Several bloggers are writing about a paradigm shift in pastoral ministry. The model of a pastoral ministry 60-80 hours a week is slowly changing and for good reason! Who can sustain their sanity, a family, and a job at that rate? Maybe that is why many people think of pastors as male, bald (or have bad hair), look disheveled, and are over weight. I know of some pastors that are literally killing themselves in their work by being at church four or five nights a week.
Three blog posts are worthy of your attention. My friend and fellow pastor Elizabeth Hagan recently wrote about “Being Off Duty as a Pastor” on her blog Preacher on the Plaza. Her piece was picked up by the Associated Baptist Press. Props to Elizabeth! Her most pointed comments might come to a surprise to many lay people:
But, as you might imagine, all of this can be quite weighty on a pastor when everyone expects him or her to be at everything. My week, as is the case with almost every pastor I know, is filled with hard choices of what invitations to accept (and don’t take this to mean I don’t want to be invited to things, I consider it an honor and an important part of my work, so I tell my church to keep them coming). If I say “no” to a birthday party or graduation ceremony or even an anniversary dinner, it doesn’t mean I don’t love my congregation.
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