on
music types believed God was on their side and strongly opposed those with whom
they disagreed.
Music ministers are a gift from God to help lead in worship. As is true
with all gifts, they need to be received with thankfulness and glory and praise
to God. Further, they need to be given our full support through prayer,
encouragement, and love. When we leave our homes, which God has provided
with all their accompanying luxuries which God has provided, and take our cars
which God has also provided to arrive at our church which God has also
provided, and be led in worship by the music minister whom God has also
provided, and our pastor whom God has also provided, it is absolutely not the
time to focus on our selfish preferences about anything. Satan is the one who
has given the provision of “selfishness.” When we come to a worship
service and focus on anything but the triune God and how our sin disappoints
our Lord and Savior, we have formed and molded an idol of our own making which
supplants our worship and gives Satan great satisfaction. Scripture teaches he
comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He will do that with our worship in a
heartbeat, but only if we allow it to happen. Please pray for our
music ministers!
These are dark, dark days in which we are living. God’s people
desperately, more than ever need to huddle as the body of Christ together to
draw strength from God and one another to try and endure until the end which is
coming quickly. How foolish to snipe at one another over miniscule
matters of total insignificance. We must grow up in the Lord. We
must relinquish our idols, and give it all to Jesus. Forget the notion
that “my” way is best, and focus on the beauty of the Lord, the worthiness of
the Lord, the greatness of your salvation, and the sacrifice that He made on
the cross and be thankful for the gifts he has given in people. In particular,
thank Him for those who sacrifice of themselves enormously to serve as youth
ministers and as music ministers.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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