As a pastor, what is your job? What are your various responsibilities, and do you and the church agree on those? How do you know, and do the answers to these questions vary depending on the church? Further, what do we do with the tendency to do only the parts of our job we enjoy and neglect the others? These are very real issues you and I face in the ministry.
Understanding Your Job and its Components – It is important to understand what all comprises our job as pastors, and several factors inform that understanding.
Previous church experience – As you enter a pastorate, you bring with you earlier experiences of pastoral roles, and there may be differences in your experience-based expectations and your new church’s expectations. This issue may be particularly salient if your experience has been in a large, staff or pastor-led church and you go to a small church.
Scripture and History – The Biblical language suggests teaching / preaching, pastoral care, and administration all are part of your job – a shepherd is responsible for every aspect of the flock’s life, and you are responsible for the various aspects of the church. There also are historical and denominational precedents for your work and the specifics of how you carry it out.
Your Written Job Description and Legal Requirements – Familiarize yourself with your church’s governing documents and your job description. These specify what you are expected to do. Additionally, the law tends to hold you responsible for church matters whether or not that responsibility is spelled out and whether or not the church wants your involvement in certain areas.
Church Culture and Your Unwritten Job Description – Every church has an organizational culture, and you have an unwritten job description (maybe several). There are expectations rooted in the church’s history, denomination, size, geographical location, etc. There are things you will be expected to do in one congregation and resented for doing in another. Learn your church’s culture and your role in it. I am not suggesting you follow church expectations when they do not align with Scripture, but I am suggesting you work to understand those expectations and graciously move toward an agreed-upon role where you believe Scripture and church culture oppose one another.
Tendencies Relative to Your Work – Pastor, what is your favorite part of the job? What do you love most and find most rewarding? What is your least favorite aspect of the work? Of those things you like to do, what makes them you enjoyable for you? Of those parts you don’t like, what leads to your distaste for them? Your strengths, your personality, your passions, and your church culture all can affect how you tend to do your job. Let’s look at the broad categories I laid out earlier.
Preaching and Teaching – The ministry of the Word if crucial. To what extent do you enjoy it, and why or why not? Do you avoid it, give it less than adequate attention, or hide in it in to avoid aspects of your work you don’t enjoy? In short, as important as it is, it is not your whole responsibility.
Shepherding / People Work – If you are more of a people person and less of a scholar, you may spend so much time with members and / or lost people that you shortchange preaching and teaching. On the other hand, if you are less comfortable with people; if people don’t want you to help them grow in Christ; if you have difficult people or dislike confrontation; or if you don’t see the Kingdom benefit of pastoral care, you may not spend enough time with people – those within the church or those in your community. Looking more closely at people work, we may lean toward certain aspects of shepherding while neglecting others, and we have to attend to each aspect wisely.
Administration – From visioning, strategic planning, and evaluating progress to making sure all the pieces of the organization work together effectively, administration is important in the church. As with the other categories we have addressed, your tendencies may lead you to spend too much or too little time on administration. Further, you and I must give appropriate attention to the various aspects of administrative work, not favoring or neglecting certain responsibilities to the detriment of the church.
Relationships Between the Parts – Why is each aspect of your work important? Teaching and preaching the Word is central to our work. It is a sacred trust; the Bible is our guide for faith and practice; and familiarity with the Word allows you to lead with it as your authority. The truth of Scripture must inform all you do and the entire life of your church. People work is crucial because it builds trust; because discipleship happens in relationships; and because it creates leadership capital and relationship context for ministry in times of crisis. Administration is important because any system works better when it is well-ordered; God is a God of order; and attention to how the church functions builds leadership capital.
Although you may disagree with your church about the relative importance of each category of pastoral work and, more specifically, about elements within each category, each area is important. Additionally, the various aspects of your work require differing amounts of attention from church to church and from season to season within a given church. However, in order to be a good steward of the flock, we have to understand our role, attend to all aspects of it, and avoid the tendency to neglect what we do not enjoy in favor of what we like to do when that is detrimental to the church and the Kingdom.