Relationship Overload
Handling people need not be so difficult — all you need is inexhaustible patience, unfailing insight, unshakable nervous stability, an unbreakable will, decisive judgment, infrangible physique, irrepressible spirits, plus unfeigned affection for all people — and an awful lot of experience.
Eric Webster
Listen to these pastors as they describe their common problem: "Trying to meet relationship needs at home and church, in addition to the other duties of my office, often proves too much for me to handle."
"I'm a pastor of a new church that is growing rapidly and moving from the stage where I knew everyone to where I cannot possibly have a significant relationship with them all. Yet people are reluctant to give up that small-church intimacy, particularly with me." This pastor concludes that he's left "feeling like no matter how hard I work at relationships, I am never anywhere close to being caught up."
A third pastor is bothered by "trying to be 'friend' to all people when you cannot adequately fulfill their relational needs. I struggle with the quality of relationships (discipling) versus quantity of relationships (able to say hello and know everybody's name, but that's all)."
These three, like most pastors, are painfully aware of one of the biggest challenges in the modern ministry: relationship overload.
There are so many needy people out there who want to be with you. They need a friend; they need counsel; they need someone to just give them a little attention; they need to participate vicariously in someone else's successes because they feel they have none of their own. Many of these people will hang around a pastor. After a while, you can begin to feel as though you're being nibbled to death by minnows. None of these people ...
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