The Problem Isn't Your Church

Most pastors who come to us don't come because their church is falling apart.

Attendance may be flat. Giving might be tight. A staff issue or two always seems to be simmering. But none of that is why they reach out.

They come because they're exhausted in a way sleep doesn't fix.

Because their mind won't shut off.

Because they replay conversations, decisions, sermons, and emails long after everyone else has moved on.

Because the pressure they feel isn't coming from the outside anymore—it's coming from inside their own head.

And that's an important distinction.

The challenges pastors face today are real. Leadership has become heavier. Expectations are unclear and often unreasonable. The pace never really slows down.

But here's what we've learned after walking with pastors for decades:

Most of the problems pastors believe are insurmountable are not structural or circumstantial.

They are internal.

Not sinful. Not faithless. Not weak.

Just untrained.

Scripture Never Assumed Pastors Would Live Unexamined Lives

We tend to spiritualize mental exhaustion instead of addressing it.

We pray for peace while our minds stay in constant motion. We ask God to take burdens while continuing to carry thought patterns that keep producing them. We wait for relief when Scripture keeps pointing us toward renewal.

Paul doesn't say, "Be transformed by better circumstances."

He says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

That's not inspirational language. That's instructional.

Scripture has always assumed that how a person thinks—what they rehearse, dwell on, and give attention to—shapes how they live, lead, and respond under pressure.

"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he" wasn't written as a metaphor. It was written as a warning and an invitation.

Jesus Didn't Offer Pastors an Escape. He Offered a Way.

When Jesus invites the weary and burdened to come to Him, He doesn't promise escape from responsibility. He promises rest through alignment.

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me."

A yoke isn't a vacation. It's a way of working. But it's a shared one. A guided one. A sustainable one.

In Jesus' world, a rabbi's yoke was his teaching—his way of understanding life and God and obedience. When Jesus invites people to take His yoke, He's inviting them to adopt His way of thinking, His way of responding, His way of carrying weight.

And He makes a remarkable claim: "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

That doesn't mean ministry gets easier.

It means the internal resistance does.

Stillness Is Not Optional for Leaders. It's Foundational.

"Be still and know that I am God" is often quoted, rarely practiced, and almost never taught as a leadership discipline.

Stillness isn't inactivity. It's interruption.

It's the practice of slowing the body so the mind can remember what's true. It's the space where anxious loops lose their grip and clarity begins to return.

Isaiah connects peace directly to mental focus: "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast."

Not perfect theology. Not perfect obedience.

Steadfast minds.

Most pastors don't need more information. They need practices that retrain attention, calm the nervous system, and create space for truth to land instead of bouncing off an exhausted brain.

You Don't Need More from God. You Need to Use What You've Been Given.

This is where things get uncomfortable.

Peter writes that God's divine power has already given us everything we need for life and godliness.

Everything.

Which means the gap many pastors feel isn't a lack of divine provision. It's a lack of embodied practice.

We keep asking God to change things He's already empowered us to engage differently.

That's not disobedience. It's discipleship that stopped at belief and never moved into formation.

Change Is Possible. But It's Not Accidental.

When pastors begin to change the way they think—intentionally, consistently, and patiently—everything downstream starts to shift.

Their reactions soften. Their leadership becomes clearer. Their presence steadies. Their resilience grows.

Not because they're trying harder.

But because they're finally training what's been running untrained for years.

The goal isn't self-fixing. It's sustainability.

And that starts when we stop treating inner health as optional and start recognizing it as central to faithful leadership.

Most pastors aren't facing impossible problems.

They're facing problems that require a healthier internal operating system than the one they were given.

The good news? This isn't permanent. These patterns can be identified. They can be named. And with the right support, they can be changed.

We've watched it happen. Over and over again. Pastors who were convinced they were done—convinced the problem was their church, their board, their calling—discover that the real issue was something they could actually address. Something internal. Something trainable.

And when that shifts, everything else starts to shift with it.

• • •

Start Here: A Practice That Actually Works

We created a free tool called 10 Steps to Stillness—a 7-day challenge designed specifically for pastors who know they need to slow down but don't know how (or feel too guilty to try).

It's not a productivity hack. It's not another thing to add to your list. It's an interruption—a reset for the internal patterns that keep you running on empty.

→ Download: 10 Steps to Stillness – Free 7-Day Challenge

Go Deeper: You Don't Have to Figure This Out Alone

If what you read here hit close to home, stillness might be the first step. But it's probably not the only one.

Most pastors try to fix internal patterns alone. They read another book. Attend another conference. White-knuckle through another season. But isolation is part of the problem. These patterns don't shift in a vacuum—they shift in community, with people who get it.

That's why we run cohorts. Small groups of pastors walking through the same fog, learning to think differently together. It's not a conference. It's not a book club. It's a working group where real patterns get named, real support gets offered, and real change actually happens.

We're opening enrollment for spring, and spots are limited.

→ Learn About Spring Cohorts

Not Sure Where to Start?

Take the free Ministry Survival Assessment. Ten minutes. Brutal honesty. A real picture of where you actually stand.

→ Take the Free Assessment

About Tim Eldred

Tim Eldred has been serving in pastoral ministry for over three decades and has had the privilege of training and mentoring thousands of pastors in over 40 countries. He is the founder of The Authentic Pastor. Most importantly, he is a husband, father, and grandfather.