I love those rare moments when I read two seemingly unrelated articles that, by the pure coincidence of the timing of my reading them, lead me to see things a new way. This happened to me today when I read a blog post by Tyndale Seminary grad and hospital chaplain Sam Williams. He wrote about and then quoted Presbyterian Minister, and Tyndale professor, Rev. Dr. Victor Shepherd.
In the excerpt from Dr. Shepherd’s sermon the following line caught my eye:
as often as I’m thrilled I’m also startled, sobered and awed, for I recall Jean Vianney: “If we really knew what it is to be a pastor, we couldn’t endure it.”
I might not have taken much if I had not also recently read an article in the Presbyterian Record about the difficulties faced by pastors in our church:
While many Christians struggling with mental illness turn to their minister for comfort and help, our clergy themselves are suffering. A recent survey conducted by the Centre for Clergy Care on Clergy Well-Being (led by Rev. Andrew Irvine of Knox College, Toronto) revealed some disturbing trends. In their survey of more than 300 ministers from six Canadian denominations, they found that the number of those who had been diagnosed with clinical depression was double the national average.
Dr. Shepherd’s quotation of Jean Vianney is too easily dismissed on its own. Add to it the weight of the research behind the Record’s article and it becomes an sweeping indictment.
This site is one of 90 on the