Does your church have unrealistic expectations of its minister(s)? Most surveys indicate it does.
Does your church have unrealistic expectations of
its minister(s)? Most surveys indicate it does. One carefully conducted
survey indicates that to satisfy the minimal expectations of the
average church, a pastor would have to work 138 to 145 hours a week!
And, the survey does not indicate the level of
performance church members expect. Interestingly the size of the church
does not matter that much in its expectations.
The survey simply asks: “How many hours a week
should your pastor work in each area of his responsibilities for you to
feel he is doing his job?”
Then the survey lists areas such as:
• Sermon preparation
• Prayer
• Bible study
• Personal enrichment reading
• Vocational enrichment study
• Visiting people in the hospital
• Visiting shut-ins
• Counseling
• Preparing for and conducting funerals and weddings
• Administration
• Denominational work
• Community relations
• Evangelistic visitation
• Prospect visitation
• Etc.
The survey totaled the minimal number hours in
each category to come up with the minimal number of overall hours it
would take to satisfy the minimal expectations of members.
To satisfy the minimal expectations of members, the
pastor would have to work about 140 hours a week, or three and one-half
normal work weeks.
Taking such a survey would be interesting and enlightening for any church.
One young student who served as pastor of a small
church while in seminary took a similar survey of his church. The
congregation made much of their belief that their church was
“part-time” and that allowed significant time for their pastor to
attend seminary.
The perceptive pastor could not help feeling the
pressure of the small church’s “part-time” expectations, so he
conducted a survey such as the one described above.
When the results were tallied, he discovered that to
meet the minimal expectations of his church members, he would have to
work 138 hours a week. He must have been thankful the church did not
consider itself full-time!
One minister summed the unrealistic expectations of his congregation this way:
“My people expect me to preach like Adrian Rogers or
Charles Stanley, have the gift of evangelism like Billy Graham, the
psychological skills of James Dobson, the heart of Mother Teresa, dress
like Donald Trump on a $35,000-a-year salary, and have the
administrative acumen of Peter Drucker. Thank God, we average 150 in
attendance. No telling what the expectations would be if our average
attendance were larger.”
What should a church expect of its pastor? Its
members should expect the minister to do his best as enabled by his
abilities and spiritual gifts and not be judged according to the
abilities and gifts of others. Church members should expect him to live
a godly life, be faithful to God’s Word, love people – especially his
family – care deeply for the church, be faithful to his calling and
strive to lead the church to fulfill its purposes.
A minister should be given the latitude to be
himself and minister from his strengths and have understanding and help
for his weaknesses.
Give the minister a break. He is flesh and blood
trying to fulfill a godly calling, which is certainly one of the more
challenging tasks on this earth. Pray for him, support him, follow him,
encourage him. Do not worry about him knowing about his faults and
missteps. Many people will be standing in line to do that. This is a
time when stepping out of line will serve a good and noble purpose.