I read last week that trust in pastors is about 21% of the public. One in five trust pastors. That’s been in my head just about every day since. There is no way of fully understanding why there is so little trust in pastors, but I am more interested in should we even try to restore trust in pastors. We could guess rather quickly why they have lost public trust and I could come up with a handful of reasons, maybe you can too. And we might say we need those reasons to know what to do to restore trust again. I understand that as well. I’m wondering if it’s a lost cause all together.
Trust is the ability to know that what someone says is true and acurate, born of integrity, and they tell you what they are going to do and then they do it and then they act this way day in and day out. When push comes to shove, they won’t change their opinion to go with the wind, they will stay with their reasons and wisdom in the first place.
If you drive around the town square of the last century, the county courthouse was at the center and still is. Somewhere nearby on a corner or in the middle of the main street is a church or two or three. Several denominations were represented. You could safely call these trusted institutions, along with the police department, a small hospital, maybe a school or a library, a fire house, a local doctors office.
I’ll wager that the trust in all those institutions has gone down seriously, even in a small town or county seat. But it still pains me that trust in pastors has gone down so much. These are men and women that are called to speak for God and do it with skill and wisdom and patience and love. They are to watch over their flock as if their lives depended on their care. And we can’t even trust them or that idea anymore.
I’m pretty sad about that. Distressed might be more accurate. Where are people turning today for a true and accurate word? A life changing word? A wise word and viewpoint? An eternal word? A life affirming word?
I still think pastors should be leaders in Trust. My feeling is that this will be the greatest challenge that we face as a nation. Learning how to build trust again and how to trust our leaders, both inside and outside of the church. Pastors are called to be trustworthy and faithful, both to God and to His people, all of His people. I don’t know how or even if that is going to happen, but I feel it must happen.