Being a Pastor

[Obadiah]

...We're supposed to sow seeds of love and the gospel into the hearts of others. At least sow seeds and give testimonials among friends & acquaintances. It is in this respect that we are all indeed pastors on some level.

And very true this is. I took the pastor subject as referring to those who do it full time, but it's so true that we should all see ourselves as "pastors" to one extent or another when around our friends and acquaintances. For many of them this truly may be the only contact they have with Christ.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Thank you for your reply and your opinion. But I can state that your opinion is surely based upon not knowing the facts about the duties of a pastor, and the time that it takes to do each. Properly, the term is called ignorance, and I use that word in a non-condemning way; in no stretch of the imagination do I insinuate that you are an ignoramus or anything nasty. My purpose is to give you a different perspective, and not to "best you in a discussion". That is childish. Then dont try to do it reba

Below are some duties of a pastor; some are daily, others are weekly. Should you chose to reply, I would like you to copy the chart below place the number of hours that you believe that a pastor should devote to each. Just to get an idea of what I am doing, I filled in a few categories as examples. Feel free to add any duties that you believe a pastor should do, which I omitted.

Activity Hours Daily Hours Weekly

Personal Devotions 1 7

Study for Each Sermon/Bible study 2 14
Multiply by each (X3) 6 42

Sermon Prep & Delivery

Visitation of Congregation

Visitation to Hospitals

Reading Local Newspapers

Meetings

Denominational Paperwork

Preparation of Bulletin

Personal Study of Bible

Further Education

Doing Church Business

Planning Future Events

Add Others

Travel to & from Above


Thank you for your time in doing this!

Sorry that neither the chart, nor the special formatting came through. :-(

Where do you get all this stuff?
What Bible teaches you all this?

 

[Obadiah]

Positions for paid pastors are jobs that a church hires them to do, and most will provide a job description. It doesn't take reading a lot of those job descriptions and putting a little thought into what actions are needed to fulfill the requirements of those job descriptions to realize there will be a lot more tasks (all of which take time, effort, and usually money) that pastor will need to accomplish even than what have been listed here so far. The Bible was never meant to be a step by step instruction book of how to do the day to day job of a pastor, elder, or any of the other positions or callings that it talks about. Just because there isn't a scripture that says "Thou shalt maketh sure that thy church hath hymnals" doesn't mean a pastor shouldn't spend time and energy searching out the right hymnals for his congregation and finding the funds to buy them. Clearly, if we are called by God to such a ministry it is up to us (with relying on the guiding of the Spirit) to figure out the details of how to do that. Those details change with time and societies' customs so God has left it up to us to follow His Spirit's guidance in how to accomplish His will in those callings.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Funny how discussions of pastors (who should really be respected and admired highly among our Christian brothers) always turns to demonizing them for doing the same thing all the rest of us do, trying to make a living and providing for families.

Yeah, we're funny that way, aren't we?

(Why aren't the pastors laughing? )

 

[Deborah13]

I believe there must be a call. But how do we know there is a call truly from God? When a church is blossoming?

I do believe that when one has been given the gift of ministry as a pastor it is a gift from God and a calling. They may be called to a certain assembly for a certain time period even.
I do believe that church will blossom, in faith, in service, in love, and the secular community may be blessed as well, because of it.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I do believe that when one has been given the gift of ministry as a pastor it is a gift from God and a calling. They may be called to a certain assembly for a certain time period even.
I do believe that church will blossom, in faith, in service, in love, and the secular community may be blessed as well, because of it.

I agree, that is most likely going to be the case, success itself being the proof of the pudding. But we can't forget about ministries like Ezekiel's and Jeremiah's where God's purpose for them was not to win them back to the Lord but to make sure they were fully informed and aware of, and accountable for, the inevitable judgment that was coming to them. Not a ministry I'd personally be interested in having, but one that would be impossible to resist if I was called to it, whether I wanted to do it or not.

 

[Deborah13]

Activity Hours Daily Hours Weekly

Personal Devotions 1 7

Study for Each Sermon/Bible study 2 14
Multiply by each (X3) 6 42

Sermon Prep & Delivery

Visitation of Congregation

Visitation to Hospitals

Reading Local Newspapers

Meetings

Denominational Paperwork

Preparation of Bulletin

Personal Study of Bible

Further Education

Doing Church Business

Planning Future Events

Add Others

Travel to & from Above


Thank you for your time in doing this!

Interesting list. Don't you think that the pastor's to do list should be governed by the sized of the church and the qualified people within the congregation, that should be doing some of these tasks?
If at all possible I would eliminate several, because one man could not possibly be gifted in all these areas, neither is it Biblical. He shouldn't be asked to do them, either.
This sounds like someone who wants to be more than a sheppard and is a micro-manager. Or the church expects him to be.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Not all pastors are in for the money... I am a PK ( preachers kid) Dad most often had a second job that would support the family..Years later when we were grown he was blessed with not having a second job...
The things that ByGrace listed are only part of what can be done...
getting late night calls because so and so are fighting... The plea of the drunkerds wife to go find him... Living in a small town with school students living 20 miles away and missing the bus guess who they call and know a good hearted guy will get them home..
Counseling when God takes the baby home
Cleaning up the mess left by the former jerk of a pastor.. spiritually .. emotionally and financial

Some pastors can never be paid in dollars for what they do... Sadly some only have dollars...

My heart is moved by this.
But I also know that being moved by this great post is not enough to know if I personally have the calling of a pastor. I've found that being able to recognize a legitimate, God ordained pastoral ministry is quite different than actually being able to do it. Hats off to your pop. He obviously could, and did, do it.

 

[jasonc]

Where do you get all this stuff?
What Bible teaches you all this?

Church lay that one them.he leads he takes that responsibility.no one at first if they are truly called will say yes lord I will go.they run.answer only when God breaks their will.like any thing Christian it can abused as an office.I could do a thread on blogging is a sin.but the irony of that..

 

[Deborah13]

I agree, that is most likely going to be the case, success itself being the proof of the pudding. But we can't forget about ministries like Ezekiel's and Jeremiah's where God's purpose for them was not to win them back to the Lord but to make sure they were fully informed and aware of, and accountable for, the inevitable judgment that was coming to them. Not a ministry I'd personally be interested in having, but one that would be impossible to resist if I was called to it, whether I wanted to do it or not.

I wouldn't want the job of a prophet either. Those guys words often didn't go over so well. Makes me shiver just thinking about it.

Just because there isn't a scripture that says "Thou shalt maketh sure that thy church hath hymnals" doesn't mean a pastor shouldn't spend time and energy searching out the right hymnals for his congregation and finding the funds to buy them.

My question would be why would a pastor, unless he is the most qualified musician or singer, be asked to do this or why should he think he should do it. It seems to me that would be something that would be researched and narrowed down by the leader of the music ministry. They would be given a budget by the budgeting committee as to what the guidelines, in cost, are for their choices. Then those choices could be reviewed and that would be determined by what was the most fitting for the whole assembly. The pastor could be a part of the final decision.
Pastors are not gifted in every area. They may be terrible at budgeting, in fact they may hate money matters, period.
It's more beneficial to the assembly if others who is skilled in this area are allowed to do this job.

No wonder some people are dissatisfied with their pastor's sermons, he was expected to be an event coordinator!

 

[Jethro Bodine]

No wonder some people are dissatisfied with their pastor's sermons, he was expected to be an event coordinator!

Which is what I meant when I said in another thread that pastors these days seem to be the ideas people of the church, not the 'buck stops here' authoritative leaders they are actually supposed to be.

 

[By Grace]

Interesting list. Don't you think that the pastor's to do list should be governed by the sized of the church and the qualified people within the congregation, that should be doing some of these tasks?
If at all possible I would eliminate several, because one man could not possibly be gifted in all these areas, neither is it Biblical. He shouldn't be asked to do them, either.
This sounds like someone who wants to be more than a shepherd and is a micro-manager. Or the church expects him to be.

Call it as you will, but these things are must-dos in the church, every week. If there is no budget for a secretary, it is the job for the pastor. That is why many pastors put in 55+ hours doing the work in both large and small churches. It is not a matter of gifting when it comes to these things, it is a matter of necessity.

That list of things that a pastor does is far from being the sum of the things a pastor does weekly because there are more, always more things to do. My purpose in making that chart was to expose the fact that many lay people do not understand all the things that a pastor does. You see, there are only 168 hours in a week, and if the pastor gets 8 hours of sleep, that is a big chunk of time. Then there is time needed to prepare food, time needed to buy food. and time for the family, and time needed for self.

For anyone to say that a pastor works only one day per week, Sunday is preposterous. I am not accusing anyone of posting that comment.

 

[Deborah13]

Call it as you will, but these things are must-dos in the church, every week. If there is no budget for a secretary, it is the job for the pastor.

You know it's sad when church members don't see the church as their church. That means that if the people can't chip in to do the work, that the pastor shouldn't have to do, something sneaks. Who is suppose to be doing sick visits and hospital/convalescent home visits?
Jas 5:14 is any infirm among you? let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil, in the name of the Lord,

If people in the church aren't going to organize and put on an event, maybe the event isn't worth having? Because they obviously don't care enough to do their part.
At my church in CT, years ago, our pastor had the idea of putting on a big BBQ in the spring, as a community outreach. We had maybe 35-40 members at that time. Guess what the pastor had to do. Show up at the event and visit with people in the community.

 

[Obadiah]

My question would be why would a pastor, unless he is the most qualified musician or singer, be asked to do this or why should he think he should do it. It seems to me that would be something that would be researched and narrowed down by the leader of the music ministry. They would be given a budget by the budgeting committee as to what the guidelines, in cost, are for their choices. Then those choices could be reviewed and that would be determined by what was the most fitting for the whole assembly. The pastor could be a part of the final decision.
Pastors are not gifted in every area. They may be terrible at budgeting, in fact they may hate money matters, period.
It's more beneficial to the assembly if others who is skilled in this area are allowed to do this job.

No wonder some people are dissatisfied with their pastor's sermons, he was expected to be an event coordinator!

Well you read more into my post than was intended. My intent was not to show that part of a pastor's job has to be selecting hymnals. (Although in many small or new churches the pastor is indeed the leader and sole member of the "music ministry" and the sole member of the "budget committee" as well!) I was just giving a random example of something a pastor might find himself doing that isn't specifically spelled out word for word in the Bible. My POINT was that scripture wasn't designed to be a day to day specific list of exact things that a pastor (or anyone else) must do, with everything not specifically mentioned being wrong or prohibited.

 

[th1b.taylor]

Call it as you will, but these things are must-dos in the church, every week. If there is no budget for a secretary, it is the job for the pastor. That is why many pastors put in 55+ hours doing the work in both large and small churches. It is not a matter of gifting when it comes to these things, it is a matter of necessity.

That list of things that a pastor does is far from being the sum of the things a pastor does weekly because there are more, always more things to do. My purpose in making that chart was to expose the fact that many lay people do not understand all the things that a pastor does. You see, there are only 168 hours in a week, and if the pastor gets 8 hours of sleep, that is a big chunk of time. Then there is time needed to prepare food, time needed to buy food. and time for the family, and time needed for self.

For anyone to say that a pastor works only one day per week, Sunday is preposterous. I am not accusing anyone of posting that comment.

The sad part is that no matter how you word it and no matter how often you say or publish it, the vast, and I do mean vast, majority will never be impressed enough to step up and give the man any relief. And those that do, like my family, work their tails off and the Pastor still pulls 60 to 80 hrs. a week. I, no longer, can help but my wife does the shopping and a large amount of the cooking for the Church while she works to care for me and our terminal daughter.

I do all the computer work I can manage for my wheel chair and hospital bed and my wife and daughter still teach two of the younger Sunday School Classes and still, help is needed for Pastor Scott. Our Church Family is the most loving I have ever served in and it is a tight little Country Church that, might, seat 300 on Easter Sunday and 125 to 150 most Sundays.

One of my former militarty friends is a Missionary in Guatemala and he spends two or three months a year in Germany and the US raising funds for the mission and four to six weeks a year in Northern India helping the Children' s Missionary there. (Oh, forgot, Scott and a team from our Church spends a month in Nigeria each year, on Mission.)

The long and the short of it is, there is no end to the Pastor's work until he just stops or becomes burned out.

 

[Obadiah]

...The long and the short of it is, there is no end to the Pastor's work until he just stops or becomes burned out.

And this, put together with the general lack of appreciation and sometimes downright disrespect that comes from too many Christians is the very sad reason the profession of Pastor boasts one of the highest burn out rate of any job in our country. Most are no longer in the ministry by the time they reach age 50. Many of those are so extremely burned out that they don't even care to attend church services anymore. Very sad. And we pewsitting "Christians" are the ones to blame for this with both our disrespect and our refusal to recognize how hard the pastor's job actually is because too many of us refuse to step up and do our parts in the Body of Christ.

 

[reba]

And this, put together with the general lack of appreciation and sometimes downright disrespect that comes from too many Christians is the very sad reason the profession of Pastor boasts one of the highest burn out rate of any job in our country. Most are no longer in the ministry by the time they reach age 50. Many of those are so extremely burned out that they don't even care to attend church services anymore. Very sad. And we pewsitting "Christians" are the ones to blame for this with both our disrespect and our refusal to recognize how hard the pastor's job actually is because too many of us refuse to step up and do our parts in the Body of Christ.

This need more then just a 'like'

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Without making a long post (as I started to do, lol )....

Here's the mistakes that churches are making that are making it unbearable for pastors:

• Churches are too big.
• Those in the 5-fold ministry rely on performance, instead of fellowship to minister to the body.
• Members are taught by default that it is the 5-fold ministry itself that does all the tasks the 5-fold ministry teaches the body to do.
• Churches are doing things they think they are expected to do as a church, but which they are not...and worse, doing those things at the expense of what they really should be doing (and how they are to be doing it).

There are probably more.

I don't know why, but I've always had a sensitivity to the burdens of those in official ministry. But I've also become sensitive to what would relieve that burden, but we're so locked in by tradition we don't have the faith, and as a result the courage, to take our cues from the Bible itself on what a church fellowship actually looks like. I honestly believe if we did that the pastor/elders jobs would be a joy, not a burden.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

It's a vicious cycle.
The pastor isn't happy and effective because he's operating the church out of the will of God. And because that's true, the body walks away unfulfilled and unhappy and starts bashing the pastor as a result. This only sends the pastor spiraling further down into the despair and ineffectiveness that the people bash him for.

No wonder we have so many 'Johnny Paycheck' pastors! (Google it if you're 30 or younger, lol)

 

[brother Paul]

Can anyone choose to be a pastor? Is there really a need for a call?

How about being an evangelist or a missionary

Yes one can (and have) choose to be a Pastor (I have had a priest and two ministers tell me to my face they only do this as a vocation), but those that are "called" have a totally different way about them and it has nothing whatsoever to do with money.

Same with being an evangelist or missionary....different people have different motivations deep within but there are two important things....God knows them that are His (one is not a child of God by repeating some sinners prayer)....and you shall know them by their fruits....I love the parable of the ten virgins because it shows us that about half of those calling themselves "Christians" who are part of the outward church are not children of God (go from me...I NEVER knew you).