Q and A with John MacArthur – Ministry Threats

Q and A with John MacArthur – Ministry Threats

In the book Rediscovering Pastoral Ministry John MacArthur is asked the following question:

What do you see as the greatest threats that may undermine a man’s ministry today?

One threat is laziness. We live in a really busy and fast-paced culture. many men run fast, but I’m not sure they go very deep. By that I mean it is easy to be busy with the short and easier tasks but leave the long, hard jobs undone. We are raising a culture, for example, that does not do the manual labor, at least in the major cities. You hire people to do that. It’s a service-oriented culture in America, it’s moving away from farming and manufacturing, and it’s all automated. Many men do not know how to work hard, especially those who have been in school for a long time. They know how to stay busy doing a number of little things, but they do not know how to focus with discipline on the main thing – diligence and discipline in the Scripture. The result is often a failure to attend to the priorities and resultant superficiality in the ministry – the things that take time and prayer and intense study of the Word – are often not done well.

Second, there are constant threats in the area of personal purity. We all have to guard our hearts and strengthen the inner man to remain pure, devoted to Christ, and dedicated to things that are holy.

Third, one of the chief problems that tears men down in the ministry is poor judgment in building a ministry team. Whether it is elders, staff pastors, lay elders, or friendships, we need to pursue those who are faithful to the highest level of spiritual excellence. We need the kind of people whose virtue, wisdom, and faithfulness to the work will force us to think and justify everything we do biblically. They are not going to roll over because we want to do something. I think that kind of accountability is really important.

A fourth threat to undermine a man’s ministry is a non-supportive wife. It could also extend to the children, but particularly a non-supportive wife, one who nags and battles a pastor as he tries to be faithful and loyal to the Lord and the church. If she is negative on the church or the people in it, or if she is spiritually out of sorts or materialistic and self-indulgent or a little too controlling, she will cease to be that support that her husband so desperately needs to serve his people with joy. A fully supportive, loving, trusting wife who will be honest but who will stand with her husband to the very end frees a man up to do with all his heart what God has called him to do.