Helping men of God  from falling into sin 

Success, money, fame and prosperity entice men of God to get a false sense of entitlement of sexual favours. 

Sexy, revealing dressing of women and girls, for instance, mini dresses, body-hugging tight trousers and dresses, low necklines showing breasts in church and church functions tempt Christian leaders into sexual sin. For leaders who are single but have raging hormones tempt them into sexual liaisons. 

For those who are married, living apart for extended periods of time because of work, studies, or businesses bring sexual temptation.

Christian ministers who travel a lot without their spouses or with members of the opposite sex are tempted into sexual sin. 
Having no intimate friends of the same sex can also lead to loneliness and boredom and the devil can provide members of the opposite sex to fill in this gap and the minister could end up in sexual sin.

Watching pornography on TV, Internet or through publications such as books or magazines lead to sexual imaginations and arousal that are sinful. 

Taking alcohol reduces the alertness against sin and gives the drunkard poor sense of judgment against sexual sin. Social media  such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp has made it easy for those who want to entice Christian leaders to send them enticing messages and photos that could lure them into sexual sin.  

Lack of sexual satisfaction in marriage or having no child or son or heir can bring the temptation of trying sex outside the marriage with a hope of getting more satisfying sex or getting a heir born from such a relationship.

Impact on the pastor/ Christian leader 
Falling into sexual sin leads to shame, guilt, low self-esteem, embarrassment, and lack of respect for the one who falls into such sin, especially when his deeds are discovered. 

It leads to loss of friendship and fellowship with believers as others find it difficult to trust him anymore. 

It leads to the downfall of the ministry, as supporters stop their funding. The governing board or overseer can sack the offending minister and this will result into becoming unemployed.

 Falling into sexual sin could make it difficult for the pastor to preach against sexual immorality in the church since he has no courage to minister to others in matters he still has not resolved himself.

Family 
Sexual sin will hurt and cause pain to the family of the minister who has sinned and the wife will feel betrayed and humiliated. It could lead to marital unhappiness, marriage breakdown or even divorce.

Impact on the church 
Members of the church or ministry will feel anger, hurt, and betrayal. Many church members abandon that church/ religion.

 There can be divisions in the congregation with some for and others against the pastor. There will be decrease in giving to the church and its programmes since the givers no longer trust in the integrity of the leader.

Ways of dealing with this problem 
The Pastoral Theology Course book shares various ways on how to avoid sin.
Men of God need to regularly teach and preach to their congregation to avoid the sin of sexual immorality. They should live by example.

A ministe should never go without escort to see a woman who is alone at home or hotel room. He should never counsel a member of the opposite sex alone. 

He should counsel with his spouse around or with an associate pastor in the same room or as a co-counselor, according to Pastoral Theology Course book published by Glad Tidings Bible College. 
 
When a woman makes obvious advances towards him, he should flee those advances and should avoid that woman as much as possible so that she does not confuse the care he shows for her with what she may view as assent to her advances. 

The pastor, in giving words of encouragement and compliments, should be careful not to flirt the opposite sex. When greeting, he should be wary of long and lingering hugs with girls and women that can easily lead to lust that could grow and fruit in sexual sin.

 A Christian leader should desist from subscribing to TV channels that have “Adult” movie programmes , above 18+, X- rated shows that bring sexual temptations .

 When travelling and staying in hotels with TV in rooms, discipline himself to only watch news programmes and educational documentaries. They should be careful with what they read. Some books, magazines and tabloid newspapers have stories and photos that entice the readers into sexual sin. 

The pastor should develop and nurture a strong relationship and intimacy with his wife that will contribute to a satisfactory sexual relationship with her so that he is not thirsty and hungry sexually leading to seeking for sexual fulfilment outside his marriage.
 When tempted, the first person he should inform is his wife so that she can pray for him so that he does not give in to sexual sin.

 He should plan to travel with his wife as much as possible and introduce her in public emphasising how much he appreciates her. 

 The minister should acquire mentors and accountability partners. The accountability partner should be able to ask questions like “ Is there someone outside your marriage that you have been attracted to this week?” “If yes, what are you going to do about it?” 

This could also serve as a covenant prayer partner with whom he meets regularly for honest sharing about his struggles and get prayer support and counselling. 

When a pastor is struggling in his marriage or getting sexual temptations, he should have where to seek counselling.

Churches should put in place work-life balance policies to prevent spiritual burnout. 

Leaders, who overwork themselves, burn out and are vulnerable to falling into sexual sin. 

Pastors need to keep regular times for rest by having office hours, taking a day off to rest every week and scheduling regular time for their spouse and children for rest to help them avoid burn out. 

They need to replace idleness with hobbies, sports, walking, and gymnasium to keep them healthy, not stressed and therefore vulnerable to falling into sexual sin.

Robby Muhumuza is a church elder at Watoto Church