Grow a Healthy Church

Church Health Church Growth Church Leadership

How to Avoid Being Crushed by the Relentless Toll Of Ministry

6 Comments

The day I was told you’ve got cancer was darker than the other side of the moon.

Ministry life had been skipping along as usual.

However, my annual blood tests regime showed my PSA reading was trending high. A possible sign of prostate cancer.

My Doctor arranged a biopsy and my new year equilibrium was shattered by my dark side of the moon day.

After getting a second opinion I decide to proceed with invasive surgery and have my prostate removed.

Surgery presented genuine risks.

Severe incontinence and sexual dysfunction were possibilities and countenancing these dreaded outcomes took an emotional toll.

Thankfully I came through the procedure without those dreaded side effects and eleven years later I remain cancer free.

How do you survive traumatic scenarios like a cancer diagnosis and continue to thrive in ministry?

I pastored in our church for 30 years and during that time I not only survived cancer but mind-bending depression and my wife’s burnout. How do you avoid being crushed by the relentless toll of ministry especially when life throws you curve balls?

1. Prayer

One of the more traumatic seasons of my life was a relational breakdown with a key mentor that led to 15 months of dark depression during which I suffered suicidal thoughts.

[Read more…]

3 Ways Your Church Benefits When You Take Holidays

9 Comments

It’s happened again.

Another exhausted pastor who needs a holiday more than I need to eat ice cream on a hot summer’s day.

In the last 7 years, I’ve conducted over 100 church health consults and there have been recurring themes in these consults.

One of those themes is the inability of pastors to take holidays.

I find pastors accumulate numerous weeks of holiday time. While this is a financial liability to their church, this poses a far greater risk to their wellbeing and the health of their family.

3 Physical Reasons Pastors Must Take Regular Holidays

  1. Prevent heart disease

The 2010 Framingham Heart Study revealed that men who took regular holidays were more than 32% less likely to die from a heart attack. That percentage moves to 50% for women. Refusing to take holidays diminishes your physical health.

  1. Reduce stress load

An American Psychological Association 2015 study discovered that stress is lowered when a person escapes their workday environment. I think common sense will tell you the same thing. A small University of Vienna study discovered that people’s health improved after taking holidays. Workers had fewer stress-related physical complaints such as headaches and back pain. Remarkably, they still felt better five weeks later.

  1. Improved sleep

People relax on holidays as they change their pace and engage with different activities. The change of pace often combined with increased fresh air lends itself to better sleep patterns which in turn produces improved health.

pastor holidays

[Read more…]

7 Genuine Reasons I Have Never Quit Ministry

11 Comments

My resignation letter was written.

And printed.

It was skillfully crafted and I was ready to show it to Dianne and tell her my well-founded reasons for wanting to quit the ministry.

As we sat in a beautiful seaside cafe I told her I was tired, discouraged and over it.

Then I showed her the letter. She read it and then put in her pocket.

I never saw it again.

Dianne told me that she wasn’t going anywhere and that there had to be another way.

Thankfully we found another way and I didn’t quit.

There have been other times when I’ve wanted to quit and walk away from being a pastor.

What has kept me from quitting?

7 Reasons Why I Have Never Quit Ministry

quit scrabble photo

Photo by jeffdjevdet

[Read more…]

Life Changing Advice I’d Give My 35-Year-Old Self: Rod Waters, The Interview

6 Comments

Rod Waters, with his wife Wendy, has planted two churches in over 30 years of ministry. They planted their first church over 30 plus years ago in the tropical far north of Western Australia, in Broome.

Rod was also a team pastor in our church for a few years, and over 20 years ago planted C3 Church Joondalup which he still pastors today. He’s also a business owner and an investor.

Rod Waters is a close friend and we even went to high school together.

John Finkelde:   What would you say to your 35-year-old self about organizing your week as a pastor and as a leader?

Rod Waters:       Organization was something which wasn’t my strength. I love my spontaneity.

However, it cost me dearly because I’d often didn’t use a calendar and just used my head. A lot of things got neglected and forgotten. Then there’d always be those midnight screamers, where you’d wake up with a fright thinking, “Oh no, I’ve forgotten something,” or, “I forgot to call that person.”

Inevitably, my sermon would boil down to the end of the week and I would start frantically listening to sermon tapes on Saturday afternoon, hoping that God might speak to me.

I’d neglect the family, and if I could have 35 again, I would say that Saturday is for your family.

After many, many years of frenetically preparing on Saturday, and even into Saturday nights, I started doing my sermons during the week.

I wish I had done that earlier.

35-year-old self

Ps Rod Waters preaching.

10 Reasons Why One Australian Pastor Continues To Walk In His Call To Pastoral Ministry

3 Comments

Rob Buckingham has been a pastor for 30 years.

That alone says something powerful about the man.

He’s also a good friend, a fellow blogger and I recently asked him to write for my blog.

Rob and his wife Christie pastor Bayside Church in Melbourne which has enjoyed immense fruitfulness under their leadership for 24 years.

In this post, Rob outlines 10 reasons why he continues to walk in the call to the pastoral ministry which he received over 30 years ago.

Call To Pastoral Ministry

Rob Buckingham.

A number of years ago I was sitting around a dinner table enjoying a wonderful meal with a number of pastors.

One of the topics of conversation that came up that night centered around the question, “Why do you do what you do?”  It’s a great question, and one I gave some consideration to.

Over the next few weeks I wrote down 10 things that answer that question for me.  Here’s my list: