Sometimes it feels nice to be needed, but if you need to be needed you may be a codependent pastor. In my previous article, Are You in a Codependent Church?, I defined codependency as excessive spiritual, emotional, or psychological reliance on a person or group. For many pastors, their identity is tied up in being a pastor, spiritual leader, or caregiver. They derive their sense of self from what others say about them or how much their church relies on them. This isnโt healthy service; itโs codependence.
You canโt lead people if you need people.
โ John Maxwell
Needy Pastors
Everyone needs some help and emotional support from time to time. When John Maxwell said, โYou canโt lead people if you need people,โ he wasnโt referring to this kind of need. He was talking about the obsessive neediness that drives people to seek all their emotional well-being from others. Jamey Johnson describes how it looks when the pastor is the needy person:
โCodependent pastoral leaders have a huge need for being Mr. Answer man or Ms. Answer woman, as well as not letting others take responsibility for themselves. Codependent pastoral leaders have a tendency to surround themselves with excessively needy people in hopes to become the โONEโ to care-take the individual. Have you ever come across a pastor who has the tendency to become obsessed with and controlling of the people and problems in their environment? What about the pastor who is so preoccupied (excessively worried) with the problems or persons in the โchurch,โ so much so, that the needs of their family go unmet? Emotionally dependents, caretakers, rescuers are all names that fit the codependent pastor.โ
How does this happen? What causes a pastor to become codependent? While there may be a variety of causes, I see two prominent reasons: family of origin and toxic congregations.
Family of origin
Codependence is most often carried over from relational patterns in our family of origin. Living with overbearing, critical, or manipulative parents can cause a child to believe they need to control the emotions of their parents in order to be loved. As this child grows into adulthood, if they donโt intentionally break the pattern of dysfunction, they will become either a manipulator or a people-pleaser. These are both forms of neediness that depend on the other person for emotional stability.
Toxic congregations
When a pastor enters into a dysfunctional congregation, it only takes a short while before he either confronts the dysfunction or adopts it himself. Pastors who inject health into an unhealthy system usually donโt last long. Dysfunctional churches
These toxic churches usually treat their pastor as a hired hand, not as a servant of God. The atmosphere is so unloving and controlling that the abused pastor can fall into people-pleasing as a survival tactic. They have been beaten into submission by criticism, power plays, and neglect. Iโve seen good leaders overwhelmed by toxic church cultures. It can happen to anyone.
Overworking
The culture of pastoral ministry encourages pastors toward overworking. Driven by their own vision, many pastors will work 55 to 70 hours every week. This drivenness can become self-destructive as the effects of stress take their toll on the body and mind. Working more than 40 hours a week benefits no one. Starting with Henry Ford in 1926, studies of workplace habits show that working more than 40 hours per week diminishes effectiveness and productivity. Those extra hours are wasted! The 200 Churches podcast interviewed ministry coach Dave Jacobs; they say:
โDave encourages all the pastors he coaches to schedule themselves 35 hours in a week. Why? Because being a pastor can really take it out of you! We take โworkโ home with us, send emails on the go, talk to our spouses about the latest goings on at the church, and generally carry the spiritual burden of the church 24/7. If we’re not careful, we can start to work 50, 60, or even 70+ hours a week! That’s bad for our health and definitely bad for the health of those around us.โ
Sometimes the temptation to overwork doesnโt come from drivenness but from the unrealistic expectations of the congregation. These expectations placed on the pastor (and his family) create a stress-filled, people-pleasing environment. Jeff Brumley explains:
โThe temptation to please a congregation โ or some of its more influential members โ can be so strong that it detracts from a ministerโs ability to function in the Christ-focused way he or she is called to do. In turn, lay people come to rely on ministers for inspiration and motivation, thus denying themselves authentic participation in the โpriesthood of all believers.โโ
A Christ-focused pastor will adopt the slow rhythms of Jesusโ unhurried life (e.g. Luke 5:16; Mark 1:35). This will allow him the space to recover from stress, love his family, and worship God in his own Sabbath rest.
Learn Self-Differentiation
How can a pastor break the cycles of neediness and overwork? By learning self-differentiation and identity in Christ โ the realization that who I am is found in Jesus
โOf course we don’t want people to hate us. There is pastoral risk in saying no to the wrong person as well as in our aversion to conflict and disagreement. Instead of being outer directed, which most pastors are, it may be time to look at our core, our center, our true self, not as servant, but as beloved child of God, the lover of our soul.โ
Differentiation of self comes from Murray Bowenโs theory of family systems. This separateness describes how a person with a developed, healthy sense of self is able to distinguish between emotional pressures and the facts of the situation. When we root our sense of self in Christโs work for us and our identity as a child of God, we are
Practice Holy Indifference
One of the best ways to root our identity in Christ and to achieve separateness is to practice holy indifference. This doesnโt mean we become cold and heartless toward others. It means we seek to become indifferent to everything but Godโs will. As we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, we are actually able to love others better. Holy indifference makes us more loving and Christlike. As Jesus said, โMy food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his workโ (John 4:34).
Holy indifference isnโt something we can just put on; it requires a work of God. To become truly separate and focused only on God, we have to ask the Holy Spirit to change our hearts. As we pray for the miracle of focusing on Godโs will alone, we are slowly changed into what we pray for. The Holy Spirit loves to grant this request because his work is to transform us into the image of Christ (Romans 8).
As we become more focused on Godโs will, we also become indifferent to our own desires and to the expectations of others. Our neediness and people-pleasing will diminish. This gives us the freedom to say โnoโ in a kind and gentle way. Rather than being a codependent pastor, we become God-dependent pastors. Isnโt that what the church needs?
While your writing deals with pastoral issues, your thoughts can be applied to other occupations beyond the church. Being a teacher, coach, and activities director at different times during my 40 years in education, much of what you write about being overworked in terms of hours per week was part of the job. I wish that I had been as close to God as I now.
That’s so true. So many employers don’t realize that they are hurting themselves by overworking their employees – especially in education! Those who teach need to be creative and creativity requires rest and space to think. Maybe you can pass on to others what you wish you had back then.
Blessings,
Sean
Sean, thanks for your comment. I have two daughters who teach in public schools. At times, I have been a mentor to them.
You must be so proud of your daughters! They are doing very important work. May God bless them for it.