PLIGHTS OF PREACHERS

TEXTS:
"But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry" (II TIMOTHY 4:5).

"Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, “Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen” (II KINGS 4:1)

INTRODUCTION
Standing before you today is an honour that I do not think I deserve. However, I consider it an opportunity to represent my constituency, the preaching profession.
Having served the Brotherhood in ministerial capacity for more than twenty years now, I think I have gained two or more experiences. I have served with rural (village) congregations and have also served urban (cosmopolitan) congregations. The experiences I have garnered over the years have been a mixed grill. I have enjoyed the fellowship of Brethren and have treasured relationships that I have cultivated. Women have been most supportive throughout the places I have served. Men on their own part have shown leadership skills and commitments to the growth of the Lord’s Church that have inspired and encouraged me. While ministering to these wonderful people, I have learnt from them much than they have learnt from me. To a large extent, it has been a reciprocal affair. I owe no man any apology to say without equivocation that I am happy and righteously proud to be a member of the Lord’s Church and a preacher of New Testament Christianity. We have a Great, Beautiful and Wonderful Brotherhood.
However, like Apostle Paul I have had reasons to despair, weep and be topsy-turved (counterbalanced) by a number of brethren. In spite of the joy that preachers derive from ministry, there are dangers inherent in the job. You would never understand and appreciate what preachers go through on a daily basis unless you are one. Most preachers do not know who to run to and on whose shoulders they can comfortably and confidently cry on. A preacher is every body’s resource but he lives a lone-ranger life. His life is like the proverbial, “Water, water everywhere but there is no water to drink.” He is surrounded by so many but he rarely has close confidante.
In this presentation, I shall try the much I can to x-ray a couple of the challenges (plights) of preachers. It is unfortunate that I would be the only preacher to speak on the plights of preachers because I am sure that I would not be able to point to all the subtle issues that have bothered and are still bothering preachers today. I am sure that a number of preachers present and those who would read these would have more to contribute than I can attempt to do in the course of this presentation.

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF PREACHERS
Preachers in Bible times, as prophets were God’s mouthpiece. The Will of God was made known to His people through the agency of prophets (Amos 3:7). Listening to and heeding prophetic declarations guaranteed the continued spiritual, physical, economic and social wellbeing of the people (II Chronicles 20:20). God’s grace has in every era of human existence ensured that proclaimers of His message were never lacking (II Chronicles 36:15-16).
Under New Testament era, messages were passed to congregations through preachers who were referred to as “angels of the Church.” This can be easily seen when we read through the first four chapters of the Book of Revelation. Future of God’s Heritage is anchored on sound teachings, preaching and preachers’ faithfulness to the Message. Else, God had promised there was going to be a famine of the Word (Amos 8:11-12). This prophetic declaration became the experience of the nation of Israel in what theological historians have dubbed, “The four hundred silent years” and “Between the Testaments.” Acts 13:40 warns that God’s people in our era must be careful not to allow prophetic utterances become their experiences.
Today, there are tale-tale signs that all are not well in our spiritual and theological milieus as ministry has become an all-comers’ affairs; a situation that has encouraged charlatans and opportunists who are bestriding our various landscapes with their falsehood, so much so that the Truth of God’s Word is gradually being lost. If adequate care is not taken, our generation might become the last frontier. Today, lie is gradually becoming truth while truth is gradually being lost to sham and phoney-religiosities of our times. The unfortunate thing is that these are taking their roots in the larger Brotherhood which a segment in the Brotherhood has already compromised and buckled up under the aegis of “Change Agents” and the “New Hermeneutics.”
Preachers keep their hands on the knob of spiritual and theological thermostats of the people. As preachers go, so go the people they minister to (I Timothy 4:16; cf. Matthew 15:14). They can shipwreck souls if they do not know their onions (I Timothy 1:18-20) or build souls if they do. Faithful and uncompromising preachers who have the rimmer of the Word are hedges against spiritual and theological suicides of a people. Nigerian Churches of Christ are blessed with faithful ministers whose interests are largely to serve the Lord and His Body.
The work of preachers, without controversy is a critical one. Like the Eldership, they keep watch over souls (Hebrews 13:17). Consequently, it would seem unlikely that a work of such eternal and spiritual significance can go without challenges. This is where preachers’ plights come in, and these plights are subtle, grave and many.
Brethren, preachers need help! Preachers need understanding, compassion and support. As men who are in the lines of fire, preachers are often wounded and bleeding. Many preachers are today carrying emotional, psychological and economic scars well beyond the phoney baloney façades of ads and fads fronts which they sometimes try to project. Beyond the very many, “It is well” mien, which some preachers endeavour to project lie deep pains, lack and insecurities.

PREACHING: PRINCE OF PROFESSIONS
Preaching is the prince of professions. Of all professions known to mankind, it is only the work of preachers that have spiritual and eternal significance (Romans 10:13-14; I Timothy 4:16). Other professions, no matter how highly placed they may seem begin and end here. Perhaps, this explains why when God sent His Son and thought of the work He was to do, the only work He considered princely enough was preaching. Jesus lived and died as a preacher. So, when we treat a preacher the way we do, we are invariably treating Jesus because He, not only is our Savior and Lord but our senior colleague (Matthew 10:40-42).
The works of preachers are of great significance: moulding characters and shaping destinies of those they preach to. Preachers are like medical doctors – always on call. They are like lawyers – always arguing cases, presenting the best sides to issues, negotiating and mediating between persons. In fact, preachers are conflict managers extraordinaire. The job descriptions of preachers are all–involving. Basically, preachers have their hands in all pies.
Preachers’ work is tasking and energy sapping, which explains why burnout remains one of the most prevalent sicknesses amongst preachers. Some Brethren are mistaken when they think that preachers are lazy and that their works are easy. They think that the only things preachers do are sleep, wake up, pray, read and study Bible; prepare lessons and stroll to few houses of brethren in name of visitations – then the day closes. These may define activities of a given preacher in a given geographical location. They are not representative of preachers’ daily activities. 90 per cent of preachers are more involved; their ministries are total: ministering to bodies, souls and spirits of those they minister to (I Thessalonians 5:23). In fact, the more cosmopolitan an area a preacher serves, the more complex his activities and demands placed on him become.
Preachers have been described as, “Wounded healers.” They, in spite of their personal challenges must provide hope to the “hopeless” and strength to the weak. They must be at the scene where a Christian Brother or Sister is hurt, someone dies, in hospitals, at police stations, at attorneys’, etcetera. In II Corinthians 11:27-29, Apostle Paul describes what an average preacher does in the course of carrying out his daily work:
In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?
Preachers seek to build faith in people and to prepare them for life beyond this realm. It never fails to surprise me that while preachers seek to make people earthly and heavenly useful, some people actually want preachers to be earthly useless. In II Corinthians 6:10, Paul again describes some of the sterling contributions of Ministers in people’s lives: “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” Preachers have invested and are investing lots of resources in people through their teaching and preaching. Often great ideas emerge out of preachers’ teachings and preaching which the audiences apply to become great in societies. Preachers have to dig deeper to be able to make lessons applicable and achieve their intended meanings. As London and Wiseman (1993:21) observed, “Unfortunately, few people stop to think about how much difficulty, how much depression, and how many obstacles he faces to serve in this way.”

PLIGHTS OF PREACHERS
Let me ask each of us gathered here today, “Who wants to be a preacher?” Ministers and ministry are becoming endangered. It is becoming increasingly difficult to become a preacher and to continue in ministry. To ascertain the veracity of this claim, we need to ask ourselves, “How many men, young and old are willing to become preachers? How many parents are willing and at the same time encouraging their sons to take to preaching as a profession? Again, how many women would be so happy with shouts of ‘Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!!’ that their husbands have taken the noble decision to become preachers?” We do not find these common amongst us. Rather, those who are already there are looking for ways to get out. These days’ preaching as a profession is not attractive. It never was. If there was ever a time it attracted a large following, that era belonged to the past.
Materially speaking, preaching is not attractive. However, spiritually speaking, preaching/ministry is one of the most rewarding careers. When God chose what His Son would be, He chose for Him to be a preacher!
Among the teeming Plights of preachers are:

Welfare
Welfare is germane to issues bothering on preachers’ plights. Most preachers would happily contend with other forces against them if welfare issues are given considerable attention. I Corinthians 9:6-14 make a strong case for the welfare of preachers. Welfare is not just about salary. Welfare is holistic. It cuts across the present and the future. It bothers around wellbeing, being able to meet one’s daily personal as well as family obligations.
Preachers have families, not just their immediate (nuclear) families but as Africans, they have extended family members. Success, it is said has brothers, sisters and friends but failure does not. As far as some members of preachers’ families are concerned, preachers are failures. A situation where a man hardly meets up his responsibilities robs that man of his dignity as a man and reduces him to a mere figurehead in a family where he should be head and where he has the natural right to “rule with all authority.”
Many people have complained that some preachers’ children are wayward, turning around to accuse these men of God of irresponsibilities. We must stress the fact that the power to feed is the power to lead. A man who is able to “feed” his family is a man who has the moral right to control his family.
Most preachers because of welfare issues are living below the poverty line. How much do preachers in most congregations around Nigeria earn? Hearing the figures would send cold shivers down your spine. I have preached for more than twenty years. I hold a degree in Communications and pursuing a postgraduate in the same discipline. What then is my salary? To be candid, my entire monthly take home put together as I speak is in the neighbourhood of twenty thousand Naira (N20, 000. 00). This represents half of the salary a least paid civil servant in my congregation earns. For me, an average daily spending for my family is way above two thousand Naira (N2, 000. 00) daily “maintenance money.” My earning as far as it stands today does not guarantee any future for me and for my family. It implies that I would not be able to send my children to good schools. It also implies that I would never be able to execute any medium ticket project such as buying a piece of land and erecting a house of my own. My colleagues in the secular professions have strong assurances of better future than I do and can do much more than I can ever hope to do. Yet, in comparisons the work I do has more benefit than the ones they do.
Preachers in the Lord’s Church in Nigeria do not have pensions and gratuities as people in other professions do. Even our counterparts in denominations have pensions and gratuities. This implies that as a younger person, I would expend my energies in this work and when I grow old, I have nothing to fall back on. The only pensions and gratuities we have are our children, that is, if we are able to train, educate and empower them. How possible are these with the kind of salaries we earn?
People in other professions can afford to go on strike but preachers cannot. Ever heard of preachers going on strike over welfare? Unthink of. If it does, it would be considered sacrilegious. The only way to go on strike is to resign. Preachers these days are resigning their appointments in droves.
Preachers have the same needs as others. They buy from the same market and are subject to the same economic climates and conditions. The disparity between the earnings of a preacher and that of others in the same congregations is like comparing the poorest African country with the wealthiest Western economy.
Agreed, there are factors that are chiefly responsible for this low earning. These are non-centrality of funds which we can excuse on the platform of autonomy, size of individual congregations, locations, preachers’ educational qualifications, evangelistic fervour and economic standings of individual congregations informed by the financial prosperities of their members.
To aggravate the welfare situations of preachers, most congregations have “full-time preacher” policy. As welcome as this may be, it is pertinent to state that preachers who were hired under this policy are not enjoying full-time benefits. If our preachers are encouraged and allowed to tent-make like Apostle Paul had done (Acts 18:3; cf. Acts 20:33-35), they would be able to better their lots in life. If preachers are allowed to use their talents in holding jobs outside their ministerial callings, they would not cry too much about welfare that we have today. The disadvantage in holding jobs outside the ministerial work is that it would make preachers’ attentions to be divided with their attendant half-hearted commitments.
Because of inadequate remunerations, most preachers go cap in hand before Brethren in the congregations where they serve and also go to those outside the Church for financial assistance. This, to a large extent reduces a preacher’s sphere of influence and prestige. Most preachers’ families live on handouts. Many preachers live and die in penury and debt as was the case with widow of a prophet we read of in II Kings 4:1. I have personally heard preachers say in their privacies that they would not encourage their sons to take to ministry. Only few preachers would encourage their sons to take to preaching as a profession. Also, I have heard preachers’ children say to the hearing of others that if being preachers were what their fathers were doing, they would never become one.
One preacher’s wife made this comment: “Our challenge is to live within our income and still not embarrass the church with the kind of clothes we wear and the car we drive. I am not talking extravagant, just respectable.” Do you know that it is easier to identify a preacher and his family by the kind of articles of clothing they put on? In their book, Pastors’ At Risk, H. B. London and Neil B. Wiseman (1993:1) observed that “The church faces a perilous future when pastors (preachers) find it so tough to survive emotionally and economically.”
Brethren, those who sow spiritual seeds should expect to reap material benefits (I Corinthians 9:11). God stipulates that he or she who is taught the word should share with him who teaches him or her in all good things (Galatians 6:6). This means sharing with the men of God ministering in our midst is our responsibilities.
While a number of congregations have taken steps to remedy the situation of preachers’ welfare. I have heard of congregations’ efforts in this direction. The stories I hear are quite encouraging. I want to use this medium to request congregations to do more. I have heard of congregations that built houses for their preachers, bought cars, sent their preachers to tertiary institutions for further education, assist in the training of preachers’ children. These are all welcome developments but the situation is a still a far cry from what it should.

Unrealistic Expectations
These unrealistic expectations can be seen when congregations advertise for the positions of preachers. This is where you see a list of qualifications and requirements. Soon, I see it coming - congregations would be requiring preachers to have PhDs. One Protestant church recently posted an opening for a “Senior pastor's position,” boldly stating a long list of characteristics:
We want a Pastor who is well-organized, dynamic and youthful in outlook: one who is not afraid of innovative ideas or of risk-taking; one who takes strength from and is strong in preaching and teaching the Word; one who is open and inventive, able to find new and different ways to worship God. Our Pastor will look for ways to develop consensus . . .
Realizing, perhaps, that these characteristics sounded much like a description of Superman, the Pulpit Committee added a note at the bottom that reads, "The ability to walk on water would be nice, but is not required."
A preacher is expected to be a Know-it-all person. Because a preacher ministers to variegated classes of people, cutting across all professional divides, he is expected to personally minister to each of them. He is expected to speak with the finesse of a grammarian and with the erudition of a scholar. He is expected to be at home with history, economics, politics, law, current affairs, education, philosophy, theology, just name them. He is a kind of lecturer who is supposed to know at least little of everything and everything about Bible.
Aside these, he is expected to be a sound administrator, church growth expert, counselor, fundraiser, even as a benefactor to indigent brethren in congregation where he serves. Have you not heard of Brethren approaching their preachers to lend them money? I have been a victim of this and till date my life has been frustrated because those I stood on their behalf as sureties have landed me in scores of debts running into millions of Naira, which I am still paying.
Preachers are expected to be above boards with no visible signs of weakness. While this should be so, Brethren must and should know that preachers are humans with their own peculiar idiosyncrasies. Preachers are not “angels,” they are humans with flesh and blood. In my many years experiences as a preacher, I have noticed that some categories of persons in congregations seem to take delight in making preachers lose their cool, make them blow hot and exhibit one “nasty attitude” or another. The same persons would be quick to point accusing fingers at the preachers and recommend that a panel of inquiry be set to investigate the preachers’ attitudes, and possibly recommend their sack. This kind of attitude brings no small frustrations in preachers and also adds to his retinue of plights.

Controlling Preachers Outside-In
Agenda-Setting is a communication theory which journalists have to acquaint themselves with. Next to Agenda-Setting theory is Gate-Keeping theory. In Agenda-setting theory, the media of mass communications control what people think but under the Gate-Keeping theory, certain classes of editors stay at the gate and determine which story is to be published and which should not irrespective of their relevance to the newspapering business and society in general.
Agenda-Setting and Gate-Keeping have gradually found their way into the church and to a great extent, are defining how ministry is to be done and actually how ministry is being done.
Today, almost every brother and sister in church has one agenda or another for the preacher. By acts of omission or commission, they seek to keep preachers on the edges of their ministerial seats. It has become a recent practice in congregations for committees to be set up with the sole responsibility of monitoring preachers in guise of giving preachers job descriptions. While this practice has its own advantages, some people are actually using it to control the man who does the work of ministry.
Consciously and unconsciously they keep reminding him that if he does not measure up, he would be fired. By doing this, they put so much fear into the preacher that he keeps living a false life, works extra hard to meet the expectations of his “masters” and goes home each day feeling insecure and frustrated. Ministry under this atmosphere is no longer a “labour of love” but a compulsive one because if a preacher fails to measure up he stands to lose his job. Of course, anyone who does not like the face of the preacher can engineer his sack anytime and any day under any guise, real or imaginary.
Rather than seek to control preachers through Agenda-Setting and Gate-Keepings, let us cultivate the culture of affirming them. When we do this, we will be helping to build the morale and psyche of preachers and by so doing contribute towards building great congregations where growth in all indices is assured. Ministerial effectiveness is anchored on minister-motivation. The joy of a minister is the strength of the congregation. Let us not seek to pull preachers down but to encourage them. Let us pray for them because their well-being are ours (cf. Jeremiah 29:7).

Political Manipulations
Preachers are humans just like everyone else. In view of this, they are amenable to all manners of manipulations. Sometimes, some powerful interests in congregations who may become their preachers’ benefactors and benefactresses may capitalize on this to engage in subtle remote-controlling of preachers in their respective congregations. When some of these preachers do not want to play along or allow themselves to be swayed, the same powerful interests would scheme against preachers and have them either disgraced or ejected from their midst.
Brethren must appreciate the fact that when they support preachers from their personal resources, it is not the person that they are supporting per se but the work of God. Financial supports should not be means of any sort of manipulations. We cannot do anything against the truth but for the truth.
One of the preachers’ plights stems from the fact that when such brethren do what are wrong and the preachers sets out to rebuke or call them to order they would politicize and would seek to resist these moves with all manners of threats. Many congregations have gone down because a certain powerful brother or sister was a negative influence. Nothing frustrates a preacher than to have his hands and feet tied because of the political manipulations of powerful forces in congregations.
Preachers Doing Ministry at Families’ Risks
It is on record that ministry is hazardous to ministers’ marriages and family. In their book, Pastors’ At Risk, H. B. London and Neil B. Wiseman (1993:7, 11) observed,
All too often time spent in ministry equals time away from spouse and kids. If family stability isn’t attacked and eroded at one end of the scale, it seems it will be at the other! This is a serious and delicate situation. And caught in the middle of it all, trying (frantically, sometimes) to keep ends of the candle burning, is that person we know as a professional minister - a human being like the rest of us, who increasingly finds himself working against a legion of obstacle, unrealistic expectations, and stresses and strains unique to his position in the world…. Ministry hazards are choking hope out of pastors’ souls.
That preachers are ministering at their families’ risks can be established and justified by scores of Biblical accounts and contemporary examples. Eli lost his children because he was too busy with ministry’s demands (I Samuel 2:12). The same went for Samuel who equally lost his children to both spiritual and moral delinquencies because he was busy shuttling from one end of the spectrum to the other, preaching and saving others while losing his own at home (I Samuel 8:1-4).
Why were these so? “Why would it not be so? “A man would be able to attend to the needs of his children spiritually, morally, educationally, emotionally, etcetera only when he is around. Preachers are known to take care of other people’s needs while neglecting their families’ (Songs of Solomon 1:6). Indeed, preachers are caught in the middle of a multifaceted junction: the world, ministry, family needs and a host of others – striking the appropriate balance is one of their greatest headaches.
Let me say this and this also goes to pay much belated tributes to preachers’ wives wherever they are - it takes grace to marry a preacher. It also takes extra courage to remain married to one. Preachers’ wives are at the receiving ends of all that preachers go through. Often, their husbands heap on them their transferred aggressions.
London and Wiseman (1993:21) observed, “Family groups living in minister’ homes face all the pressures every contemporary family faces plus the unique demands pastoral ministry makes on them.”

Attempts At Making Preachers’ Errand Boys
This may not be the appropriate nomenclature, but that is the way I conceptualized it. In some congregations preachers have become errand boys. While appreciating the roles our “able Church Secretaries” play in running the affairs of congregations, we would also need to call some of them to order because some of them have of recent assumed the positions of boss while preachers have become errand boys.
Biblically speaking, there was no office known as “Church Secretary” but there is an office of a minister. Minister is not a position per se, it is a calling. The position of Church Secretary came to be because there were needs for it. When secretaries complement the efforts of preachers, preachers would perform optimally but when they become cogs in the wheels of progress they make things very difficult and often the very source of conflict between a congregation and her preacher.
Some Secretaries have become domineering having adopted Diotrephesic mentalities (III John v.9).This attitude is seen when correspondence are sent from congregations and signed by a certain “Secretary-In-Charge.” Some church secretaries are known to run their congregations while preachers are expected to take orders from them. In my years of experiences in ministry I have worked with scores of these people. One told me that I should know that he was the one who employed me and that I should know that preachers are like wives married to the church, even threatening to initiate my sack if I dared questioned his authority. When I requested for official files of the church, he was quick to tell me that I had no right to ask for any and that the best he would do was to give me World Bible School files of the church to follow-up on students. Except for the fact that I am a bit of an expert in teaching conflict management and conflict resolution and have written a book on that, I would have had it hot with this particular secretary. However, using sanctified common sense diplomacy I was able to relate with him until he left.
Some Church secretaries would not consult their preachers when mails arrive, they would assign responsibilities to brethren without preachers’ knowledge, call for meetings without consulting with preachers, etcetera. Most times, secretaries are the ones who draw roosters for the Church and determine who should preach or who should not.
Preachers are supposed to know the spiritual well-being of members and assign who should do what. Today, secretaries have taken the place and positions of preachers. Some secretaries now have special seats in congregations and woes betide a preacher if he is not in good terms with his church’s secretary.
If the church could be likened to a secular corporate organization, preachers would be likened to chief operating officers (COO) and no secretary of an organization in that capacity would relegate his COO to an errand boy’s position.
Stifling Preachers of Fund
Closely related to this errand boy status is the act of stifling preachers of funds in doing the work of ministry. Many preachers do not have an Imprest Account. Preachers going out to do the work of the Lord and of the Church would have to go cap-in-hand to virtually beg for funds. Sometimes he has to write applications and fill requisition forms just to obtain money. This puts psychological pressures on preachers and adds to their other plights.
There is no point consciously subjecting preachers to lower class status in congregations. If they feel demoralized they would not be able to function optimally and that would rob off negatively on the Church – her spiritual growth and numerical developments.

SUMMATION
“Overwork, low pay, and desperation take a terrible toll as ministers struggle to make sense of crammed calendars, hectic homes, splintered dreams, starved intimacy, and shriveled purpose. Some quit in utter hopeless to sell used cars, hawk Amyway or peddle water softeners. Others lapse into passivity like holy robots. And many of the remaining stouthearted hold on by their fingernails, hoping to find a hidden spring to refresh their weary spirits and scrambled thoughts. No aspect of pastors’ lives has been spared, neither personal nor professional” that is the way London and Wiseman (1993:11-12) describe an average preacher working with congregations.
Time would not permit me to x-ray others issues and plights of preachers. Suffice it to say, however, that what I have pointed out in this presentation would serve as basis for further investigations and discussions.
As I go down from this podium today, I want to thank you for organizing this seminar and for the topics you have selected to be discussed. These go to show that the church is becoming concerned about the plights of her preachers. I want to believe that there is a great future for preachers in this side of our world. This, indeed, is a step in the right direction. Thank you and God bless us all in Jesus’ name!

Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah,
Township/Campus Church of Christ,
14, Agbugwu Lane, off, university Market
Road, P. O. Box 351 (Personal Box),
Nsukka – 410002, Enugu State, Nigeria.
PHONES: 08039596919; 08182820677.
EMAIL: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com;
hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com.

REFERENCES

London, H. B., Jr. and Wiseman, N. B. (1993). Pastors At Risk. Wheaton,
Illinois: Victor Books.