Anxiety is at an all-time high and you, as a church leader or pastor, are not immune.
In fact, if you were honest and expressed the questions and fears going through your mind during COVID-19 and the economic shutdown, perhaps they would sound something like:
How long can our church survive not meeting in person and being online-only?
What if our people stop giving financially?
What if we have to let go of staff?
When do we return to live services, and what does that look like?
What if we only have 20% attendance in our services when we go back to live services?
What if someone gets COVID-19 while at one of our live events?
What if some of my members never return and my church is 30% smaller when all this is over?
These are real fears! As a leader how do you respond in the midst of this swirling internal storm of anxiety? Are you ready for the answer?
1. Know that you are not alone.
Remember, you are not alone during these days. Pastors across our nation in churches large and small are asking the very same questions. I have talked to close to a hundred pastors and leaders that represent churches of 50, 100, 200, and even 2,000. They are all struggling with these same anxious thoughts. You are not alone.
Do you remember the story of King Hezekiah and the Assyrian Army in 2 Chronicles 32?
The largest and most powerful army in the world had surrounded the city of Jerusalem; talk about anxiety! Commentator Raymond Ortland Jr. painted the picture well, "The army of Sennacherib is swarming over Judah like a horde of Tolkienian Orcs, and only Jerusalem remains."
Hezekiah was surely asking some of the same anxious questions your asking, just in an ancient Israel kind of way:
What if my legacy goes down as the king who allowed the City of David to be pummeled?
Are we going to starve because of the siege on Jerusalem?
What if I lose my throne?
What if my people are destroyed or taken into bondage?
What if this is the day I die?
2. Stop blaming yourself.
It’s easy as a pastor to feel like any decrease in attendance, giving, or enthusiasm at your church is solely because of something you did or didn’t do. I want to remind you that sometimes as a leader you can be aligned with God’s will and pleasing Him in every way and still not avoid the inevitable storms. Need I remind you that over the past few months the world, our nation, and your church have been hit head on by a tsunami called COVID-19!
Do you remember how 2 Chronicles 32 begins? Not with the words you would think you would read considering the story that would follow!
“After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah.”
2 Chronicles 32:1
Up to that point, Hezekiah was one of if not the most godly kings that Judah had ever had. He pointed his people to God and made wise decisions as he led the southern kingdom of Judah back to God. And yet, the tsunami still came. Despite his life of integrity and impeccable leadership, Hezekiah still found himself surrounded by close to 300,000 of the best trained soldiers in the ancient world, ready to destroy his capital city and everyone in it. Pastor, let that thought just marinate in your heart for a while…
3. Be Still.
How did Hezekiah respond to this Assyrian tsunami raging outside his palace window?
“King Hezekiah cried out in prayer to the God of heaven.”
2 Chronicles 32:20
Hezekiah prayed. He talked to God. He spent some time in solitude with His God. Have you ever wondered what God revealed to him during these anxious prayers? What if we could read his journal for that very day? Well, most scholars believe that Psalm 46 was written by Hezekiah in response to this very event in his life.
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Psalm 46:1-3
Notice how the psalm begins? I will not be afraid.
Regardless of how hard the earth quakes around me. No matter how many mountains crumble and fall into the ocean. No matter how vicious the hurricane outside my window or the tsunami at my doorstep is. No matter how big the armies outside my palace window are. No matter how much the giving decreases at your church. No matter how much attendance dwindles.
Why? Because God is my place of refuge in the midst of any and every storm. God looked into the eyes of his faithful servant Hezekiah and said,
“Be still, and know that I am God”
Psalm 46:10
Pastor, the best thing you can be doing right now is to find a place of solitude and lean in and strain with all you have to hear the still, small voice of your Shepherd. To just be in His presence. Develop an intimate connection with Him and there you will find rest for your soul. This is the only way you will be able to lead through the anxiety and in the midst of the storm.
4. God’s Got This!
As soon as Hezekiah got up off his knees look what God did,
Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!
So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
2 Chronicles 32:36&37
I can just hear Hezekiah responding in praise, “Look what God just did!” In fact, that’s exactly what he said,
“Come and see what the Lord has done!”
Psalm 46:8
Pastor,
YOU are not alone.
STOP blaming yourself.
Be STILL.
God’s GOT this!
Suggested further reading as you learn to lead through anxiety:
Dirks, Morris. Forming the Leader’s Soul: An Invitation to Spiritual Direction. Portland, OR: SoulFormation, 2013.
Herrington, Jim, Trisha Taylor, and R. Robert Creech. The Leader’s Journey: Accepting the Call to Personal and Congregational Transformation. 2nd edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2020.
Kevin Abbott is the Associate Director/Chief of Staff here at the UBA. He has been a pastor and leader in churches throughout Texas for the past 25 years. His heart and passion is to encourage, care for and coach pastors and church leaders. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and currently is working on a DMIN in Lifelong Leadership Development at Fuller Seminary. He is the husband to his wife Mindy and a proud father of three beautiful children (Callie, Abigail & Joshua).
Certain pressures accompany the role of pastoral ministry. If pastors don't have a way to relieve that pressure, their world can easily become dark, lonely, and isolated. It's similar to the one in the pool with their eyes closed calling out “Marco!" But they find no one to respond.