I Am a Pastor: Change & Faithfulness

I am a fisherman. Sadly, I do not get to fish nearly as much as I would like to, but some of my earliest memories are fishing with my family. Over the years, I remember trips when we put fish in the boat as quickly as we could drop our lines in the water, and I remember trips when we did not get even a nibble. Fish, it turns out, are fickle, but I suppose if success in fishing was guaranteed, it would be called “catching.”

Similarly, in seventeen years as a pastor, I have come to realize that there was a reason Jesus promised to make his disciples fishers of men rather than catchers of men. Namely, there were going to be days when, try as they might, they would not get even a nibble.

There are any number of reasons why a pastor’s (or church’s) efforts might be ineffective, but in general, they can be grouped into two categories: things you can control, and things you can’t. Interestingly, we can learn how to deal with these situations from two fishing trips which bookended Jesus’ earthly ministry.

The first of these fishing trips is found in Luke 5:1-11. There, as Jesus walked on the beach of the Sea of Galilee (i.e., Lake Gennesaret), he found four men washing and mending nets after a long, unproductive night of fishing. Apparently oblivious to this situation, Jesus instructed the men in vs 4 to “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” I love Simon’s response in vs 5: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing.”

I cannot tell you how many times I have felt as Simon did. I will never forget, for example, the time our church held a block party to reach out to our community. We bought cases of hot dogs and other foodstuffs, gathered a huge assortment of carnival games and prizes, and rented a bounce castle. We even hired a Christian illusionist to drive up from Kansas City, about three hours away. Then we canvased the neighborhood, visiting well more than 1,000 homes and posting flyers in area businesses and gathering places.

When the day of the event came, we had as many volunteers as we could muster on hand to greet the throng of people we were expecting. One man started cooking the hot dogs while a crew set up the bounce castle. And then we waited for the crowd to show up. And we waited. And we waited.

Fewer than ten people who were not already part of the church attended that block party, and I was horrified.

To this day, I cannot tell you how many volunteer hours and/or dollars we invested into that event, but it was a lot. At the end of the day, though, our efforts, apparently, failed miserably. Why? I do not know, especially since our sister church across town held a very similar event just a few weeks later, and a couple hundred people showed up. Everything about our events was almost identical, from the number of people canvassed to the budget spent on the whole event. And yet our results were very much different.

What I do know is that, when all was said and done, I was exhausted. And disappointed. Discouraged. And frustrated. In short, I know exactly how Simon felt.

How did Jesus tell Simon to respond to this frustrating failure? Again, in vs 4, he said, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” In other words, try again. Persist. Persevere. Press on. When we fail because of things we cannot control, then we should do everything in our power to get up and try again, no matter how exhausted or cranky we may be.

At the other end of Jesus’ earthly ministry was a second fishing trip, recorded in John 21:1-14. In the days after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples apparently did not know what to do with themselves. Therefore, Simon blurted out, as he was prone to do, “I’m going fishing.” The others accompanied him, and we read in vs 3. that “they wend out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”

Here we go again.

Once again, as daybreak came, Jesus was on the shore and called to them, asking if they had caught anything. Then, when they told him they had no fish in the boat, Jesus advised them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat… and you’ll find some.”

Now, I can imagine Peter’s response to this suggestion. No doubt, he rolled his eyes. Here he was, a seasoned fisherman, and this upstart lubber (remember, Peter and co. did not recognize Jesus at first) dared tell him how to catch fish. It was ridiculous. Nevertheless, to appease this apparent stranger, Peter and co. cast their nets on the right side of the boat, and in short order, they had caught so many fish that “they were unable to haul [the net] in” (vs. 6).

On the one hand, the change that produced this extraordinary result was relatively minor. If the remains of a first-century Galilean fishing boat discovered in 1986 can be considered typical, the difference between casting the net on the right side, rather than the left side, of the boat was about 7.5 feet. It sounds absurd that such a short distance would make such a difference, but I can verify from personal experience that this is often the case. Indeed, quite often, the difference between success and failure is a very small change, a minor tweak of strategy or method. We should not hesitate to make these tweaks and changes. Moreover, we should not make a big deal of a relatively trivial change! Just make the tweak, and get back to fishing already!

On the other hand, the change that netted this fantastic haul was 180 degrees. That is, it was a complete turnaround, from the left side of the boat to the right side. Sometimes, the difference between success and failure is a complete reversal, abandoning the old way entirely and adopting a strategy which is completely new.

Whether it is a subtle tweak or a profound turnaround, many times, our effectiveness is limited by things which can be changed.

Of course, the challenge for the pastor and leadership team is to discern which situation they are in. Is there really nothing that they can change without compromising their faith and ministry? Then the answer is probably to remain faithful and steadfast, patiently waiting for the day when the Lord finally delivers success. If there is, however, something that they can change without ceasing to be Christians, then by all means, fish on the other side of the boat!