Monday Morning Insights

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    Why Are Some Pastors Lazy?

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    As Christians, we are called to be volunteers. Why do some pastors only work 40 hours? My pastor even said he was overloaded and requested 3 more months paid vacation. The whole congregation approved. Why are some pastors and church paid staff not required to contribute some volunteer work?

    Hmmm... Interesting question.

    And some interesting respones:

    Some pastors work hard to get established in a new church, and then after they feel secure, get lazy and do as little as possible. Of course, they take advantage of the hipe about being overworked. My former pastor was that way and rarely worked more than a 40 hour week. They eventually got rid of him.
    and another:
    I agree with a lot of you that some Pastors are living excessively- there's nothing wrong with living in a nice home, driving a nice car, or having nice things, but a lot of them take it to the extreme. It's easy to tell people in the pews to trust God no matter how bad it gets when you're living in the lap of luxury with not a financial care in the world as if you'd just won the state lotto.
    I got a feelin' what these people are smokin' ain't legal!  smile
    Todd








    You’ve all heard the joke… you know the one about everyone wanting to be a pastor because you’d only have to work one day a week.  Well, some people, I think, actually think this is true.  Check out this question posted at a Christian blog

    Comments

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    1. Pastor Al on Wed, October 05, 2005

      In a real sense a pastor is never “off” work.  He carries the burdens of his people at all times.  He is always on the call.  Someone dies, gets sick, has an accident, and is rushed to the hospital; he is off to help comfort the family and injured.  A crisis in a marriage, he is there to offer counsel.  Having trouble with a problem child, he is there to mend a family.  Much of his time is dealing with people in need, this takes a tremendous toil on his body, emotions and relationships. 

      The “40” hours you see him doing “church work” isn’t all he does.  He won’t tell you about the phone call in the middle of the night from a distraught parent whose child is lying in a hospital bed unsure of his prognosis.  He won’t get up and tell you that he spent most of his week, trying to keep a couple together for the sake of their children.  He won’t tell you about the church leader who stopped by and resigned because he has an addiction to porn and now thinks he’s gay.  He won’t get up on Sunday Morning and tell you about how he interceded with an employer to keep one of his people employed in spite of his lack of responsibility, because the man’s children need to eat.  You won’t hear about all these things that happen “off” the clock, because a pastor is very sensitive about sharing anything about your private life with anyone else in the church.  So, he endures the pokes and jokes about how much he works, because his love for you and the Lord is greater then how it all appears.

       

    2. Beggers on Wed, October 05, 2005

      Amen, Pastor Al.  I do agree with all you’ve said.  I have been blessed to know and be shepherded by several pastors as you describe. 


      Additionally, I have known many good pastors that are in the position of needing a regular income from a 40 hr./wk. secular job to sustain both their family and their ministry. 


      Sadly I have also seen and heard of abuses such as those mentioned in the noted blogs.


      Believers need to understand that Pastors (and all those in ministry) are human and subject to the sinful nature of man.  We need to go to our brother (pastor or not) in love, etc.  Furthermore, if the rest of the body was following the example of the pastors you describe, that pastor would not be the only one called upon in such situations.  Lastly, (or better yet, first) the flock needs to continualy lift our leaders in prayer.

    3. Bart on Wed, October 05, 2005

      Perhaps what is being said is that the leaders within my congregation are putting in 40-50 hours per week at work and then volunteering 20 hours at church and ministry.  I know that as a pastor I will not be able to stop at 40 hours, but i have talked to a pastor that counted all the “extra” hours as a part of his 40.  There are great differences within the pastorate.  From the small church where the pastor does a Sunday morning sermon, Sunday night Bible study, a Sunday school class, a midweek prayer service, and a small group study to the pastor that only does a Sunday morning service.  Not all pastors are overworked and underpaid.  It is like most things, the attention sometimes goes to the ones that don’t deserve it.

    4. Peter Hamm on Thu, October 06, 2005

      All I can say is, I work 6 days, normally just around 50 hours, and I’ll often do something church-related (though I try like crazy to avoid it) on my day off. The other full-time pastors in my church do the same. The pastors here in our church UNDERSTAND Pauls words to Timothy, they really GET Acts 2, and we are really FOLLOWING Ephesians 4:11-13.


      Maybe some of you should move to my town! http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/wink.gif Ain’t no lazy pastors HERE! Very imperfect, just like me, but certainly not lazy.

    5. pjlr on Thu, October 06, 2005

      I was goint to respond to this post but decided to take a nap instead. I don’t want to be too tired for my golf game this afternoon and besides I don’t have to get my sermon ready until Saturday night http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/wink.gif

    6. Michael Rew on Thu, October 06, 2005

      I have a suggestion overworked pastors. Equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Once you reasonably believe they are ready for some real ministry, when you receive calls in the middle of the night, forward the calls to your equipped saints. Have the equipped saints visit shut-ins and the sick. Some events, of course, must be presided over by a state-approved minister, such as weddings. But other than that, you can equip the saints and let the rest of the congregation know that their concerns will be known to those equipped as well, rather than the pastor becoming the water boy, whipping boy, straw man, and effigy of the congregation.

    7. BeHim on Thu, October 06, 2005

      Michael - nail on the head my friend.


      The whole point of equipping people is for them to be a part of helping others.


      Today it seems “plugged-in” is the equivalence of being fully equipped.  It takes more work that that ALLOT MORE!!!

      Thanks for your post Michael.


      Peter


      We’ve talked before and I appreciate your response.  Do you feel most people in your church can stand in unity on The Faith?


      At this point we must ask what The Faith is right? http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/grin.gif

       

      So, what is THE Faith?


      What


      Faith is the substance of things…


      How


      Faith comes by hearing…


      Who


      HE is the author and finisher…

       

      Are there other aspects to The Faith?


      It makes an interesting study and what you’ll find is the division comes in beliefs (improper assumptions or accepted teachings).  It is the unity of Sound Doctrine that is being communicated in Timothy and Ephesians.


      These are things we shouldn’t be lazy in and yet most pastors will say yes, my congregation can stand on The Faith yet when you ask what Faith is, most cannot answer or they’ll answer through their belief.  If they are questioned with more diffecult questions by the natural man like, “there is no truth” they do not have an answer except “the Bible says it and I believe it”.

       

      This isn’t equipping, this is being lazy.  Teach the Sound Doctrines of Scripture which are based solely on the Charachter and Attributes of God.


      I’m not suggesting you don’t Peter, just putting my dime down next to my two cents http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/wink.gif


      In Christ my friend!

       

      P.S.  Acts 2… now THAT’S The Gospel being preached Brother!!! Standing on Scripture to present the Gospel in Christ and starting with their wicked deeds (sin).  AMEN.

       

    8. Jade on Thu, October 06, 2005

      Pastors lazy?  Hmm.  You know where this comes from don’t you?  People really don’t know what we do all day.  That is why I record my hours and turn them in to the senior pastor every week.  That way if people ask what I have been doing I just say look at my file.

      Most people don’t consider ministry real work.  But they expect us to be at there right away if something is wrong.  Hypocritical if you ask me!

       

    9. Brian on Mon, October 10, 2005

      What about including the pastors who have to attend to members needs on Sundays and “work” by preaching and teaching on Sundays..  Are we not to have Sunday as a day of rest?;)  Laziness is not all it is cracked up to be.  Lift up your pastor in prayer, if he is lazy ask God to change him if he isn’t thank God for him.  Also just a curious question concerning a pastor on the way to the hospital to see a member who had a heart attack on a Sunday morning, he happens to be speeding and gets pulled over, should the police officer give him a ticket or let him go?  should the pastor just have outrun the officer on the way to the hospital?  what do you think?

    10. Jerry on Mon, October 10, 2005

      A few years ago as a seminary student, I received great advice from one of my professors.  She said that, in order to be just, pastors should work the same number of hours each week as their typical church member PLUS the number of hours each week they’d like the people to volunteer in ministry.  (Retirees and children excluded, of course!

    11. Thea on Mon, October 17, 2005

      Until recently I was ministing 60-80 hours a week. 20-25 hours of that time is just in sermon prep. Add to that the numerous local non-profit boards the church requires me to serve; families in crisis; dysfunctional staff members who must be fired—and then the ensuing conflict because many of the congregation only know the untruth spread by the dysfunctional ex-staffer and due to confidentiality of personnel issues you are prevented from sharing the truth; the old souls who just want to talk (and talk and talk…); the denominational duties (and we’re a yoked congregation so I have two denominations to work with); the HOURS of energy spent in dealing with and ministring with and to a conflicted church; and then maybe administration and visitation. (I haven’t even spoken to the time needed for daily prayer for myself and the congregation.) In a smaller church (235 members) we are still very pastor focused. While I strive to empower the ministry of the community of faith, often the church wants to be ministered to and not with.


      There are days that I wish I could take it easy. I wish that I could me in ministry with more parishioners—and they with me. The spiritual warfare is exhausting. But to this service I have been called. I serve the King who was willing to die for those He loved. I will not allow myself to be worked to death—although I often choose to overwork myself—but I cannot serve the Kingdom from a hospital room sufferring from exhaustion. Even Jesus went away to pray and rest.

      I would love to see the pastor who is lazy. I sincerely doubt that is the case. Indeed, I would speculate that the “lazy pastor” is really empowering ministry behind the scenes. And that those who are offended that the pastor is lazy, may actually be the ones who God is calling to serve and yet refuse. Ministry is after all, “only” the pastors’ job(s). We can sit back in our pews and be ministered to…

       

    12. Pastor R on Mon, October 17, 2005

      While faithful ministers must not be lazy, we must be careful to avoid the opposite extreme.  My heart goes out to you all who say you work 6o+ hours a week.  Years of being overworked resulted in me developing some health problems in which caused me to be house bound for over a year.  I am now back in the full time pastorate.  Remember that Jesus regularly took time to withdraw, rest, and pray, which was to set an example for us.  A frantic, tiring, and overworked schedule is not the schedule of a spiritually mature person.  Would God want His people to learn to live hectic lives by the example of their pastors?

    13. Jim on Mon, October 17, 2005

      I’m sure there are lazy pastors.  Just like there are lazy people in every walk of life.  Actually, I have lazy people come into our church offices everyday wanting our lazy pastor’s to give something for free.


        There’s no real cure for settling this debate about what Pastor’s do.  A pastors call is just that a call.  It’s not a vocation, therefore there are no real manuals explaining what is really even expected from us.  What we are is God’s Workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. 

        Personally, I just got back off of vacation.  I left on Thursday morning and returned on Wednesday evening.  The first part of the week before I left I worked approx. 45 hours before leaving town, including preaching 3 times.  After returning, I led Praise and Worship for our Wednesday night service, visited the hospital three times and led a Father/Son campout for two days.  All of that between 7:00 p.m. Wed. and Sat. at 11:00 a.m.  Oh yea, I also prepared two sermons for Sunday and led praise and worship that weekend and conducted a baptismal service and I won’t have a night at home again until Friday, almost a week after my vacation.  Sorry I’m so lazy.

    14. Rev. Rick Carder on Mon, October 17, 2005

      I have been a pastor for 18 years and have always observed this by many pastor friends of mine.  I appreciate the topic being addressed.  I have always donated 20 hours above my working hours to community groups.  I do this because I have expected my congregation to donate time above their normal work hours.  This represents servanthood and demonstrates my commitment to work hard.  I think that every pastor should adopt a similar belief.

    15. April on Sat, May 15, 2010

      I understand that some pastors are lazy, but I am very offended by people thinking that “most” pastors are lazy. My husband is expected to keep normal office hours (9-4 ish) at least 5 days a week in addition to being part of worship leading, catechism, youth group etc. on Sundays. Almost every phone call he receives is to our house over lunch or dinner, and people seem to only come by on our day off. We have a vacation coming up (our first in over 8 months) and we are struggling with what to do if someone from our church dies while we are gone. If we don’t return back for the funeral and pay for our flight back to the church out of our own pocket (church is struggling financially due to “lazy” givers - not due to economic crisis), we will basically lose the respect of our congregation. That said, after working 6-7 days a week for 8 months, my husband needs a break. He is tired, stressed, and a little burned out. He is trying like crazy to set boundaries so that he can watch his two little kids grow up, but you know what - people think he sits at home all day waiting for them to come by. They don’t think it takes time to write a sermon, or that a hospital visit at a hospital over an hour away will mean he spends half the day doing ONE visit. There is a reason that pastor is considered one of the more stressful professions. It ranks up there with medical workers, EMTs, and anyone else who can’t count on ever having time off. We’ve been wanting to take a vacation for two months now and have not been able to because funerals, weddings, etc. keep popping up. Sure there are lazy pastors, but there are also lazy church members who give nothing of themselves time, money, talents to the church because they come to worship to be SERVED and not to serve. Sickening. Also, consider that your pastor never gets a weekend. They usually get ONE day off per week - a day during the week. No weekends when your kids are out of school, no time to have a two day camping trip with the kids. If you ever want to take more than one day off, you have to take vacation time, and then be prepared to forfeit the time if something comes up. I think we need to give pastors a little more credit. There is a reason there is a pastor shortage in most denominations - the majority of people out there simply do not want to live the kind of lives pastors have to leave.

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