Warrior Shepherds | Part 1: The Need for Pastors
Warrior Shepherds | Part 1: The Need for Pastors
On the blessing of pastors in an age of individualism.
When you think about it, being a pastor is just about the craziest job anybody could have right now.
A recent Gallup poll revealed national trust in clergy for 2023 came in at just 32%, the lowest rating for pastors since Gallup began polling the data in 1976. According to Gallup, people are still more likely to trust a police offer than a pastor, even after the challenges surrounding law enforcement our country has faced in the last half-decade. Given this negative public perception, it’s no surprise that many who may have previously considered going into ministry are now forsaking the option altogether.1 The office of pastor today is generally met with skepticism and apprehension in our local communities. We simply don’t venerate the role the way we used to.
In addition to a skewed public perception, the role of pastor itself challenges some of the most basic assumptions that have come to define modern life. We live in an age where the doctrines of Expressive Individualism run almost unopposed in the public imagination: we are driven by our feelings to be our most authentic selves, and anything that stands in the way of that goal must be overthrown. Our lives are immaculately curated to suit our individual tastes: we unfriend or block anyone we don’t like, unfollow anyone we lose interest in, and abandon any resource that has outlived its usefulness. Modern life presents us with the same opportunity Jesus contends with when He is tempted in the wilderness: to chance to have the appearance of power and authority over our lives, so long as we make a few necessary concessions.2
But a pastor is a leader one submits to by choice. The decision to be part of a church is not an act of authority, but an act of surrender. In some ways, for someone to admit they have a pastor today requires a refutation of the fundamental principles of a secular creed, one that states I require no person or standard beyond myself to determine what a good life should be.
By all accounts then, it would seem the office of pastor is destined to one day go the way of the dodo.
And yet, despite every benefit afforded to us by modern life, it turns out we are no happier than we have been. Living in the fallout of a secular age, we struggle to find meaning and purpose apart from the transcendent. We are somehow more connected than ever before, yet we have never been more alone. Marriage remains in a state of precipitous decline. Kids are more confused than ever.3 Given the way culture celebrates the progress made during the Digital and Sexual Revolutions of the past 50 years, one would expect that the overall satisfaction reported by our contemporaries would likewise be significantly improved. Instead, what we find is data that looks like the graph below.
When mapping these graphs onto one another, an interesting connection begins to emerge: we can observe that the steady decline of personal satisfaction in America actually syncs up closely to the cultural demise of those who were once considered bastions of integrity and leaders in the local community. And while the dishonorable behavior of some clergymen over the years have surely played a part in that demise, that is simply a part of the story here, not the whole of it. There is more at play in these statistics than Americans reacting to deplorable news headlines about pastors behaving badly.4
Let me observe a truth I see hidden in the data: as it turns out, our continued efforts to eschew the ways of God in favor of a radical self-reliance have predictably led us to prisons of our own design. We seek answers and freedom by turning our gaze inward, but instead are left with more questions, doubt, and the shackles of hopelessness. We have relegated ourselves to pouring our water into broken containers and wondering why we’re always thirsty.
“Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,”
declares the Lord,
“for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.”-Jeremiah 2:12-13, ESV
In an age of disenchantment, isolation and discontent, if we hope to stand tall against the headwinds of nihilism, we will need the help of trusted leaders who can guide us back to the mountain of the Lord. We will need teachers who are trained to teach us again the basic principles of the oracles of God. We will need field commanders who deploy alongside us in difficult seasons of life, guiding us to safety and reminding us who we are in Christ.
More than ever before, we need pastors.
We need good pastors, biblical pastors, faithful pastors, hard-working pastors. We need pastors who love the name of Jesus more than the chance to make a name for themselves. We need pastors who will fight for us on battlegrounds we don’t even know about half the time. We need pastors who will take the time to bear our burdens with us and still be willing to say “You are the man!” when we need to be corrected. We need pastors who have character, pastors who keep their heads in high-pressure situations, pastors who know how to lead with the end in mind when all anyone wants to talk about is today.
As I hope you will come to see, we need pastors who are warrior shepherds.
Over the next few entries prepared for this series, I will attempt to unpack just what I mean by that phrase. But one final word before I end here. Your pastor in 2024 is in a precarious place. They operate in a world where they are one (one!) careless word or accusation away from having their entire livelihood ripped away from them. They are worried about their families tonight, just like you are. They are definitely not sleeping enough. They have a big meeting this week they are really hoping gets cancelled. I could go on and on. But consider this: if all you did after reading this was reach out to your pastor to let them know you love them and are praying for them, imagine what the ramifications throughout the kingdom of God would be. Think of what a simple word of encouragement must be like for someone who spends their days dealing with the hardest parts of every life they encounter.
We have established that you and I need our pastors, but our pastors need us as well. Don’t let the awkwardness you may feel picking up the phone or sending that text prevent them from hearing how grateful you are to have them in your life. I suspect results of your actions will ultimately extend far beyond your wildest imagination.
Coming later this week: Part 2 | The Shape of Shepherds
Friends, I’m trying out a new format this week. The more I wrote on this over the last month, the more I realized I had to say about it. So I’m releasing this as a series of articles that will post every few days over the next two weeks. This will allow me to keep each post tight and to the point while also allowing you to read them successively or all at once if you so choose.
My hope is to make this both informative and encouraging for everyone who is part of the family of God, including both pastors and laypersons. If you know a pastor who might be refreshed or encouraged by what you find here, click the Share button below ⬇️ to send it their way.
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“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’”Matthew 4:8-9, NIV.
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To be clear, while I do not think these two charts demonstrate a corollary relationship (that is, a decline in overall happiness does not directly follow from a decline in the public perception of pastors in America, or vice versa), I do think that the phenomenon of their coexistence is interesting and points to the reality of greater existential truths than many would care to admit.