We Need to Address Pastoral Obesity

Walk into churches across America and you'll quickly discover that there are certain sins we confront boldly and others we quietly tolerate.

We preach against sexual immorality. We warn against greed. We confront pride, gossip, drunkenness, and false doctrine. Yet there is one glaring issue sitting in plain sight in countless churches that rarely receives serious attention: pastoral obesity.

For decades, many churches have tiptoed around this subject. We have avoided hard conversations in the name of kindness. We have confused compassion with silence. We have feared appearing judgmental more than we have feared failing to shepherd faithfully.

The result is a culture where many pastors labor under the burden of chronic obesity with little encouragement, accountability, or practical support from those around them.

I don't write this to shame pastors, but because I love pastors and I am a pastor!

And because pastors are essential leaders in the body of Christ, we need them healthy, strong, full of vigor, and being an example not only in spiritual discipline but in their physical discipline too. We are failing our pastors by not talking about this. 

Pastoral Obesity is a Spiritual Issue

Scripture teaches that our bodies matter.

Paul writes, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you...therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Obviously most of us relate that passage to fleeing sexual immorality (and rightfully so), but we must be careful not to overlook the underlying principle. Our physical bodies are a temple in which the Holy Spirit resides and they should be treated as His vessel for use, honor, and the glory of God. Obesity, just like sexual immorality, denigrates the physical temple in which the Spirit resides. 

And make no mistake about it, the issue is not whether a pastor carries a few extra pounds around the holidays. Nobody in their right mind is expecting bulging biceps and shredded waistlines to become a qualification for an elder. No elder candidate in Scripture was ever required to meet a body-fat percentage.

The underlying issue is whether a man demonstrates the biblical virtue of self-control.

Pastors are called to be "above reproach" and "self-controlled" (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:8). Those qualifications are not limited to sexuality or speech. They encompass the whole of life.

When a pastor consistently exhibits patterns of overindulgence, uses food to cope with the stress and pressure of ministry, neglects his health for years without repentance or change, or becomes physically unable to carry out the demands of ministry because of preventable lifestyle choices, something deeper is often occurring.

The problem is not simply weight. The problem is stewardship.

We Have Normalized What Should Concern Us

In many churches, obesity among leaders has become so common that we hardly notice it.

Imagine if a pastor openly struggled with drunkenness for twenty years while everyone smiled politely and said, "Well, that's just how he is." 

We would never accept that.

Yet when pastors repeatedly neglect their bodies through chronic overeating, inactivity, and unhealthy habits, churches often remain silent. Partly because food is socially acceptable. Partly because many church cultures unintentionally encourage unhealthy living through endless meals, celebrations, and sedentary schedules. And partly because many of us struggle ourselves. To be honest, some of us feel comfortable when our pastor is overweight because it validates something sinful that we've normalized. 

This falls drastically short of biblical standards. The church must not baptize patterns of habitual excess simply because they are common among American Christians.

Ministry Demands Physical Strength

Pastoral ministry is intensely demanding. It requires long hours, emotional endurance, counseling, travel, preaching, studying, hospital visits, leadership meetings, and shepherding people through life's deepest sorrows.

Faithful ministry requires stamina.

A pastor who continually neglects his health unnecessarily limits the years and effectiveness of his ministry. He may shorten the very ministry God has entrusted to him and become an unnecessary liability in his older years simply because he did not care for his physical temple. 

Many pastors speak passionately about finishing well spiritually. We should also desire to finish well physically. A pastor who cares for his body is not pursuing vanity. He is pursuing longevity for the sake of serving Christ and His church.

Churches Must Help

Part of the problem is the enabling of pastors, but another problem is that many pastors are not encouraged and supported in their pursuit of strong health. Going to the gym may be seen as vain and something that isn't "ministry related." Benefits packages may include general health insurance but it's rare to find a church that tangibly supports health and fitness decisions. In some church cultures, an obese pastor is even seen as a kind of trophy because he's "not into his looks," he just focuses on shepherding and studying.

We need accountability on all fronts. Churches should be supporting their pastors in the pursuit of health, and pastors should not be enabled to think obesity is acceptable. 

Some of the ways this can be accomplished include:

• Pastors and elders working out together

• Pastors and elders encouraging one another toward healthy living

• Benefits packages including health and fitness stipends

• Pastors getting regular bloodwork and reviewing key biomarkers

• Pastors getting educated on food choices

• Congregants encouraging the physical well-being of their pastors

• Ministry leaders should model balanced rhythms of work, rest, exercise, and wise eating

Pastors need faithful brothers in the church who can lovingly ask difficult questions about their physical health just as much as they do about spiritual health. Men should ask their pastors questions like: 

• How is your health?

• Are you exercising? What's your routine been like in this season? 

• Are you resting? How many hours are you sleeping? 

• How has your self-control been with eating the stress of ministry?

• Can I interest you in a round of golf or a hike for fellowship? 

• Can I treat you to lunch at this place that serves hearty but healthy food? 

• Are you caring for your body as a steward of God's gift?

These conversations should be a normal part of life together within the church.

Grace for the Fight

Many pastors reading this are already fighting hard. Some struggle with medical conditions, medications, genetics, or years of unhealthy patterns developed in demanding ministry contexts. There is grace for that. Some pastors are not obese because they lack discipline, but rather, they have chronic illness. We can care for them too, while having copious amounts of grace and understanding for their situation. 

In all of these things, we should praise God that because of the gospel, our standing before God is based on Christ's righteousness, not our waistline. But the same gospel that forgives us also transforms us. No pastor should settle for avoidable unhealth. No church should ignore it. And no shepherd should fight alone.

Our aim in the Christian church should be to encourage and enable pastors who are spiritually healthy and physically healthy. We need men who are holy, but also men who are healthy, so they can shepherd our souls with strength for decades to come.