During my tenure as a pastor and missionary, I, like many others, experienced several periods when I was wrestling through some doctrinal issue or another. Our questions can be pretty straightforward (like how to reconcile this church teaching with that Bible verse), or much more complex (like whether the Bible is even inspired by God in the first place). Or perhaps our struggles aren’t doctrinal at all, but rather personal or moral (like how do I reconcile that ideal with this issue in my own life?). I remember very vividly the isolation and loneliness I felt in those times.
Church leaders struggling alone is as unfortunate as it is common.
If my own experience is representative (and I fear it is), this isolation is rarely chosen but instead is considered a self-imposed, necessary evil. The reason for this is obvious enough: “I don’t want to ‘out’ myself. If I admit I am having doubts I expose myself to all kinds of problems, from losing the faith of the people I am supposed to be leading, or worse.”
And yes, I have experienced the “worse.” More than once.
While there are plenty of options out there for a kind of generic spiritual director, what I am offering to pastors and other church leaders is much more detailed than nice platitudes or comforting clichés. My background as a seminary-trained theologian and, before that, as a pastor in a very Bible-centered church, has furnished me with a skillset that most spiritual directors don’t have: I can actually walk clients through the rigorous biblical, theological, or ethical terrain they are trying to navigate, helping them identify the right questions (as well as the wrong ones), all without steering anyone toward some pre-determined outcome.
If you are a pastor, a church leader, or simply a thoughtful seeker with more questions than answers, please fill out the contact form below so that we can find a spiritual direction course that is tailor-made for you.
***Anything discussed or disclosed in sessions is completely confidential.***