How does a pastor spend his time?

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If you are new to pastoring or believe that God has called you into the ministry and have yet to accept your first assignment, you need to realize one thing ... you will be extremely busy (if you take your job seriously) but many will assume you don't do much.

In fact, most pastors who have been in the ministry for more than a year or two have heard many "lazy preacher" jokes. Most pastors who show up for a church work day will notice the surprised looks on many faces of those who can't believe that they aren't afraid to work.

Most folks in your congregation haven't been in full-time ministry and so they don't have a frame of reference for what it is like to be a pastor. They think that it is primarily preaching and a little bit of visiting. In regard to preaching, they suspect that sermons can be developed in an hour or two so they wonder what you do the other 38+ hours of the week.

If you DON'T relay the specifics of your busy schedule, they will wonder how you fill your time.
If you DO relay the specifics of your busy schedule, it may sound like you are complaining or trying to show that you are busier than them. If they begin to talk about how busy they are, you will realize that your words didn't achieve the desired effect.

What does a pastor actually do with the hours of his week? (I opened my day-planner a while back and the person I was meeting with was shocked that I had so many things that I needed to get done that day.) Well, I can't tell you about other pastors but I can tell you roughly what an average week looks like for me (the "Big Rock" items). 

Study Time
While I love the folks of my congregation and strive to care for them (which means I spend time with them), I realize that I'd better have a word from the Lord every time I stand to preach / teach. In doing so, I not only inform them of what they should believe and how they should live, I am also showing them the relevancy of God's Word and encouraging them to get in it for themselves. If my sermons are poorly prepared or poorly delivered, those objectives will more than likely not be achieved. (Of course, the Holy Spirit can use the poorest of preaching to produce wonderful results but He tends to work through diligent preachers.) I have never obtained a sermon online or from a book. On those handful of occasions where I have used someone else's sermon outline, I have given them credit in the sermon. I study and develop my own sermons each week and this can take anywhere from 15-25 hours a week.

God Time

(My Heart rate on a Sunday.)
Notice the first spike - I was exercising.
The second cluster was when I was at church!
No wonder I'm tired after Sunday mornings!

 

Before entering the pastoral ministry, I enjoyed just showing up to church and participating in worship. As a pastor, I am the one who prompts and leads worship. My mind is fully engaged well before I leave home to well after I get back home. Before a worship service, I am actively thinking through the sermon / lesson and anything else that must go right during the worship service. After leading in a worship service, my mind is actively engaged in assessing how it went, how people responded, what dynamics were present, what we can do to improve, and so much more.

On Sundays, I'm in the church facilities for about 5 hours but those hours are extremely exhausting. I've taught in educational settings before where I simply conveyed information to students. Sometimes, I was more energized afterwards than when I started. With preaching, it doesn't work this way. Most pastors speak of the spiritual and emotional aspect of preaching (especially on Sunday mornings) that leaves them wiped out.

People Time
I'm not just a preacher, I'm a pastor. Pastors realize that a large part of their ministry is preaching but so are people. Whether it is Sunday School gatherings, church-wide meals, informal time with folks before or after a worship service, counseling, meeting in homes, hospitals or nursing homes, making phone calls, you need to spend time with the people in your congregation. Some of this time can be scheduled but most of it will occur spontaneously and you need to be able to make adjustments to your schedule to accommodate.

Most folks will never realize how much time you spend with "people time" and you certainly can't give updates on who you spent time with and how long those visits were. If you do, you will betray the trust of the folks who spoke with you and you will lose your ability to continue helping others. So, even though most folks don't see much of this background "people time," it will require many, many hours each week.

I pastor an absolutely wonderful church. I love the folks in Westside Baptist Church. Yet, each Sunday, about 350-400 show up for worship. You can imagine the time I spend each week ministering to people (I have no associate pastor). In fact, I fear that with the overwhelming number of folks who regularly need pastoral care that I unknowingly (or absentmindedly) overlook legitimate needs simply because of the number of other needs.

This part of your job requires you to be absolutely flexible and incredibly organized. Someone spoke to me quite a while back and said, "Pastor, you haven't called in awhile. Did I do something to offend you?" I humbly apologized for not calling but could not tell that person that at that time I was overwhelmed with a boatload of other needs and the other essential duties of being a pastor.

The potential "Catch 22" is that you cannot truly be called a pastor unless you are ministering to needs and it can get incredibly overwhelming at times. Yet, you can't tell others how busy you are and you must find time to do your other jobs (esp. preparing/delivering sermons) or your effectiveness at your church will be marginalized. You can imagine that a church wouldn't understand if you stood in the pulpit on a Sunday morning and said, "Folks, I have been overwhelmed with ministering to so many needs this past week that I didn't have time to prepare a sermon." (Awkward pause!). This is unacceptable but is also a very real possibility if you don't prioritize your responsibilities and manage your time well.

One other thought for pastors with families: The difficulty is balance. While most people in your congregation are caring and understanding, there may be a few folks who are self-centered and expect (demand) that you show up to their event. They want to be validated and they feel as if they own your time. To them, you are simply a puppet to be used for their purposes. Yet, you realize that your children haven't had "daddy time" in awhile or they have an event at school that they want you to attend. At that point, you'll have to determine who you want to be hurt (and possibly upset): a church member or a child. Friend, you can always get another church. You can't replace your child. You will need to spend time with your church family and sometimes you will have to ask your family to understand why you aren't able to be as actively involved as some other parents but don't harm your wife and children in the process.

Leading Time
You aren't just a preacher and a pastor - you're also a leader. You are the one who sits at the feet of Jesus and discovers what He wants of you and your congregation. Then you lead the folks in your congregation. This doesn't happen on a whim. You must take plenty of time to pray and reflect. You must take time to plan and strategize. You must take time to motivate and implement. You must take time to encourage.

You will need to lead your congregation, the volunteer leaders in your church and your staff. Most folks will not realize how many different things consume your mind (and threaten to paralyze it). You will want to develop leaders who can claim ownership over individual ministries so that you don't have to lead and oversee everything. If you are like me, your brain simply cannot effectively engage with so many things at one time.

But, while you are celebrating how God is rising up leaders in your congregation, ultimately you are the under-shepherd over the church serving under Jesus' authority. If you don't lead, then someone else will and there are no guarantees that they love Jesus or have the church's best interests in mind. You must lead ... and this will take plenty of time and energy!

Family Time
When the final amen is said, many of the folks in your congregation won't think of church until the next Sunday. You, however, will think about church every day of the week.

I can say without any exaggeration that every single day of the year (unless I'm on vacation and 'work' to forget work) I'm consumed with church and the folks in my congregation when I'm home with my family. When I'm helping my boys with homework or eating supper with my family at the dinner table or any number of other family activities, I can't help but think about what's going on at church, what we need to do, where we are going, how we are going to get there, who needs a call or a visit, what member has left the church or who has newly arrived, whether a discontented member will repent or cause trouble ... this list could go on and on. 

I also realize that at any moment when I'm spending time with my family, a church member could come to our door or could call or text me and I'm back to work again. So, a pastor (unlike most other 'professions') is never truly off the clock. To do his best as being a husband and dad, he had better learn how to handle stress, "clock out" of work during family time and learn to sometimes say "no" to folks who may get upset when he does.

Exercise
This might seem a little unusual to add to this list of "big rocks." Yet, I'm convinced that it fits.

Many of Jesus' teachings were done while He was walking (exercising) with His disciples. Judging by the various places He visited that are mentioned in the Gospels, Jesus must have walked hundreds and hundreds of miles each year. Friend, that's exercise!

I have discovered that if I am to keep my stress level at a manageable level (without taking anxiety meds), I simply must exercise. I started running about 5 years ago and realized almost immediately that it helped manage stress a lot!

As I ran, I also discovered that it was incredibly therapeutic. Many times, I have hit a wall in preparing a sermon or helping someone through a problem but as I went out on a run God allowed me to have a break-through. Folks have commented on the last few sermons and said that they were especially meaningful to them. What they don't realize is that those sermons were as boring as dirt by mid-week but God gave me some insights on some of my runs that made those sermons meaningful and effective on Sunday.


In conclusion... There is much, much more than will require your time. But, these are the big things that must fit into every single week ... that is if you want to be used by God and be effective. The lives of those who attend your congregation may hang in the balance. You don't want to find out on Judgment Day that because you shirked your responsibility that many folks had to endure problems they would not have otherwise had. So get busy, stay busy, but ask God for wisdom in how to manage and prioritize the things that must be done.