Do church leaders struggle with soul refreshment and joyful hearts? Anecdotal evidence (there’s probably survey evidence but I just haven’t gone looking for it) suggests they do. Only yesterday I was talking with a young leader committed to mission and church planting and it became apparent that he and his wife had thirsty souls. Neither church nor its mission should dry us out, if it does then something, somewhere is off.

So I asked, ‘Where is your well? Where do you go to drink for your thirsty soul, where do you go to receive refreshment and nourishment?’

Of course, we know the answer is ultimately Jesus but I believe much of the help God gives us comes in embodied forms and places. Breaking bread, drinking wine, the table, the altar, the songs. Listening, singing, sharing, testifying, learning, studying, praying. All physical acts and postures. I need places to lift up my hands, bow my head, bend the knee. I need laughter as much as I need permission to shed a tear. In other words I need the church.

My friend, before he answered, returned the question to me. Where, he wondered, was my well?

Good question, physician heal thyself and all that.

But the answer wasn’t slow in coming, nor was it forced, nor did it feel false. My church is my well. If I’m not receiving from and being blessed by and enjoying our common worship then need to find out why and do something about it.

I replied with words to the effect of, “I enjoy my church. I enjoy our worship. I enjoy our people, I feel loved by them and I love them. I’d choose this church if I wasn’t employed by them. They are my family and my friends. I am blessed by the words others speak, I am encouraged by their faith, I am blessed by their service, I am frequently moved by the worship. I meet with Jesus through His Spirit there. My church is the main well I drink from.”

Now, no one knows better than me all the ways that we could grow as a church, and all the ways we fall short, all the ways we are extremely ordinary, all the things that need fixing and improving, all the areas we could benefit from help and be blessed by gifted people. Yet despite those things, I love my church and more importantly God loves me through this church.

I’m also happy with my wider tribe and I’m fortunate enough to be able to step aside from time to time and go to different gatherings which will encourage & bless me. I’m happy to take supplements but they don’t prop me up and keep me going until the next dose of supplements.

I might listen to podcasts, listen to sermons online, go to conferences and do my personal devotions but the church is the place that feeds my soul. Working for them does not and should not get in the way of that.

Consider Isaiah 12:

You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O LORD,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.

“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:

“Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.

“Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Comfort. Trust. No fear. Strength. Song. Joy. Gratitude. Praise. Shouting!

But this is all in the plural not the singular. We proclaim, sing, shout, praise together. So where would else would I, the leader of a church, go to hear of the well of salvation that is Christ, if not my own church?