I am starting to notice that there is a weight the deeper you get into pastoral ministry. As we proceed with team building and training with Awana, and getting our Community Group together this fall, we are having a lot of hard conversations with people about where they are at. Work challenges, relationship challenges, sin struggles all pile up on people. As their pastor (even if I am not the main pastor) I empathize and feel the weight of those problems.
There is some truth to the idea that pastors are either narcissistic or co-dependent to degrees. This area is definitely an area of co-dependence. I also have this quirk where I am always trying to solve everyone’s problems. Reining that tendency in is important.
Phil said I would be stretched this fall. It appears that is already the case.
By the way, in anticipation of my next preaching event, somebody buy me this book! Yeah. The one to the right. Over there. You see it.
Tags: awana, co-dependency, narcissism, pastoral care, small groups
