For the next installment of the blog I want to address the issue of what a pastor spends their time on. As I have shared with folks across the Conference, a concern about overloading our pastors has come up in a couple of places. Enough so, that I thought it would be good to share a little about the role of the pastor and how it relates to the work of revitalization.
Like many vocations there is rarely an end to the "to do" list of a pastor. There are always more people to visit, another sermon to write. Not to mention working with the youth, the administration of the church, attending meetings of the local congregation and the district as well as the conference. Somewhere in the middle of that is our continued spiritual and leadership development. Added to all of it is the responsibility of growing the congregation and being involved in the local community. Now there is a conversation about revitalization and it is clear this is a huge task.
Pastors are being invited and encouraged into a new task that is essential to the life of the church at the same time when exhaustion and burnout are at very high rates. Something is going to have to give if pastors are going to provide leadership to local congregations that helps transformation and revitalization take place. As congregations are preparing for revitalization we have said the starting point is prayer. Then next step is being clear about why a congregation wants to enter the journey of revitalization. Now the roles of the pastor must be addressed.
If a congregation is going to enter the journey of revitalization, there must be adjustments made to the expectations of the congregation of the pastors time. One of the things I hear most often from pastors is they do not have enough time to read and study. More than preparing for sermons, important work, pastors need time to read books and other resources which provide encouragement and information as to how to be about the work of revitalization. Making this time available will mean the pastor will not be available for some of the other important tasks within the congregation.
Second point starts with a question. How much time are congregations freeing up for their pastors to be involved in relationship building outside of the congregation? Revitalization of a congregation will mean reaching new people for the sake of Jesus Christ. If a pastor spends all their time in relationship with people inside of the church and has no time to engage relationships outside the congregation, revitalization will not happen. This will mean time for the pastor to sit in the local coffee shop or diner, or other places of public gathering. It can be very difficult for a congregation to not have the pastor in their office whenever there is a need. Yet, congregations entering the revitalization journey will have to arrange time for their pastor to build relationships outside of the congregation.
Third there needs to be a change in expectation. The pastor cannot do everything and should not do everything. It is acceptable to have a meeting of congregation business and the pastor to not be there. It is possible to have activities in the congregation the pastor does not attend. This will allow more time for study, prayer and relationship building outside the congregation.
In many ways it is not about reducing the amount of effort put forward by pastors, it is about rearranging what happens within that effort. Revitalization is not an add on to the current pastoral responsibilities of a congregation, it is a replacement of responsibilities. In many cases pastors will need more time to work on the aspects of leading revitalization. Adjustments to preaching styles and content, learning principles of congregational development, their own spiritual journey, and many other aspects. This may mean all the what have become normal functions of the pastor have to change so the outcome is different than what has become normal which is decline.
For revitalization to happen pastors will have to put forth significant effort to the mission and ministry of the congregation, this is not 9-5 kind of work. Yet, congregations need to be mindful that pastors are not overloaded with the "normal" functions of the congregation as well as leading revitalization.
In the next post, the last in this series, I will look at the role of the congregation in the revitalization journey.
