Untitled Sermon (24)

"We thought we were going to have to call the cops."

This is not the sentence you want to hear about a meeting of the congregation that you just accepted a call to pastor.

What do you do when you show up to pastor a church, excited about the future, and you realize that a relational explosion has gone off and decimated the church body? This is what I will refer to as a "post-nuclear church." I've spent the last five years in a "post-nuclear church" and I've learned some keys to serving in a situation like this.

I arrived at my current church in August 2020 with a group of hurting brothers and sisters who had been through a great ordeal. What had once been upwards of 140 people was now about 25 souls. Their former pastor had lost his marriage and left ministry altogether. In the transitional time an interim pastor, working with the worship pastor attempted what could only be called a hostile takeover. The result was a deluge of members leaving the church.

Most of the men reading this article are likely either pastoring a church amid revitalization or in desperate need of it. When I was first asked to consider a call to pastor here, I had no idea the level of disintegration that would happen in the meantime and the remnant that I would find in need of being replanted. Add to this that we moved to town in the middle of a global pandemic and we would be taking a significant pay cut to our family income. It doesn't sound like a setup for success or a happy story. What I found was a small group of some of the most resilient and loving people I had ever met. They were deeply wounded and needed a tender shepherd to love, care for, and lead them with the Word of God.

This is one of the keys I have discovered to replanting or revitalization: these are people. You must love the people and care for them where they are at. And this process will take time. Many times we come to a church and see the situation before us and we often will blame the people for the situation they are in first, before caring for them in their need. I believe this is an oversight on our part. Changes will come, and they did for us, more quickly than anticipated. But typically, developing relationships and walking through hurt and trust issues with people takes time.

As pastors, we know we are shepherds of the flock and that we serve as such under the leadership of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 40:11 is striking to me in the way it speaks of how our mighty God is also tender in His care for His sheep. This encouragement was being delivered to a people in exile who had seemingly forgotten the very character of God.

Isaiah 40:11 ESV

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

We as under shepherds should learn from and imitate the Lord's tender care towards the hurting, always with the truth of the Word of God. We need to actively care for and shepherd their hearts. Some of these types of post-nuclear church situations will require more care and more tenderness than others. There may also be some who will need a more stern response. We need to be aware of the battlefield and able to adapt to each situation to serve the way it's required as each sheep hobbles back into the pen.

1 Peter 5:2 ESV

shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;

My encouragement to you, brother pastor, is to love the sheep well. They have been hurt in ways that may not be immediately visible and in other ways that they might not even realize. Remember that many of the responses to you will come out of places of pain. Don't be afraid to tenderly step into those places and help them out of the ditches and keep them away from the wolves.

Some will leave the pen and wander into the care of another shepherd. If you love them well, this will hurt. But God has called you to this pain for His glory and not just for the good of the church but also for your good as well.

My encouragement to you is that when you stand in the mess with the people God has called you to and you walk with them through hardship, know that you're right where God wants you, among the people He has sent you to serve and lead. Be faithful. Be resilient. Be steady in their world of unsteadiness. Slowly but surely the Lord will shape their hearts and yours as well.