Helping Pastors Finish the Race: The Healthy Pastor Initiative

At Finishing the Task (FTT), we are committed to mobilizing and equipping the global Church to fulfill the Great Commission. Toward that end, we believe the spiritual and vocational health of pastors is critical. In short, in order to faithfully finish the task, the church needs pastors who faithfully finish the race of ministry.

In recent years, the stories of pastoral moral failure have become far too common. We have also witnessed an increasing number of pastors experiencing ministry burnout. Perhaps, now more than ever, pastors are ministering in isolation and loneliness. Many pastors continue to serve with hidden sins and hidden wounds. They are anxious, discouraged, and exhausted. It doesn’t have to be this way.

That’s why FTT and the Healthy Church Teaching Network are pioneering the Healthy Pastor Initiative – a focused effort to encourage and equip pastors to finish the race of ministry well. The primary goal is to encourage and equip pastors to persevere in their faithfulness to Christ and their calling. Through online resources and in-person retreats, the Healthy Pastor initiative provides pastors with a formational pathway of spiritual and vocational health.

This summer, Pastor Jamin Goggin, head of the initiative, led a retreat at Spurgeon’s College in London with ten pastors from across the city, focusing on the theme “Faithfulness in Ministry.” It was a powerful time of rest, renewal, and real conversations. Thus far, Jamin has led 5 Healthy Pastor retreats and workshops that have reached 135 leaders, and there’s more to come.

We look forward to seeing the Healthy Pastor initiative expand so that more pastors across the globe can access these resources and benefit from this kind of personal encouragement. The road of ministry was never meant to be walked in isolation.