My “read through the Bible in a year” discipline once again brought me to the Old Testament - the book of Numbers to be exact. By the time I got to chapter 18, Israel was a hot mess.

Aarons two oldest sons had died an awful death for offering “unauthorized fire before the Lord…” (Numbers 3:4). Aaron and Miriam had been thoroughly rebuked by God for attempting a coup against Moses’ unique role before God (Numbers 12). Korah, Dathan, Abiram and their entire families had been swallowed alive into the earth after their rebellion against Moses and Aaron (Numbers 16). 250 of their supporters were burned to death by heavenly fire for their part in that rebellion. Aaron had to intercede before God on behalf of the Israelites to stop the plagued sent by God in response to their rebellion to stop the plague’s death toll at 14,700 people.

Being a priest seems to have been a pretty tough job and it wasn’t going so well.

Then, in chapter 18, God assigned the work of caring for and doing the priestly duties in the sanctuary of God to Aaron and his descendants. The Lord told Aaron, “I give your priesthood as a gift” (Numbers 18:7b).

That priesthood thing, with all its terror, responsibility, dealing with obstinate, sinful people, having to obey the minutia of all those ceremonial laws was a “gift”? Really??? And he had to endure 40 years in the wilderness knowing that Joshua and Caleb would enter the Promised Land and that he would not? Some gift.

Leadership in the church is hard. I have often thought that, other than an occasional brief and refreshing season of tranquility, restful, easy leadership may not be leadership at all - good leaders do the hard things that others don’t or won’t do. 

The New Testament carries forward this same theme of leadership as a gift. Ephesians 4:11 tells us that God gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints to do the work of ministry. I Corinthians 12:7 reminds us that the spiritual gifts are a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. But the actual gifting is given to individuals.

People are given gifts and those gifts are to benefit all. These gifts, bestowed upon individuals, include teaching and leading (Romans 12:7-8), teachers and administrators (I Corinthians 12:28), and elders whom the Holy Spirit has made overseers over the flock of God (Acts 20:28).

As an adult in my twenties, I Timothy 3:1 got me started exercising my gift from God in church leadership: “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” Who wouldn’t want to engage in a noble task?

In my conversations with church leaders, both vocational and volunteer, I don’t often get the feeling that being gifted to bear responsibility before God for the care of others feels much like a gift. This is likely more pronounced for me because I typically get calls and emails when a problem has emerged in the church.

I can only speak for myself here, but sometimes church leadership does not feel like a gift. This happens even though I truly believe that I have been gifted and equipped by God to lead and have had my belief consistently confirmed by godly, discerning people. It’s a burden I sometimes tire of bearing. 

Why do we grow weary and why do the gifts of leadership so often feel like a burden rather than a good gift from God? That’s something to talk about.

Here are some thoughts on why we might be feeling more burdened than gifted with leadership and what we leaders can do together to address it to talk about with your team. 

Moving from tired to exhausted is not a good thing. I’m not at my best when I’m tired. The range goes from not very good to potentially dangerous when I’m exhausted. I have recently had a season where work and life have been more difficult, time consuming, and emotionally wearying. I have long known that we can carry a significantly increased burden of work for a season, but it is not sustainable. The only cure for tiredness is rest. I repeat - the only cure for tiredness is rest. We usually can manage short-term tiredness, but unmanaged tiredness leads to exhaustion, and exhaustion leads to no good thing.

• How do you and your team manage the busy seasons? How do you care and watch out for one another? Are your methods effective? How are you feeling today? What are the ways that you rest and renew yourself amid seasons of busyness? What boundaries do you have and follow that allow you to be rested throughout the week? How did we manage ourselves and our teams during this past Easter season?

We experience dryness in our soul. If you’ve experienced it, you know – if you haven’t, you will but you don’t know how it feels yet. Everything feels flat. It’s not that you are experiencing a valley after a peak – there are no peaks and valleys. It’s just flat. I have grown to appreciate John Ortberg’s book Soul Keeping. Reviewing it has become the opening session of my annual study retreat. It’s not “how am I doing?” Rather, it is “how is my soul?” We can get caught up in the doing of the work that we forget to tend to our souls.

• How is your soul? When was the last time you asked? How are the souls of your team members? When was the last time you asked? How else would you truly know? 

In my policing career, I occasionally taught a class or two. I dreaded the student evaluations. Sure, out of a class of 30 highly-opinionated students I would get 25 or more very positive reviews, but there were always 2-5 who were less positive or even kind. My spirit paid more attention to the few than to the many. Why is this? We serve the Lord well – we preach and teach well. But that one comment from that one person afterwards that feels like an attack becalms the wind in our sails.

• How do you protect yourself from the slings and arrows of the angry or offended? How do you and your team protect one another from them? How do you determine whether the difficult comments should be heeded, carefully considered, or simply ignored? Why do we focus upon them more than upon the praise and encouragement of the other?

Am I a solo leader or one of a team of leaders? I have found that most pastors say they prefer to be a part of a team of leaders rather than having to be out front all alone. I have also found that most pastors (just like the rest of us) like to get what they want. They want the staff and church board to agree with them and experience pain when an idea or proposal is criticized or rejected. I oftentimes give advice to church leadership teams that they should consider themselves as equals, each of whom is expected to lead the team in the area(s) in which he/she is skilled and gifted. This includes the pastor. Most pastors would love to not be expected to be the expert in HVAC systems or all the other facets of church leading and administration unless they are skilled and gifted in those areas. It’s lonely during seasons of leadership difficulty in a church to feel isolated from all others at the point of the proverbial spear. Very lonely.

• How are you working to have a team of leaders? What should the relationships be among and between the various team leaders? Should the pastor hold all the controlling roles (lead pastor, board chairman, church moderator, etc.) or share them with others? What are we and our church doing to help individual leaders bear their burden of leadership and to not bear it alone?

The apostle Paul, after giving his protégé Timothy lots of advice about church leadership and confronting and dealing with some difficult issues in the church, tells him to not neglect his leadership gift. Paul described Timothy’s work of leading in difficult times as his “gift.” The burdens of church leadership are a gift to those responsible for bearing them. We are not to bear them alone but bearing them is a gift. When we grow tired (exhausted?), we tend to see only the burden. May we always be aware, and continually remind one another, that this leadership role is a gift from God to be used for His glory and to see it as an opportunity to be thankful amid its difficulties.

At our upcoming district conference (Kinetic 2024 – April 25-26, 2024) you will be equipped, encouraged, and strengthened. Go to www.Kinetic2024.org for information and registration.

EFCA West also equips and encourages church leaders through our semi-monthly regional gatherings. Contact information regarding a regional gathering near you is included in the Zipline each month. Reach out and join us – you’ll be glad you did.

Let us know if we can help and how your conversation goes. Contact Bob Osborne by e-mail at bob.osborne@efca.org. 

This is one of a series of articles intended to facilitate and guide church leaders’ conversations about significant issues that often are not talked about among pastors, boards, and church leadership teams. Visit the EFCA West website to see prior Something to Talk About articles.