Difficult People Serve in Church, Too

Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have not turned from your statutes. (Ps. 119:157)

Sometimes I reflect on the fact that we are all sinners saved by grace—and if that is true, then we are bound to struggle from time to time with the people we serve with. Burnout is a common struggle in ministry, particularly burnout resulting from the people we serve with. If you serve in ministry long enough, you will have moments when you have had to go to God and ask for strength, wisdom, and grace to be able to continue to serve with the people in your ministry. Service to others also keeps us reflecting on areas that we need to grow in, and ministry continues to show us our reliance on God.

Hopefully, we don’t view our fellow ministry members as “foes.” The one true foe working against us in ministry is Satan. When God is moving, the enemy comes to destroy all that we are doing for God. We have to be on guard to notice when our greatest foe tries to stand in our way. Trusting in God and his Word keeps us grounded when the enemy comes against us.

Satan will often use our relationships with others to tear a ministry apart because he can’t touch our relationship with God. Remembering to walk in love and to show grace to others will keep us in right relationship, sturdy against the enemy’s interference.

Stay grounded in God in the face of our enemy.

Stacy Haynes is a mental health therapist, author, podcast host, and children’s ministry pastor in the Wesleyan Church.