What causes a pastor to be ineffective?

Charles Bridges wrestled with this question almost 200 years ago in his classic The Christian Ministry: With an Inquiry Into the Causes of Its Inefficiency.[1] In his discovery he specified ten character flaws which hinder ministerial effectiveness, and his insights are as true today as they were in 1830.

1.  Devoted half-heartedly to the ministry

Whole-hearted devotion to the work of the ministry is essential to spiritual success. The resolution of the apostles was to “devote [themselves] to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).

After charging Timothy about the duties of ministry, Paul urged: “Practice these things, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress” (1 Tim. 4:15). We are called to labor—not loiter—in the Lord’s vineyard. If Jesus considered His “food” to do the Father’s will and work (John 4:34), so should we.

May our passion be like David Brainerd’s, who wrote, “I longed to be as a flame of fire, continually glowing in the Divine service, preaching and building up Christ’s kingdom to my latest, my dying hour.”[2]

2.  Conformed to the world

We are to be transformed by Christ, not conformed to the world (Rom. 12:2). Since friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4), love for the world cannot co-exist with a love for God (1 John 2:15).

Of course, we cannot fully escape the world without leaving it (1 Cor. 5:10), but our affections must not be ensnared. Our loves, desires, delights, and pursuits must be fixed on things above, not things of the earth (Col. 3:2). If this is every Christian’s obligation and high privilege, how much more should it be the minister’s, whose example others will follow?

When I find myself lacking power, I should take personal inventory of my life by asking such questions as:

• Are there cracks in my soul?

• Have my affections attached to worldly things?

• Do I have an undue attachment to the ambitions, entertainments, and extravagances of this present age?

• Am I so earthly minded that I am of no heavenly good?

Jesus said of His followers, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). Can that be said of you?

3.  Ensnared in the fear of man

“The fear of man lays a snare” (Prov. 29:25), and how easy it is for pastors to be caught in this trap!

When a pastor itches for his people’s approval and affirmation, or measures his words so as not to offend the wicked, or calculates decisions to maintain the approval of the influential, he is catering to the fear of man.

When we fear man, we cease to fear God. When we cease to fear God, we take the teeth out of biblical exhortation and practical application. We will preach sermons full of vague generalities unlikely to convict anyone.

Our sermons will be void of hard sayings and difficult doctrines. Personal confrontation and church discipline will rarely make an appearance in our pastoring because we value our own popularity above biblical faithfulness and congregational holiness.

When we fear man, we love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God (John 12:43).

An effective pastor, however, will say with Paul: “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). Whose servant are you?

 

End Notes

[1] Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry: With an Inquiry Into the Causes of Its Inefficiency (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2001 reprint, 1830 original). The substance of this essay is based on the flow of thought, and at times, the actual wording of Charles Bridges.

[2] Quoted in Bridges, 111.