The Nature of Pastoral Ministry

Several bloggers are writing about a paradigm shift in pastoral ministry.  The model of a pastoral ministry 60-80 hours a week is slowly changing and for good reason!  Who can sustain their sanity, a family, and a job at that rate?  Maybe that is why many people think of pastors as male, bald (or have bad hair), look disheveled, and are over weight.  I know of some pastors that are literally killing themselves in their work by being at church four or five nights a week.

Three blog posts are worthy of your attention.  My friend and fellow pastor Elizabeth Hagan recently wrote about “Being Off Duty as a Pastor” on her blog Preacher on the Plaza.  Her piece was picked up by the Associated Baptist Press.  Props to Elizabeth!  Her most pointed comments might come to a surprise to many lay people:

But, as you might imagine, all of this can be quite weighty on a pastor when everyone expects him or her to be at everything. My week, as is the case with almost every pastor I know, is filled with hard choices of what invitations to accept (and don’t take this to mean I don’t want to be invited to things, I consider it an honor and an important part of my work, so I tell my church to keep them coming). If I say “no” to a birthday party or graduation ceremony or even an anniversary dinner, it doesn’t mean I don’t love my congregation.

This doesn’t mean that I’m not trying to be a follower of Jesus in all that I do (even as I fail in countless ways everyday). It means that pastors need space. They need time. They need parts of their lives in which they can remember that while they are called to pastor, they might also be called to be a wife, a friend, or a lover of afternoons in the hammock.

A connected blogger, through the Christian Century blog network, Adam Copeland recently wrote about his struggles with balancing his life and expectations of pastoral work:

I plan for Sunday, prepare sermons, connect with other pastors, visit the sick and the elderly, plan or attend community events, stay up on scholarship, teach classes, write articles, pray and work with other churches in my denomination. And that’s only on Monday! My non-church friends are often surprised by the range of activities, as I expect many members would be as well.

Nelson Granade over at Duke’s Faith and Leadership blog, wrote about congregational expectations (some healthy and some unhealthy) and how pastors contribute to these expectations:

It’s tempting to blame our congregants for making extravagant demands. It is more productive, however, to look at our own role in the system. How have we contributed, knowingly or unknowingly, to their expectations that we are the congregational concierge?

Part of our desire to serve comes from a natural need to feel good about ourselves and our work. There are, however, also negative forces pushing us toward over-functioning. We fear that others might think we are uncaring if we say no to any request. Worse yet, we fear we might lose our jobs if a majority of our congregation decides we are uncaring.

When Paul wrote, “I have become all things to all people,” he was not talking about becoming a personal concierge to everyone.  In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul was teaching about his ability to connect to different cultures and different kinds of people. Paul was able to share Christ with Jews and Gentiles.

Many congregations expect that their pastor should become a sort of pastoral concierge to everyone.  Congregations want their pastors to be an administrator, theologian, teacher, preacher, counselor, friend, conflict manager, financial manager, human resource director, and communicator.  Those are a lot of specialties.  What other professions require so many varied skills?

Granted, there are certain realities in pastoral ministry.  Evening meetings, late night emergency room calls, and long hours sometimes. I love what I do and I’m honored to lead a congregation that values my shepherding and gives me amble vacation time.  My congregation just surprised me with “Pastor Appreciation Sunday.”  I didn’t know that such a things existed.  They gave me candy (always good) with an encouragement note. Isn’t that awesome? My congregation understands that I’m their pastor, but they also understand that I’m also a dad, a son, a brother, an uncle, and a friend.  I love that they help me balance my life.  I’m blessed with a wonderful congregation.