How Leaders Survive When Facing Demonic Discouragement

So many of my pastor friends have trudged through 2021 as if they were slogging through mud. This hasn’t been an easy year. If we opened the church for meetings, we were accused of being uncaring. If we asked people to wear masks at church, we were criticized. If we didn’t talk about politics, or if we did, we were attacked from both sides.

Pastors feel as if they can never do anything right, which is why almost one-third of church leaders in the United States admitted in surveys they thought about quitting recently. Caring for a congregation is stressful enough without today’s new “wars” in the church, whether it’s the war over worship styles, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, women in ministry, COVID-19 protocols, politics or racism.

Just this week I spoke with a pastor of a denominational church that is enjoying growth because of his openness to changing old traditions. He’s making changes so he can reach more people for Christ, but he came under fire from traditionalists because they fear losing control.

My message to him was simple: “You can’t quit. Don’t even think about it.”

If a dark cloud of heaviness has settled over you recently because of criticism, don’t let it steal your joy or stop you from fulfilling your mission. Take these biblical steps: