Man. This is one of my favorite topics.
Pastors /ministry leaders reading this: YES you are allowed to have struggles too!
It is heart breaking to me every time I see the news or read an article about another famous preacher or evangelist getting found in some reputation damaging act like substance abuse or sexual misconduct or worse yet, dying by suicide. My immediate thought every time is: who was checking on them ?! Who was asking the tough questions, holding them accountable, ensuring a safe judgment free space where vulnerability was welcome and perhaps in so doing averting a crisis??
As a pastor, can you have struggles and proclivities? - yes. The difference is, what are you doing about them?
It is a huge and daunting task to stand before a congregation of many hundreds or thousands of people and think “Oh my gosh — I’m responsible for ALL of these lives! Everyone is looking up to me! How would they feel if they knew that I …..?” Now this is not an invitation to spend a sermon hour telling your church all of your issues in the name of authenticity. What it does mean is that as a Pastor you are no less human than anyone else and your high position only makes you that much MORE of a target for the enemy who’s looking for ANY opportunity, to capitalize on for your maximum destruction and your congregations disillusionment.
So guess what? You’re the BEST therapy candidate of them all!
It is in your church’s best interest (and yours obviously), that you take the time to address any surfacing unfinished business, check that pride, assess your mental state and have a safe space to be fully transparent about any struggles or maladaptive thought patterns. The enemy can’t use what you’ve exposed, So come on-in! Bring the addiction, the anxiety, the self medicating, the lust, the doubt, the self esteem issues and the anger problems you’ve been trying to hide or ignore or assume was fine.
Get ahead of the enemy and handle it— or it will handle you— and not just you, but everyone looking up to you.