Discouragement in Ministry Someone Once Said . . . • Discouragement is the occupational hazard of the Christian ministry. —John Stott • Could we but see the smallest fruit, we could rejoice midst the privation and toils which we bear, but, as it is, our hands do often hang down. —Mary Moffat, missionary • If I should write of the heavy burden of a godly preacher, which he must carry and endure, as I know from my own experience, I would scare every man from the office of preaching. —Martin Luther • Sometimes I am quite dejected when I see the impenetrability of the heart of those with us.

They hear us preach on the Lord’s Day, but we are forced to witness their disregard to God all through the week. —William Carey, of his fellow passengers aboard the ship taking him to India • Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of failure and sin oppressed me. —J. Hudson Taylor • Discouragement . . . creeps over my heart and makes me go with heaviness to my work. . . . It is dreadfully weakening. —Charles H. Spurgeon • There may be long seasons of darkness [in ministry]—the chariot wheels of God’s Gospel may seem to drag heavily, but here is the promise and yonder is the throne, and when omniscience has lost its eyesight, and omnipotence falls back impotent, and Jehovah is driven from His throne, then the Church of Jesus Christ can afford to be despondent, but never until then. —T.

De Witt Talmage • It has been my experience in working with many ministers, Christian workers, and their families that not only is depression the most common emotional problem, but it is also the most destructive. —Archibald Hart • The belief that your actions will be futile. —Martin Seligman, psychologist, giving the underlying cause of depression • Remember you are only accountable for your labor, and not for your success. So still toil on! —Charles Haddon Spurgeon • Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. —1 Corinthians 15:58 • Discouragement is not in the dictionary of the kingdom of Heaven. —Melinda Rankin, first Protestant missionary to Mexico