The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has marked Pastor Appreciation Month with a conversation with three pastors serving in Jordan, Kenya and Brazil on the pressures of ministry and the hope they find in it. The three are Shadi Bqa’en, who has worked in Jordan’s prison system since 2004 and now directs the Jordanian Evangelical Prison Ministry; Berto Kado, a vocational pastor in Nairobi who also serves as executive secretary to the general secretary of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa; and Igor Miguel, pastor of Igreja Esperança, a non-denominational Reformed church in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. In its introduction the alliance cited Barna research from 2022 showing that a majority of pastors face chronic stress, with more than 40 per cent of church leaders having seriously considered leaving full-time ministry because of burnout, isolation, or political or social division within their congregations.
The WEA said that honouring pastors requires more than kind words and calls for an honest look at the reality of pastoral ministry today. It pointed to blurred boundaries between public ministry and private life, and to pastors who must navigate secularising cultures, economic instability and rising polarisation outside the church while carrying the grief, trauma and spiritual growth of their congregations inside it. The exchange ranged across generational difference, political pressure, burnout, the expectations placed on pastors’ families, and the challenge of reaching young people.
Asked about political polarisation, Berto Kado said that “unity cannot excuse silence when people are suffering, and disagreement cannot give permission to abandon love”, while Igor Miguel said his congregation does not endorse any political party and that “the pulpit is devoted to one Lord and Ruler alone: Jesus Christ.” On sustaining themselves in ministry, Kado said pastors “cannot keep pouring from empty cups” and described spiritual disciplines, coaching and therapy as part of responsible stewardship; Miguel said that “before I am a pastor, I am a Christian” and that a pastor’s fulfilment comes from the work of Jesus Christ rather than from the office. Shadi Bqa’en described learning to set aside time to rest and to step away completely from ministry demands.
Source: World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) — worldea.org/pastor-appreciation-month-three-global-voices-on-the-challenges-and-hope-in-ministry/
