The job of a pastor is hard. Carrying the sins and sufferings of the people can be a draining, thankless, and endless calling. Sufferings never end. Sin never ends. And no matter how sanctified or mature a pastor is, there is never enough patience, kindness, or love to go around. Perhaps this is the reason why the pastor needs the gospel more than anyone else. The gospel reminds the pastor that they are incapable of carrying this weight alone.

I meet with pastors regularly. Whether in cohorts or individually, in person or digitally, with an agenda or just for friendship, my calendar is filled with interactions with pastors and church leaders on a regular basis. As I do, I have begun seeing something in them that I had not noticed in myself when I was pastoring a local church.

Each pastor carries a weight.

I’m not only talking about a lead pastor. It can be a children’s director, a youth pastor, an associate pastor, an executive pastor or anyone in ministry leadership whose job description requires them to shepherd people.

Most carry with them the burdens of the people they are responsible for shepherding. At least the good ones do. The ones who care. The ones who own their calling.

I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, which some refer to as “The Resume of Suffering.” Paul, the Apostle (Paul the Missionary, Paul the Church Planter, Paul the Pastor), honestly shares how being in ministry has been difficult. He has experienced “greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death” (v. 23). None of the pastors that I acquainted with in the U.S. can talk about their suffering in the same way. But we do know of many pastors around the world who can. They deserve greater honor and prayers.

But there is something that Paul says at the end of the Resume of Suffering that should catch the attention of any person who is ministering to people.

“And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” (2 Corinthians 11:28-29)

I believe these two verses capture the essence of the weight that a pastor carries. It is not a life free from burden but a calling that comes with weight.

One of the things that I have seen among the hundreds of ministry leaders that I have interacted with is this. The best ones, the ones who last, and the ones who make the deepest impact, are the ones who carry with them a pastor’s weight. They carry with them the weaknesses and the failings of their people. In other words, pastors carry the weight of the sufferings and sins of their church members.

Bearing the Sufferings of Our People

When someone in their church suffers, it is the job of the pastor to suffer with that person or family. When a member is given the diagnosis of incurable cancer, the pastor comes alongside that member to pray for healing and also to help prepare for death. 

When a family suffers the sudden passing of a child, the pastor visits them at the hospital, home and funeral to comfort and to offer answers, while struggling with their own personal grief. The pastor is often called to come alongside people in their greatest moments of loss and grief.

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