Surviving Ministry: How to Weather the Storms of Church Leadership

Being a pastor has its rewards and pleasures. But churches can be unsafe places. They are filled with broken imperfect people. Many ministers of the gospel walk into a church naive about the potential hazards of their vocation. They are vulnerable to difficult people unresolved conflict incompatible visions hidden agendas mission drift and sin--their own and that of others. Other pastors feel trapped in a ministry hurricane and dont know what to do. They feel like failures. Theyre thinking about leaving the ministry. They are looking for help and hope--not from an expert detached from the real world of ministry--but from someone who has suffered through church hurricanes and lived to share the story. Moreover they need to know they are not alone. Surviving Ministry: How to Weather the Storms of Church Leadership includes the authors own story as well as true stories from other pastors who have been in the eye of the hurricane. Discouraged ministers looking for biblical practical gospel-centered advice for storm proofing their churches homes and hearts have found a friend. Surviving Ministry will equip them to stay resilient before during and after seasons of difficulty. Surviving Ministry could be renamed Thriving Ministry but that would defeat the purpose of this compelling book about the significant challenges heartbreaks blessings pains joys good moments and will-this-never-end hard seasons that are the reality of pastoral ministry. Mike Osborne--in sharp sometimes humorous but unfailingly humble honest and helpful prose--speaks the truth in love. [This book] is a must-read for pastors seminarians congregational leaders and laity. --Robbie Castleman Author Parenting in the Pew and Story-Shaped Worship; Professor of Theology; Pastors wife Mike Osborne brings a wealth of pastoral experience and personal transparency to this discussion of ministry survival. Even more he brings a love for Christ and his church that makes these tales of church hurricanes wise tools for serving as well as surviving the ministry. --Bryan Chapell Pastor Grace Presbyterian Church Peoria IL Michael E. Osborne is Associate Pastor at University Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Orlando Florida. His thirty years in ministry have also included pastorates in Missouri and South Carolina. He writes a blog for pastors called Surviving Ministry: Encouragement for Joyfully Persevering as a Church Leader (survivingministry.com).