Insecure leaders can kill an organization. They view competent people as competitors rather than partners in the mission. Insecure pastors are deadly also. Their high need to control and to receive endless validation cripples a church. This is particularly distressing, given that the God they represent is the One who offers believers true security.
Felix Neff (1798-1829) left his home in Geneva, Switzerland, to serve as a pastoral assistant in Menz, France. When Felix initiated a series of prayer meetings, local clergy objected. They refused to sanction any ministry outside of their own direct supervision. Felix was confused. How could a prayer meeting be a threat to their established ministry? He resolved to go to the French High Alps as a solo pastor since no other pastor had ventured there. The travel was arduous, the climate inhospitable, and the sanitary conditions deplorable. The people who lived in this remote region were cut off from civilization. In addition to his pastoral duties, Felix became their agricultural consultant in irrigation and better methods of potato farming. He functioned as an engineer in building schools and serving as headmaster. He became known as “The Apostle to the High Alps.” His ministry, lasting four years, was cut short when Felix became seriously ill, returned to Geneva, and died at thirty-one.
Felix kept a diary of his life and work, A Memoir of Felix Neff, Pastor to the High Alps. It’s a remarkable window into his tenacious faith and profound trust in God. Included in his diary was a prayer offered at seventeen when he was a soldier and searching for work “more congenial to his feelings.” Deign is a word meaning “to condescend to give something.” His prayer follows here: