by: Rodger Thompson
1/1/2008

Jim Schlottmans article last month struck a nerve with me. I think he is definitely on to something. I remember that the pastors of the 50s in my home church had no staff. My pastor cared for a church of about 300 with just he, his wife and the volunteers of the congregation. Home visitation was common and expected. I began pastoring in 1964, right on the edge of the Cultural Revolution. One leader of the previous generation suggested I wasn't doing my duty as a young pastor if I didn't make at least 100 home visits a month. I think this was probably quite possible prior to the 1960s. But now people are either not at home or don?t want a visit. Besides, few pastors would be able to find time for so much visitation.

Here is where I think pastoring is more difficult than it used to be. The world does seem more dysfunctional and that makes a pastors job more stressful. Not only that but pastors are now expected to be using all of the latest technologies, vision casting, and operating as a CEO rather than a shepherd. I have read leadership materials openly declaring that pastors are in essence CEOs. Obviously it has been many years since I was in Bible College, but I can tell you that no one trained me for what is expected of me today. I wonder if seminaries are adequately equipping young pastors for what churches expect even now.

Jim suggested that pastors are afraid to spend time in prayer because the congregation might think they are goofing off. Well it is worse than that, at least in my experience. I have had elders tell me that the pastoral staff should not be using their work time for quiet time with the Lord. In other words, there is little understanding amongst the leaders of the church today of the nature of pastoral ministry. They do not seem to realize that pastoral ministry is a life and not a job. They tend to see life as compartmentalized. I think this does serious damage to the spiritual integrity of the calling. I have even had a business owner tell me that what I do in ministry is no different than what he does as a Christian businessman. I don't in any way mean to diminish Christian ministry through one?s business. It is valid and significant. But I believe it is fundamentally different from the experience of one in pastoral ministry. I had one elder that wanted to oversee the staff and make sure that our youth minister was putting at least 40 hours a week into youth related work. Any other ministry related activity was on his own time. Do you see what I am getting at here? I contend that every waking hour and sometimes even sleeping hours are ministry time. I cannot separate ministry from personal life. It is all-together personal life.

I believe that ministry is more difficult and pastors do have more problems today because of the changes in our culture and in the church. Many of these changes are occurring at such a high rate of speed that it is extremely difficult to keep abreast of them, especially for pastors in smaller churches. Yet I would not trade the privilege of pastoring for anything. With all of its challenges and stresses it is still my calling. We serve the people of our culture just as the Lord?s servants have always done. Bless God for the wonderful honor of being a pastor in His church!