Daily Discussion Question: How do you combat discouragement?
Jeremy Geerdes
ideas of being the next Bill Hybels. Wherever I ended up, I just knew
the people of that church would be immediately anointed with the Holy
Spirit as the disciples were at Pentecost, and with the flames still
dancing over their head, they would rush out into the street with
godly vim and vigor so that the congregation would be, in short order,
bursting at the seams.
Okay, so maybe my ideas weren't quite that grand, but my expectations
were pretty high.
Now, seven years later, while I still readily acknowledge that there
are many, many things left to learn, I think I have a much better
understanding of the reality of ministry. But that understanding did
not always come easily. There have been people who rejected the gospel
message, ministries that either died or never even took off for one
reason or another, and longtime members who simply faded from the
congregation despite my best efforts to encourage them and reclaim
them for the Lord. And sometimes, in those quiet moments when I'm
alone in the church or dealing with the same people for the same old
sin issue again, it's easy for me to start asking the questions that I
think we've all asked from time to time:
Why hasn't my church exploded with new growth? Why haven't my youthful
enthusiasm and theological genius sparked revival in my community? Why
have my ministries, my ideas, my efforts failed so miserably at times?
To put it mildly, it's easy for me to get discouraged sometimes. And
when I'm discouraged, it's easy for me to become disparaging toward
myself, my family, and/or my church.
In Scriptures, I believe that there are clear instances where the
heroes of our faith were discouraged, and there are clear accounts of
how those heroes dealt with that discouragement. For instance, when
Elijah was on the run for his life, hiding in the desert, the Lord
came to him in the still small voice and said, basically, "Get over
it." And when Paul found the people of Athens ready for a debate but
not willing to repent, he ended up leaving Athens to rejoin the rest
of his team. These passages are great for telling us that others have
had tough times before us, but not necessarily all that encouraging.
So here's the question: How do you combat discouragement?
Rev. Jeremy R. Geerdes, Pastor
Debra Heights Wesleyan Church
4025 Lower Beaver Rd.
Des Moines, IA 50310
p/f: (515) 279-5212
h: (515) 277-7491
jgee...@mchsi.com
jgeerdes.wordpress.com
ste...@discoveroakhills.com
call it, when we were in college. We knew what was wrong with the
church and we thought we knew how to fix it. In a lot of ways we were
probably fairly accurate about what was wrong just not so clear on why
it is this way and how to solve it. It doesn't help that there are
people out there who seem to have "figured it out" and are seeing
great things happening. The situation certainly does breed an
opportunity for discouragement.
I have been pondering your question all day. I am sorry to say that I
have not come up with any really bright answers. I want to say, if we
only do A, B, and C then discouragement will be no more. Or to say
that all we have to be is like the name it and claim folks, "I do not
claim the spirit of discouragement! I am not discouraged!"
Here are the limited thoughts I can come up with. No great answers and
they certainly don't work every time but getting out of the office
helps. During the week our large church building with only me in it
hour after hour can be less than encouraging. Unfortunately, I cannot
afford to go to Panera five days a week to do my study and reading.
Meeting with other pastors can help me. They understand life,
sometimes.
Meeting with people in the church. Of course, as you already said,
sometimes those meetings can be more discouraging than encouraging.
Going to the gym. Burn off some pent-up energy.
Al Gorke had good advice he gave to us just before coming here about
how one spends their time and who with. Involved identifying the very
draining, very important, and other peoples. Unfortunately I can't
recall it all now. If he reads this I wish he would share.
Thanks for the question,
Stephen
On Mar 31, 10:07 am, Jeremy Geerdes <jrgeer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> When I was in Bible college, studying to be a pastor, I had grand
> ideas of being the next Bill Hybels. Wherever I ended up, I just knew
> the people of that church would be immediately anointed with the Holy
> Spirit as the disciples were at Pentecost, and with the flames still
> dancing over their head, they would rush out into the street with
> godly vim and vigor so that the congregation would be, in short order,
> bursting at the seams.
>
> Okay, so maybe my ideas weren't quite that grand, but my expectations
> were pretty high
>
> jgeerdes.wordpress.com
Jeremy Geerdes
wholeheartedly with you that, all too often, we subscribe to the "name
it claim it" approach and fall back on the pat answer, "Pray about
it." For some reason, we assume that, as pastors, that should be good
enough. Certainly, prayer must be a part of our battle with
discouragement, but I don't think it should be the sum total of it.
I've been thinking about the question for several days myself, and
I've come up with a couple of things that really help me. The first is
spending time away from the church and the house. Whether it's hunting
or fishing or working out or going for a drive or even just walking
the mall, it's better than just sitting around focusing on what isn't
going as well as you had expected. Second, hang out with people
outside of the church. This is not to say that the people can't be
connected with the church; it's to say that your group activity is not
related to the church.
Another very encouraging thing that I started doing after my first
year of ministry was what I call the State of the Church address.
Essentially, this is a chance for me to get up in front of the
congregation and review with them what God has done over the past
year, how that compares to what we were thinking would happen/we would
accomplish, and what we need to do over the next year. This is
encouraging because, almost always, God does more than we ever asked
or imagined over the course of a year, and the longer-term perspective
allows me to see that, even if it wasn't exactly what I expected, He
is at work in powerful ways. In our church, the State of the Church
address has since become a mainstay of the month of May (we usually do
it the Sunday of our Local Church Conference), and people even ask
when it's coming again because they get encouragement out of it, too.
When I'm discouraged, I also like to mow the yard or clean.
A couple of things I know do NOT work: watching television, surfing
the internet, stewing about how I could have done something better.
Jeremy R. Geerdes
Effective website design & development
Des Moines, IA
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If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights
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