{"id":735786,"date":"2021-03-09T05:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T11:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=735786"},"modified":"2021-03-06T21:31:48","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T03:31:48","slug":"a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

The church at Corinth was a hard church, to say the least. They were divided. They were carnal. They tolerated sin. They sued each other. They argued over Christian liberty, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection. My guess is this was a church most of us would NOT want to pastor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of us, on the other hand, might feel like we\u2019re leading a church that has its own similar set of issues. If that\u2019s where you are, I encourage you to read two portions of 1 Corinthians: the beginning and the end:<\/span><\/p>\n

o<\/span> \u00a0 <\/span>\u201c<\/i><\/b>I always thank my God for you<\/i><\/b> because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge.<\/span><\/i> In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.\u201d<\/span><\/i> (1 Cor 1:4-9)<\/span><\/p>\n

o<\/span> \u00a0 <\/span>\u201c<\/span>My <\/span>love<\/b> be with all of you in Christ Jesus.\u201d (1 Cor 16:24)<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why these texts are so important. Paul starts this letter by saying first to the Corinthians, \u201cI\u2019m grateful to God for you\u201d and then closes the letter by saying \u201cI love you a lot.\u201d These bookends surround the rest of the letter\u2014most that says, \u201cYou all are an absolute mess.\u201d They were a mess, but that mess didn\u2019t govern Paul\u2019s response to them. Somehow, in the grace of God, he kept his focus on gratitude and love.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When you do that, you can put up with a lot of church messes \u2013 and show the transforming grace of God in the way you lead and love your congregation. We must deal with the issues, but gratitude and love trump grief and frustration.<\/span><\/p>\n

We at Church Answers are praying for you today, struggling church leaders!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The church at Corinth was a hard church, to say the least. They were divided. They were carnal. They tolerated sin. They sued each other. They argued over Christian liberty, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection. My guess is this was a church most of us would NOT want to pastor.\u00a0 Some of us, on the…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":735789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,195,177,191,196],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-735786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-conflict-and-people-problems","category-lead","category-mind-body-and-spirit","category-staff-and-organizational-issues"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The church at Corinth was a hard church, to say the least. They were divided. They were carnal. They tolerated sin. They sued each other. They argued over Christian liberty, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection. My guess is this was a church most of us would NOT want to pastor. Some of us, on the other hand, might feel like we\u2019re leading a church that has its own similar set of issues. If that\u2019s where you are, I encourage you to read two portions of 1 Corinthians: the beginning and the end:\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The church at Corinth was a hard church, to say the least. They were divided. They were carnal. They tolerated sin. They sued each other. They argued over Christian liberty, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection. My guess is this was a church most of us would NOT want to pastor. Some of us, on the other hand, might feel like we\u2019re leading a church that has its own similar set of issues. If that\u2019s where you are, I encourage you to read two portions of 1 Corinthians: the beginning and the end:\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-09T11:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chuck Lawless\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\"},\"headline\":\"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-09T11:00:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/\"},\"wordCount\":361,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Church Answers\",\"Conflict & People Problems\",\"Lead\",\"Mind, Body, & Spirit\",\"Staff & Organizational Issues\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/\",\"name\":\"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders | Church Answers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-09T11:00:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\"},\"description\":\"The church at Corinth was a hard church, to say the least. They were divided. They were carnal. They tolerated sin. They sued each other. They argued over Christian liberty, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection. My guess is this was a church most of us would NOT want to pastor. Some of us, on the other hand, might feel like we\u2019re leading a church that has its own similar set of issues. If that\u2019s where you are, I encourage you to read two portions of 1 Corinthians: the beginning and the end:\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png\",\"width\":1120,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\",\"name\":\"Church Answers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\",\"name\":\"Chuck Lawless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chuck Lawless\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/clawless\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders | Church Answers","description":"The church at Corinth was a hard church, to say the least. They were divided. They were carnal. They tolerated sin. They sued each other. They argued over Christian liberty, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection. My guess is this was a church most of us would NOT want to pastor. Some of us, on the other hand, might feel like we\u2019re leading a church that has its own similar set of issues. If that\u2019s where you are, I encourage you to read two portions of 1 Corinthians: the beginning and the end:","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders | Church Answers","og_description":"The church at Corinth was a hard church, to say the least. They were divided. They were carnal. They tolerated sin. They sued each other. They argued over Christian liberty, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection. My guess is this was a church most of us would NOT want to pastor. Some of us, on the other hand, might feel like we\u2019re leading a church that has its own similar set of issues. If that\u2019s where you are, I encourage you to read two portions of 1 Corinthians: the beginning and the end:","og_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/","og_site_name":"Church Answers","article_published_time":"2021-03-09T11:00:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1120,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Chuck Lawless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chuck Lawless","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/"},"author":{"name":"Chuck Lawless","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f"},"headline":"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders","datePublished":"2021-03-09T11:00:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/"},"wordCount":361,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png","articleSection":["Church Answers","Conflict & People Problems","Lead","Mind, Body, & Spirit","Staff & Organizational Issues"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/","name":"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders | Church Answers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png","datePublished":"2021-03-09T11:00:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f"},"description":"The church at Corinth was a hard church, to say the least. They were divided. They were carnal. They tolerated sin. They sued each other. They argued over Christian liberty, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection. My guess is this was a church most of us would NOT want to pastor. Some of us, on the other hand, might feel like we\u2019re leading a church that has its own similar set of issues. If that\u2019s where you are, I encourage you to read two portions of 1 Corinthians: the beginning and the end:","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-10.png","width":1120,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-1-corinthians-word-of-encouragement-for-struggling-church-leaders\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A 1 Corinthians Word of Encouragement for Struggling Church Leaders"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/","name":"Church Answers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f","name":"Chuck Lawless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chuck Lawless"},"description":"Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/clawless\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":735787,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735786\/revisions\/735787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}