Stone, Five Ministry Killers and How to Defeat Them

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Charles Stone, Five Ministry Killers and How to Defeat Them: Help for Frustrated Pastors – Including New Research from the Barna Group. Bethany House, 2010.

Referenced in: Ministry Burnout, Preventing and Overcoming

LifeandLeadership.com Summary

This represents research from Barna Research Group, LifeWay Research, and Christianity Today’s NationalChristianPoll.com on over 2,000 pastors and more than 600 churches. The appendix describes the research method. The research revealed five potent killers in pastor’s lives (see list below). Stone reflects on the research by suggesting a four-step process that can help overcome the killers before they overcome us.

From the Publisher

Before pastors reach burnout and leave the ministry, they experience frustration and disappointment in ministry. Charles Stone, a veteran pastor, helps his fellow pastors understand and meet the challenges, regaining hope and energy to continue in their calling. Based on new information from The Barna Group and additional research, Stone shows readers what pastors are saying about ministry and how to overcome the obstacles, rebuild community within the congregation, and persevere with joy.

What Frustrates You in Ministry? You probably began your ministry believing you’d make a kingdom difference. That dream may now seem elusive. Perhaps your journey has brought more frustration than happiness, and you wonder if it’s time to move on, or out. Have you searched the Web for openings in other churches recently? Thought about selling insurance? Getting your Realtor’s license?

Every church is different, and the situations you face are unique to your setting, but common threads are found in many churches. Using customized, commissioned research from the Barna Group and others, veteran pastor Charles Stone points to five potent killers in pastors’ lives:

  1. A head-in-the-sand mentality that denies problems
  2. Emotional investment in the wrong issues
  3. Unhealthy responses to ministry frustrations
  4. A Lone Ranger attitude that says “God and I can handle this”
  5. Attitudes and actions that lead to lonely, hurting spouses.

Stone then uses his thirty years of pastoral experience to unpack these problems so you can regain real hope and energy to continue in your calling.

No unrealistic advice or simplistic solutions. Just hard questions and straight answers that will lead to healing and restoration for you and your congregation.

Here is a practical plan that will

  • Show how to defeat obstacles with the potential to kill your ministry
  • Illustrate healthy ways to respond to aggravating issues
  • Minimize the draining effects ministry places on you and your family (with wise insights from Sherryl Stone, the author’s wife)
  • Demonstrate how to share with others what they can do to help.

By learning to open up with vulnerability, own up with humility, show up with integrity, and speak up with courage, you can experience healing and renewed joy in service to Christ, your family, and your church.

About the Author

Charles Stone, DMin, serves as senior pastor of Ginger Creek Community Church, in suburban Chicago. He has been in the ministry for 30 years, has published numerous articles, and is the coauthor (with his daughter) of Daughters Gone Wild—Dads Gone Crazy. Charles has graduate degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.



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