Addict incubators

Imagine this. You're in your early to mid-twenties. You've spent several years in academic pursuits surrounded by like minded people similar in age. You're invited to lead a group of people who want you to tell them what to do. This position comes with authority, prestige, respect, privilege and reverence...right out of the box...before you even arrive. Your training tells you that you are to remain somewhat distant from the people you lead so as to effectively exercise discipline. You are led to believe, though it may never be said explicitly, that you are God's representative in this community you've been given charge over. You come to believe that your personal struggles must be kept secret from the people you lead so as not to damage their confidence in your ability to lead them. You feel obligated to be an example so that they have something to aspire to.

This is the experience of a vast number of Christian pastors.

The office of pastor comes close to being one of the most perfect incubators for addiction that I've ever seen. The only ones better might be the entertainment industry and major league professional sports. Through the years I've met pastors who were drug addicts, sex addicts and alcoholics. Some of the most spectacular public flame-outs in our culture have been pastors whose addictions have been exposed (think Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart). Why are pastors such a sick lot?

That's a trick question. Pastors are no sicker than you or me. They are human beings stuck in a system that is designed to destroy them. Add to that the fact that people with a history of childhood trauma and struggles are often drawn to the helping professions (counseling, social work, psychology, and ministry). Which is okay if you recognize your own personal struggles and take steps to cope with them. A therapist I greatly admire once told his class that he doesn't allow anyone on the staff of his clinic who isn't in regular personal psychotherapy. In order to be truly helpful to others you must be healthy yourself. Our pastoral training programs encourage just the opposite. At least, they used to. I think some schools are now catching on. But that doesn't help the tens of thousands who've already been sent out to serve an unwitting public. So I'm not slamming pastors, here. I'm trying to save pastors and help the church move closer to being what God intended.

One of my very most favorite quotes from a television show comes from an episode of M*A*S*H. The psychotic Colonel Flagg and Frank are spying on Hawkeye and B.J. When Colonel Potter goes into their tent Flagg turns to Frank and says, "Aha! The fish stinks from the head down!"

Maybe our churches are struggling so mightily because our leaders are terribly unhealthy people. Maybe we've assured that these people will become and remain unhealthy through the training system we've created. Maybe it's time to take a serious look at how we recruit and train our pastors and what we expect from them. Perhaps the church has placed too much faith in pastors when we shouldn't place any faith in them at all. After all, they're only human.