What is your understanding of boundaries? What are they; what is their usefulness; and how should we establish and respond to them? What personal and professional boundaries should you have as a pastor or other minister? I think for most of us, the easiest early boundaries to identify are the lines in coloring books. Of course, when we got older and started driving, the stripes on the pavement marking the right edge of the road and separating our lane from oncoming traffic were a bit more serious. In my observation, boundaries are crucial in ministry, so I want to explore three of those with you in this post. I plan to deal with additional boundaries and some reasons for them in future posts.
Boundaries Among Tasks – I write from the perspective of 20 years pastoring small churches, so my experience related to task diversity will resonate with small church pastors more than those in churches with specialized staff roles. In the small church where you do most of the professional ministry, weekly tasks probably fall into the categories of prayer, sermon preparation, worship and church events, inreach, outreach, communications and marketing, and systems and support. With so many responsibilities, no one task or type of work may dominate the week if you are to do the job well. One way to handle this is to estimate reasonable times for each of the areas and schedule them, realizing some interruption and flexibility are to be expected. You will have to find your optimum performance level in each area. Additionally, you will have to stay aware of your preferred tasks and your tendency to allow those to keep you from things you want to avoid. One instance of the need for balance finds expression in that the private and solitary aspects of our work can keep us from time with the people we are called to serve, and we have to use appropriate boundaries in order to spend enough time with people and enough time on non-people ministry work. Boundaries with tasks and people help maintain balance and enable us to do that comprises our work.
Boundaries With Certain People – We must address this area of boundaries from two directions. On the one hand, you and I will have a proclivity to spend more time with and minister more often to certain people than others. This may be because ministry with these people is more strategic or more effective, because we sense friendship and support from them, because we need to be needed, or any number of reasons. We simply have to stay aware and maintain proper boundaries in our use of time, manner of relating, etc. On the other hand, there will be those who pursue you, and you will have to set boundaries to keep them at a proper distance. They may seek power or influence, may have a need for your attention, may simply want to dominate your time, or may want some other sort of relationship with you. You and I have to contain or delegate ministry to these individuals in a way that does not let them gain power or positions they should not have or keep us from ministering to others because they demand an inordinate amount of time. However, we must do so with wisdom and love, affirming that these people matter to God and to us. Boundaries are important with people who desire an inappropriate amount of information, time, or influence, as well as with people toward whom you simply seem to gravitate.
Boundaries With Money – As I think about boundaries relative to money in the ministry, there are at least three areas of concern – your own integrity, your ability to minister without bias, and legal requirements. Let me begin by suggesting you avail yourself of denominational resources concerning church finances, the council of church accounting experts, and Zondervan’s Church and Nonprofit Tax & Financial Guide. In addition to policies and procedures, these resources will give you clear and suggested boundaries related to your involvement in church finances. One piece of council you will hear is that you, as a person who is paid with church funds, should not ever handle church money and contributions or have signing privileges on any church accounts. If you have a church credit card or spending privileges of some sort, hold yourself to the accountability standards any other person in the church has to follow or even more stringent ones. Another piece of advice I received early in my ministry was that I be sure not to know what anyone in the church gives and make the commitment to my church that I would not know this information. In some churches, I think this is expected anyway, but in some other cultures, I get the impression that expectations for the pastor’s awareness of giving differ. The point of this advice was that it would enable me to minister without bias, neither neglecting those who do not give nor favoring large contributors. I understand this, but I have begun to experience some tension with this arrangement, so we need to think though this carefully. If you have staff or other church leaders who are disobedient with the tithe and you do not have any way of knowing it, you cannot exercise leadership or discipline in this area. If someone comes to you complaining about church finances, but they are not a giver, you have no way to lovingly correct them or adequately respond to their complaints or efforts to control church finances. You may need to think through ways by which you or an appropriate committee can address these matters of discipleship in a way that is acceptable to the church you serve. Boundaries with church finances guard your integrity, your witness and leadership, and your legal standing.
Just like the lines on the road, ministry boundaries are intended to help us avoid drifting toward danger and crossing over into detrimental attitudes and actions. Future posts will address additional boundary areas and reasons for maintaining boundaries in ministry.
What modifications would you suggest to the above boundaries?
What additional boundaries would you suggest?
When have you seen boundaries keep a pastor or other minister out of trouble?
When have you seen the transgression of boundaries result in harm in ministry?