Pastors are public figures. Whether we consider them to be popular or not, every pastor has a certain group of eyes watching them. Often the pressure can be overwhelming, and consequently leaders of congregations would rather just hide some things that they feel people might question. But not all things should be kept under wraps. Here are seven things your pastor might be too scared to admit, but really wants to tell you.
1. He warns you of your sin because he worries about you
When your pastor starts warning you about the consequences of your sin, it's not because he wants to sound legalistic. It's most probably because, as your spiritual mentor, your pastor is doing his job to protect and serve you and he sees how sin is ruining the lives of his members.
2. The pulpit brings a lot of pressure
The limelight may seem nice, but one thing that many who have not yet experienced being under the spotlight don't know is that it comes with a whole lot of pressure. The pulpit is no different, and it comes with a lot of responsibility too.
3. The church is probably struggling financially
According to Holy Soup, churches spend 82 percent of their funds paying for building and payroll expenses. That's a huge cut compared to non-profit organization World Vision's 14 percent. What does that mean? It means that most churches have no choice but to put all their funds into the basics because the church isn't getting a whole lot of funding. So there really isn't much left to "feed the hungry" or "build shelters for the homeless" even though your pastor really wants to.
4. He wants to take risks
Your pastor is a faith-filled believer, and he most probably has a prompt from God to do something audacious and faith-stretching, but he's too afraid to lose his job because the board doesn't agree with the decision.
5. His wife has probably cried at home because of offense
Many pastor's wives admit that they feel a whole mound of pressure, and most of it is unnecessary. When members talk about that dress she wore last Sunday or how the brand of detergent she was picking up at the grocery store had some racist commercial that she never even saw, our pastor's wives feel maligned and so does your pastor too.
6. His kids feel pressured as well
Denison Forum states that 33 percent of pastor's kids drop out of church involvement mainly because of unrealistic expectations that people put on them. It probably pains pastors to come home to kids who didn't want to come with them to prayer meeting, but they probably won't tell you either.
7. He probably won't retire
And most likely, it's not because He loves ministry so much, which of course He does. Pastoral Care Inc. shares that 70 percent of pastors feel underpaid meaning they probably aren't working on a retirement fund. Of course, many church goers expect the pastor to sacrifice worldly success for the "sake of the call."
Most pastors won't tell people this because a lot of skeptics will just respond harshly and say that all the Pastor does is ask for money.
