Part 2: 4 Ways to Keep Your Pastor from “Quiet Quitting”
In a previous post, I shared about "quiet quitting" from the perspective of what pastors and leaders can do to help their church members. This post is a continuation of what the congregation can do to help keep their pastor from "Quiet Quitting," also known as fulfilling the status quo of a position and not pressing for excellence or beyond the normal job description standards. See the previous post here: Step Up Your Appreciation Game.
2. Step Out In Faith
When done correctly, preaching the word of God is a draining nerve-racking act of willful submission to the Almighty. While it is one of the greatest honors of a pastor's responsibility, it is also a deliberate decision to die to self-adoration and allow the Spirit of the living God to flow through the one speaking as a conduit to the people whom He has placed in your care. In his book, Preaching and Preachers, Martyn Lloyd-Jones makes the following observation:
““A man who imagines that because he has a head full of knowledge that he is sufficient for these things had better start learning again. ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’ What are you doing? You are not simply imparting information, you are dealing with souls, you are dealing with pilgrims on the way to eternity, you are dealing with matters not only of life and death in this world, but with eternal destiny.””
The steps leading to the pulpit are some of the most terrifically terrifying steps one can take because the one taking them realizes that they get the opportunity to feel the power of the living God flow through them to those whom God sent His Son. But they also know that they will be face to face with the ire of the enemies of the living God. At that moment, regardless of what the preacher wants, acceptance, friendship, approval, adulation, encouragement, and love from the people to whom they speak, they know that is not likely the outcome of the words that proceed. A. W. Tozer stated,
““We cannot afford to let down our Christian standards just to hold the interest of people who want to go to hell and still belong to a church. ”
Pastors and Preachers, charged to speak the truth of the Word of God, know that they must call the wayward to repentance, the religious to obedience, and the faithful to fruitfulness. Heavy is the burden to be the mouthpiece by which God speaks week after week.
Therefore, for many pastors, the most fantastic means to prevent them from the weekly temptation to "quietly quit" and simply give a "good talk" is for the interdependent parts that make up the whole of the body of Christ to step out in faith. When a pastor sees their congregation beginning to put into practice the word of God proclaimed from the pulpit, the spiritual shouts of the enemy are quieted. In those moments, the pastor feels that the pain and self-sacrifice are worth the weekly turmoil of sermon preparation. By stepping out in faith, you are encouraging the pastor and heeding the leading of the under-shepherd of God, who is charged with caring for your soul.
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