10 Ways Church Leaders Make Themselves Vulnerable to Attack
- Chuck Lawless
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
This week, I continue our series of articles on spiritual warfare. New Testament writers warn us again and again about the reality of spiritual attack (e.g., Eph 6:11, 2 Cor 2:11, James 4:7, 1 Pet 5:8), and we ignore these teachings to our peril—especially if we are church leaders. Based on years of my studying spiritual warfare, here are ten ways I’ve seen church leaders allow themselves to be vulnerable to the enemy’s arrows:
We focus on others, often to the neglect of ourselves. We are caregivers, rightly recognizing our responsibility to watch over the souls of others (Heb 13:17). We are shepherds who strive hard to take good care of the sheep in our fold. When we neglect our own spiritual and physical well-being in the process, though, we make ourselves susceptible to the enemy. Sometimes, he unexpectedly hits us hard when we’ve been doing our best to take care of others.
We replace spiritual disciplines with ministry activity. Church leaders can always find something else to do. There’s almost always another meeting to attend . . . another visit to make . . . another counseling session to hold . . . another sermon to prepare . . . another book to read. So many are the ministry hours we put in that we’re sometimes tempted to remind others of our sacrifice. Too little time is left for personal spiritual disciplines—and the enemy’s target is on our back.
We do ministry in our own power. We know how to do ministry, so we just do it with little praying and less dependence—and few people recognize we lack the power of God. Like the disciples trying to cast out a demon without praying in Mark 9, we sometimes tackle our work first and pray only with leftover time (which never comes). In these cases, we’re not only vulnerable to attack; we’re already losing the battle.
We think failure will never happen to us. When I’ve had conversations with church leaders who have fallen, I almost always hear something like these words: “I just never thought it would happen to me.” Indeed, I know few leaders who readily admit their susceptibility to falling; only when they look back after failure do they recognize the problem. When our confidence overshadows our recognition of the enemy’s schemes, though, we may be in trouble.
We ignore our “little” sins. Sometimes we give ourselves permission to cross the line into sin. “That joke really isn’t that bad.” “It’s no big deal if I tell a white lie.” “A ‘discipling friendship’ with a member of the opposite gender surely isn’t a problem.” When we, however, in the paraphrased words of Charles Spurgeon, venture into sin where we think the stream is shallow, we soon find ourselves drowning in the enemy’s waters.[i]
We see people as the enemy. To be honest, church people are often problematic. Some, frankly, are not true believers in the first place. Others are believers who have never truly been discipled—and they still act like baby Christians. It’s easy to quickly get frustrated with people in either case. When we see “flesh and blood” as the enemy, though, we open ourselves to the principalities and powers who are the real enemy (Eph 6:12).
We give too little attention to strengthening our own marriages. Too often, we spend little time intentionally building up our relationship with our spouse. Our marriages sometimes become stale and monotonous because we don’t work to grow them. We take our spouses for granted and almost view them only as “resources” to help us do ministry—then we blame them for our own bad choices when we succumb to the enemy’s arrows.
We minister in the secret places of others’ lives. Ministry is often confessional and personal—intimate, actually. The counseling room is especially private, where sins are admitted and secrets are revealed. It’s easy there to get drawn into the sins of others, especially when they are sexual sins. That setting is ripe for the enemy’s arrows of pride, immorality, and even more hiddenness in our own lives.
We don’t deal with our own “junk.” All of us bring histories and baggage into our ministries. Our salvation frees us from bondage to those things, but that doesn’t mean the battle with them no longer happens. Push the right button in our lives—and ministry responsibilities and relationships often do that—and the anguish of yesterday becomes real again today. Our unfinished “junk” in our past becomes fertile ground for the enemy’s attack in the present.
We have few real friends. I argue that all believers need four relationships: Paul, a mentor; Timothy, a mentee; Barnabas, a friend; and a non-believer we want to lead to Christ. My experience is, though, that many church leaders lack one or more of these relationships. We become loners even while we preach relationships and unity in the Body of Christ – and we thus fight spiritual battles alone. That kind of aloneness can lead to disaster.
If you’re a church leader, where do you find yourself most vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks? What steps might you take to close those doors? To whom will you hold yourself accountable to do so? Who will pray with you? Today, be sure to take at least a first step in the right direction.
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