Bottom Line Upfront: You can help me tremendously as the research in spiritual fitness keeps moving forward. Please let me know who is your spiritual mentor and gatekeeper. Simply reply to this email with their relationship to you—like friend, Bible study leader, pastor, spouse, sister, brother and so on. I’ll do the analysis and get back to you about what is discovered.
For those who want to spend some time considering the source of this spiritual mentor and gatekeeper question, think with me for a few minutes. Who do you either consciously or subconsciously put in the role as mentor and spiritual gatekeeper in your life? More importantly, is there someone else who sets the expectations and opportunities for how your spiritual life will develop? I have been considering for a long time how some Christ Followers have simply fallen into line as consumers—somehow spiritual life doesn’t progress to action. What do they need to get moving?
My pastor is my spiritual guide, right?
For the most part, much of the ministry industry in our country assumes your pastor is your mentor or gatekeeper instead of trying to figure out your specific spiritual needs. The industry spends tens of millions of dollars figuring out how to market to your pastor and to whatever needs those pastors perceive in their church.
In my life, the pastor’s role has been a primary spiritual guide, leader and teacher. Even though I never consciously thought about it at the time, they were a natural fit especially when I was a new believer. And I might add, they did an awesome job for the most part!
Looking back, I see their influence dictated what spiritual growth habits I developed like attending church, small groups and men’s events. At times, they even spoke into what products I would consume in order to grow spiritually.
Sadly, after a move, my new church didn’t have a men’s ministry. Instead of trying to start one, I simply did nothing. Over time, I grew to be more of a passive consumer of the services that were convenient.
So don’t get me wrong, it’s all biblical. Pastors are called to “shepherd the flock” and provide spiritual guidance to help people grow in their faith. I fully support their duty and calling in 1 Peter 5:2-3 (NIV):
Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. –1 Peter 5:2-3 (NIV)
I have simply started wondering what happens when spiritual leaders, mentors and gatekeepers go wrong. What happens to the spiritual lives of the people who have put their spiritual well-being in their hands?
This thought hit me hard this week reading article after article about a series of fallen pastors. Christianity Today summed it up:
Golf carts ferried people from distant parking spaces to the front door. The airport-terminal-sized campus in Southlake, just outside of Dallas, filled with people. They purchased coffees from the café in the lobby, and children played in the two-story indoor playground. In the service, cameras on booms dipped to grab shots over the crowd as the worship band led the congregation in Gateway Worship’s top single, “Who Else.” They sang out, “Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only You, Jesus.” The words that are universally true for Christians may seem especially true in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, as the area is called, which has seen a string of at least eight pastors step down from megachurches in the past few months over moral failings, mostly sexual in nature. The leaders oversee at least 50,000 in-person churchgoers (Belz, Emily. “Deep in the Heart of Megachurch Country, Dallas Mourns a Summer of Pastor Scandals,” Christianity Today. September 2024).
Since we all have sinned, my thoughts were less about the errant pastors. As the article painfully went on, I started thinking about all the permanent damage their behavior has caused to the people who held them up as spiritual mentors, and actually gatekeepers, of their personal spiritual growth.
Two questions are at the heart of this. Thinking through our spiritual mentors and gatekeepers is the first. Please be sure to reply and let me know. Next week, we’ll work at answering: Who should be our gatekeepers?
