I am
on my way home from the funeral of a fellow Baptist pastor who committed
suicide. I got the news on Thursday morning (which explains why my usual Thursday
or Friday blog post is absent; I was too deeply affected to do anything). The
news came as a shock to me—and indeed to everyone else who knew the pastor. He
had been an intern at Kabwata Baptist Church for a few months over ten years
ago. He was a very fine man and slightly younger than me. I last met him two
months ago when I was preaching at a pastors’ annual retreat. He has left
behind a wife and three young children, plus a devastated congregation.
When
a pastor commits suicide, apart from the emotion of shock there is also a lot
of disappointment and dismay. As one member lamented, “Pastor was the one who
always encouraged us to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ when overwhelmed by the
challenges and difficulties that confronted us. How could he fail to handle
whatever it is that made him take his life?” Some people who heard were even
questioning his salvation: “Can a Christian commit suicide?” Others found in
this the proof that the pastor was a hypocrite all along. Continue Reading >>>
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