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The overall objective of this book is to help us learn to understand what a pastor and his/her family go through on the ministry road. Ministry can be an extremely joyful time with the transforming work of Christ in peoples lives, but it can be a very sad and painful time with critical elders, laymen that are not satisfied, and those who gossip and meddle because their feelings are hurt or the pastor did not meet their expectations. The pastor and his wife build walls because they are afraid of the hurtful words and unexpected painful conversations. Their kids are affected by the pain and sometimes walk away from the Lord. Finally, they leave the church (not because they want to) in a way quite similar to a divorce, sad that they aren’t a part of the body to which God had connected them, empty, wounded and sometimes abused.

If you are in anyway involved in the church body, whether as a pastor, elder, deacon, leader or layman, you need to read this book. The body of Christ is in a state of turmoil. Pastors and their families are not treated with the grace of Christ, but expected to work harder at any and all tasks. The pastor is not seen as a person on a journey, but he or she is expected to have arrived and live the perfectly sanctified life. H.B. London and Neil B. Wiseman in Pastors at Greater Risk, ( the updated of Pastors at Great Risk say, “The risks in ministry are greater than ever. Pastors are working harder in a world that’s more corrupt. They wonder why their parishioners expect them to squander energy on trivial matters when evil threatens to wreck the human race. Fatigue shows in the eyes of the pastors. Worry slows their stride. Vagueness dulls their preaching.” As Gary L. Pinion states, “This struggle takes a terrible toll, as pastors wrestle with crammed calendars, hectic homes, splintered dreams, starved intimacy and shriveled purpose. Some quit in hopelessness. Others lapse into passivity and many of the rest just hold on by their fingernails.”

Along with worn out pastors, the church has parishioners that behave in ways that will demolish the body of Christ. As Paul Dixon writes, “hundreds of Bible-believing churches reported that twenty-five percent had suffered major splits in their membership during the previous fives years. Another five percent said they anticipated a significant division in the near future.” Dixon concludes that, “The problems in the church are not primarily doctrinal or moral. They are, rather, brothers and sisters in Christ who have bitter, critical, unforgiving spirits.”

Wayne Kiser, following a study he conducted of 250 churches that experienced serious conflict, concluded, “It is typically people perpetrated. Someone disagrees with the pastor, begins a quiet crusade among others in the congregation and forces the pastor to resign.”

The church is in danger: hurt pastors and their families; also churches are falling apart; most importantly, the gospel of Jesus Christ is being compromised and we are not reaching out to our neighborhoods or communities to further God’s kingdom. Satan is loving this. I once heard a pastor comment, “Why save the lost when we can fight with the saved.”

Why does Pinion's book help? Only a pastor and the family really understand the pressure that they go through. The elder, leader, layman, don’t understand the attacks of satan on the pastor and his family and the tactics he uses to damage the gospel of Jesus Christ. The pastorate is hard work with great pressure. Satan is waiting at any moment to attack the gospel. Satan is more pleased with a maimed pastor then a pastor that dies. The pastor that dies is considered a martyr for Christ.

This book will give you insight, information, and will encourage grace and compassion for the pastor and his family. It will help you to become more of a comrade with your pastor and walk the journey of ministry together. You will understand that some churches deal with generational sin (bitter soil), and until it is worked through with Christ they will continue to hurt and wound pastors and their families, and most importantly the gospel of Jesus Christ will not be proclaimed.

My husband and I went through a very difficult ministry situation and I read this book twice. It helped me work through my hurts and pains and it has helped me to be more compassionate with the pastor and his family in the church we choose to attend. My eyes have been opened more dramatically to the battle that we are fighting for Christ, and to reach out instead of fighting among ourselves.

Robin Mounce