Thoughts from One Depressed Pastor to Many, Many Others
It’s just hard!
Those are three of the nicest words I’ve ever heard.
When you’re hurting and sad and you don’t even know exactly why you’re so sad, but someone, instead of offering solutions or guilt trips or “snap out of it” advice just comes along and validates what you’re feeling, it’s powerful.
It’s. Just. Hard.
I’ve been a pastor for 23 years now, but I, like every other pastor I know, was completely unprepared for leading a church through a global pandemic in a time of tremendous social unrest and political division.
To add to the issues, I’ve personally dealt with depression and anxiety for well over a decade now. The church I serve, Grace Hills in Bentonville, Arkansas, happens to have an enormous heart for the hurting. We are a body of the broken that exists for the broken. We’re finding healing together. So I’ve felt very safe and very encouraged by my church family through this season.
Having said that, I’m still struggling far more than normal to keep my chin up and stay engaged. And I’m not alone. Christianity Today addressed this widespread issue in a recent piece, and Baptist News did the same.
It’s a roller coaster. Most churches were able to shut down for a few weeks back when the…
