I have had the privilege of worshiping in a variety of churches of different faith traditions over the course of my life. Beginning as a young adult, I noticed that certain groups seemed to have something special. Neither denomination nor size had any impact on when this did or did not occur. I came to describe the phenomenon as the difference between congregations where the Holy Spirit was alive and well and those where he had left the building years before, leaving the people to ignorantly enjoy their own little country clubs.

Invariably, the churches that had pastors who were ultimately either forced out or decided to leave voluntarily, went through periods of impressive growth and spiritual awakening. This was almost always a harbinger of a disaster to come. Most congregations do not want leaders with vision to truly understand the gospel message. They want pastors who do as they are told and ultimately make them feel good about themselves—what I call attending church to keep the premiums current on one’s spiritual life insurance policy.

A very good friend who ultimately became an Episcopal priest, once shared with me his vision for ministry. He said the primary function of the clergy is to raise their congregations to their sustainable level of discomfort. That strikes me as being absolutely true. Churches either thrive or die. All go through cycles of spiritual birth, death and rebirth. Unfortunately, too often their pastoral leaders become victims to the same phenomenon.

There has been a culture war going on for a long time for the hearts and the mind of the citizens of western society. It has often been described in terms of Christianity being under attack. I believe this to be a fallacy. Christianity is not under attack; its guiding principles in their purest form are exactly what the world needs now and what truly concerned and caring people embrace. The battle being waged too often finds the main stream church on the wrong side of history because it has become a weapon to maintain exactly the same kind of hateful political status quo that Jesus saved his strongest criticism for. It is not being attacked so much as committing suicide from within. Is it any wonder that faithful ministers now feel discouraged and rejected? I think not. The phenomenon is not new. Rather, I think awareness of it has been sharpened by the pandemic. I have grieved in the past for church leaders who have been hurt and become disenchanted. I suspect there will be a lot more grief in my life in the future.