A Pastor's Responsibility

Being introduced into a ministry context that doesn't have a full time pastor, I do not have someone to specifically sit with me through every little thing at the church. I think this is good for me, because it has given me room to focus on different things week by week. It has allowed me to find what works for me, which is the best in my opinion. Some weeks I have spent extra time on sermon prep and other times (like this coming week) I'll do more pastoral visits because of a lighter week on other ends. 

When I came to Pella Reformed Church, I was given the list that the future pastor would have been given. Obviously a few of those things I could not do since I am not ordained, but that was the general consensus. But I sit and listen to the search committee, and how they want a pastor that can lead them through the changes, and lead them in these new initiatives, but I sit and I wonder where the time comes from? 

Can you take time from other responsibilities? I think how ministry is a little different here in the country than what we often talk about in a city. I know many smaller churches (some that are the same size or smaller) that have the congregation members or teams of people, who are committed to doing the routine pastoral care visits. 

When a church doesn't have a pastor, someone, or multiple people, obviously have to step up into that role during the vacancy. Why stop just when you get a new pastor? Pastors come and go, but good pastoral care should not be determined by the one who preaches on Sunday, but should be a church wide endeavor. Children's ministry programs are started and sustained through established leadership. If the leadership for ever team or committee changed with the pastor, nothing in the church would survive a pastor leaving. 

If the pastor is the center of the acts of ministry by the church, then where is the church involved? Part of the calling of being the church means that we, united together, are the driving force behind the ministries that we do. Because if we were always dependent on the pastor, the church would fall apart when they left. 

Pastors are just people. They are not superhumans, that possess all the gifts that God has ever given. They are better at some things than others. If a particular church enjoys elegant prayers given during the service, and the pastor doesn't have a gift for that, could not someone in the congregation who has a passion for prayer step in to help out? We do not expect the pastor to stand up and sing in front of everyone; it wouldn't take long to realize if someone has a good voice or not. What if they are not good at picking out songs for worship, could not a team of people help plan that if they had the theme of the message to help guide their thoughts?

It is not even simply if a pastor has all the gifts, but what if the church has a new initiative going on, and wants the pastor to lead more in a certain direction. There might need to be some space added in order for the pastor to have time for the added responsibilities. 

I sit here and wonder about these things because there isn't a standard work week schedule to go by. You don't come in at 6 and leave at 4, and then guaranteed to be done till the next day at 6. It doesn't work like that. No one has ever said how long typical sermon prep should be. Should that make up most of my time, or the 12 hours that I heard in a podcast once? We don't talk about all the things that pastors are asked to do in seminary. There is not a single class on how to do a good hospital visit, or what do you say when someone just got diagnosed with cancer? "God loves you, and it's his plan." That may be true, but that shouldn't be the first words to come out of your mouth. Where is the guidance in the 30 hours of the week that isn't taken up by the sermon? 

This comes to mind as a future pastor at a church. It is easy to pile on all sorts of things when you are new, but what about asking for space to include your passions for ministry? How do we ask for that room, while promising to do the other things that the congregation wants? Can the church understand the fact that a pastor might not do all the congregational care visits, but that the love of God is present in all who come visit? 

How many things are actually the pastor's responsibility, and how much has the church given to the pastor because they don't want the responsibility?