“Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!”
Discouragement, Depression, and Anxiety in Christian Service
Dr. Dan Baker
Every year when I was a child the Wizard of Oz would come on TV, usually on Sunday night. Interestingly enough, the first few times I watched the movie, it was on a Black and White TV, so I didn’t even know there was a color change when Dorothy landed in Oz. But through all those years, I remember the challenges and the dangers Dorothy faced, and how with the help of her amazing friends she succeeded in the end. By the way, I won’t discuss the flying monkeys here in this article because my therapist suggested I shouldn’t. I mean, why would they do that to children?
There is a scene in the movie where Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man begin following the Yellow Brick Road through the forest when they become aware of the dangers that may be around them. The three of them start listing the dangers; Lions, and Tigers, and Bears… Oh, my! As they list the dangers over and over again, they become more anxious and afraid. However, they keep focusing on the dangers and keep repeating Lions, Tigers, and Bears… until suddenly, of course, the Lion does appear.
I grew up in the church and had great ministers and great youth leaders who taught me the Bible and how I should live. They all cared for me. I remember thinking at the time, how cool it would be if I could become a minister and help people. I thought being a minister would be great because you work with nice people who are always happy and grateful that you are there to help them. However, after high school I went on to a regular university, married my high school sweetheart and got a management job with AT&T that moved us away from our home in Nebraska to New Jersey. I held many positions in several companies over the next thirteen years, ultimately being hired as the training director of a manufacturing company back in Omaha.
Fourteen years into my business career, God clearly called me to go into ministry. I began my first master’s degree at Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary. Six years later I was contacted by the elders of the church my wife and I had attended in New Jersey. They were interested to know if I was still attending seminary and when I was scheduled to graduate. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that my graduation was scheduled for that Saturday. The elders called me back to the church in New Jersey as their full-time minister.
I began my full-time ministry after being in business for twenty years. Although I had received my master’s in ministry and had worked in many businesses and factories, some of them with unfriendly unions and other diverse challenges, I really wasn’t ready for the types of challenges I encountered in ministry. I remember my first few months in New Jersey arriving to church early and praying earnestly to God that I would not make a mistake and inadvertently push anyone toward hell that day. That was a real fear for me, and I had a lot of anxiety in my new position.
Looking back at that time in my life, it reminds me of Dorothy following that wonderful Yellow Brick Road into the dark forest. God had laid out the direction for my life and I was entering the unknown, with unknown challenges. In the forest in Oz the lions, tigers and bears were real; the dangers were real, and it was good for Dorothy and her friends to take them seriously. It probably wasn’t a great idea for them to continue to fixate on them with their “Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!” mantra. In ministry the dangers are also real, however after twenty-four years inn ministry serving four different churches, the things I originally thought would be the lions and tigers and bears really weren’t.
In my ministry I have experienced a church split that was initiated by the senior minister, I have experienced dysfunctional elders and church boards consisting of power players and people in active sin, I have been betrayed by a very dear friend, and I have failed dear people that God has given me to help. All these challenges and more have come my way, but that is all these things are, challenges and spiritual attacks. If we are honest with ourselves, these are the things that Jesus told his disciples to expect in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (NIV 84)
Please know that I am not making light of all the pain and heartache that these challenges brought me and my family, but by themselves these are not the lions and tigers and bears hiding in the woods of ministry. To me, the real dangers along the road we refer to as our calling from God are “discouragement, depression, and anxiety.” These three things can end our ministry.
As minister, we sometimes look at discouragement, depression, and anxiety as things we shouldn’t have or even be susceptible to. They should not be real to us because we are the bearers of the hope of Christ to a fallen world. We work for God and have God the Holy Spirit in us. Our lives should always show the hope of Christ, and the benefits of serving Jesus and having a relationship with Him. It is easy to come out of seminary feeling if we truly keep our eyes on Him and serve Him with all our hearts, discouragement, depression, and anxiety will never pose a significant danger to us. Yet just like the dangers of lions, and tigers, and bears were real for Dorothy along the Yellow Brick Road, discouragement, depression, and anxiety are real along the way of our ministry for Christ. In fact, I believe they pose the greatest dangers to our ministry for Christ, and it is often because we don’t treat them as real and then do something about them.
Discouragement is probably the first of the three dangers to truly challenge us, and when it does it can hold on strongly and lead to the other two dangers of depression and anxiety. I am amazed how these wonderful sheep that God has given us to shepherd for Him can so quickly and innocently hurt and disappoint us. I am also amazed at how I quickly am reminded that I too am one of those sheep, and how I have hurt and disappointed those around me and my Savior. It is very easy for us to become discouraged with others and ourselves, and that discouragement can lead us to give up.
As silly as this may sound, I have actually become discouraged for feeling discouraged in ministry. In my head I know the promises of God are true and He instructed us in Dt 31:8, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Before you join me in this vicious cycle of discouragement leading to discouragement, I will share with you what a very dear and experienced friend in ministry pointed out to me. He showed me several examples of heroes in the Bible who became discouraged and made it through to accomplish what God had planned for them. He also pointed out scriptures like Dt. 31:8, encouraging us not to be discouraged. He explained that discouragement is natural, and I am not a failure if it happens to me. He said an effective way to deal with discouragement is to accept that I will be become discouraged from time to time. It is important not to obsess on in, but when it happens to me I need to give it to God. Accepting that reality has taken away a lot of the power discouragement used to have over me.
As ministers for Christ, we need to understand that depression is real. God knows it is real and He addresses it in His Word. Over one third of all the Psalms given to us by God are categorized as Lament Psalms (59). Although it would be incorrect to assume that each of these Psalms were written by someone who was depressed, we can easily tell by what they were writing that things were not necessarily going great in their lives.
There is one theme in many of the Lament Psalms that resonates with me, one that I personally find that has made me most susceptible to depression in my ministry, and that is the feeling of being separated from God and others. One of most surprising things I found when I entered ministry from business was the amount of isolation and loneliness in my new position.
I worked six years for a consulting firm in South Carolina while I attended seminary. During that time my wife and I had joined a church and became very close friends with many of the members. Our families would do activities together and I would often go to college games with the guys in the church. One year before I graduated, the elders ordained me into Christian Ministry so that I could join the staff in a part-time position they needed filled. Once I came on staff many of my friends began treating me differently. They didn’t treat me badly, but they also seemed to see me in a different light. They honored me and loved me in a way that apostle Paul would approve (1 Thess. 5:12-13), but they began to keep me at a distance.
Isolation and loneliness are a real problem for most of us in Christian Ministry. I spent the first 11 years of full-time ministry as the only minister on staff and it wasn’t until I was called to a larger church with seven other ministers did I realize how dry and fragile I had become. Being around other ministers and working with them changed me and made me realize how important it is to have those types of relationships in our lives as one way to fight against depression in the ministry. When I moved into my current position I made it a priority to find other ministers in the area with whom I could establish close relationships.
Depression is a real danger for those in ministry and there are many other causes then loneliness and isolation, some of which could actually be physiological. If you are struggling with depression, please let someone close to you know and seek the appropriate assistance to address the issue.
The final danger that I have come to recognize in the woods along the path of my ministry is anxiety. There was a time when I would have seen anxiety as being very closely related to fear. And when I would feel anxious about something I would feel guilty for not having enough faith in God (1 John 4:18). But anxiety is different from fear in a very significant way. Fear correlates to a known or understood threat, whereas anxiety comes from an unknown, expected, or poorly defined threat.
Anxiety is a vague, unpleasant, amorphous sense of apprehension. It is often a response to an imprecise or unknown threat. To me, my anxiety is really just worry on steroids. There are so many things that demand our attention in ministry, and if one is dropped, someone can get hurt or leave. Although we may be able to give someone the authority to accomplish something in the church, the responsibility is non-transferable and that can weigh on us.
There are three things I have done to address the anxiety in my life. I have not mastered them completely, but I am working on them with the help of my wife and my staff. The first thing is rest. I had a dear woman in South Carolina tell me, “Pastor, I know you love the Lord and try to model His life and love to us, but I just wish you would preach the whole Bible.” I was quite taken aback, and asked her, “what am I missing?” Her response was “Rest. Pastor, you don’t rest.” I have never been very good at rest. I am surprised at how much work rest is for me. There are times that I have to go into the mountains and just keep repeating Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” Rest is the one area I need the most help with from those around me.
The second thing I have done was plan more time with other ministers. Being deliberate in relationships and making relationships for my health and wellness a priority has not come naturally, but it has been helping me with my anxiety. In ministry we are often the last on the list of priorities when allocating time. We will often run to help others before we do anything for ourselves. However, as I have gotten older my power reserves are not what they used to be and I do need to make “me” time a priority. If I don’t do that, I will have nothing left for anyone else. Healthy relationships energize me and challenge me. Relationships do take energy and effort, but healthy relationships give back much more than they take.
The last thing I have been doing to address the anxiety in my life has been the most effective for me thus far. In Philippians 4:4-7 Paul addresses anxiety and gives God’s directions on how to deal with it.
“4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
As a minister I have started summarizing passages in my mind in preparation for preaching the passage. In this passage the words that jump out are, “praise, proximity, prayer, petitions and peace.” As I feel my anxiety rising, I think of these words and in this order. I begin to praise Him, in words or song, and I remember that He is with me (proximity). I offer up my anxiety to Him in prayer and ask (petition) Him to clarify what I am really worrying about and see it in His light. I find that when I put things next to God, they become a lot smaller. And finally I actively and purposefully accept His peace. This really has been the most effective way for me to deal with the anxiety in my life.
I want to say one last thing about anxiety, it can be very debilitating. Like fear, anxiety initiates physiological responses, often including the release of adrenaline. In the case of fear, the response is limited to the actual event. In the case of anxiety, the response can be prolonged and lead to severe health issues. If you are struggling with anxiety and you are having difficulty addressing and reducing it in your life, please seek some help from professionals that can approach the challenges in various ways.
As I think back to our original scene of Dorothy entering the forest and contemplating the dangers ahead, I want to point out something that is very important; Dorothy wasn’t alone. She was traveling the Yellow Brick Road with her friends, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man. In each of our dangers, discouragement, depression, and anxiety, having friends with us is an important part of dealing with them. If there is one thing I want you to walk away with after reading this article is, for your ministry to last you can’t do it alone. The Lord is always with us, and we were designed to be one part of a whole body. The wisest man in the world tells us that “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecc. 4:12)
My brothers and sisters in Christ, as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we have the most important and eternal work to do. It isn’t easy, but it is worth it. May we join in prayer with Moses in Psalm 90:17, “May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.”
