As I review my past full-time pastoral ministry and my current pastoral role, I’m now convinced I did too much in my early days. Let me know your thoughts about my reflections as they apply to your own life:
- I did too much counseling. I believed it was my job to help solve any issue my congregation faced. Consequently, I often did long-term counseling that not only consumed my time, but also took me far outside my expertise.
- I married too many couples. I viewed premarital counseling as an evangelistic opportunity, so I married a lot of couples – including some I realized during counseling probably would not make it. My gut was usually right.
- I did too much one-to-one discipling. Here, I’m not arguing against one-to-one discipling. Instead, I realize now I could have accomplished much more in the same amount of time by discipling 2-3 people in the same setting.
- I spent too much time in America. If I were starting over again, I would have taken at least one international mission trip each year.
- I preached too much. This one’s hard for me to admit, because I believe the lead pastor should do most of the preaching. My point is that I didn’t take off enough – few breaks, even fewer vacations.
- I hung out with believers too much. Even though I’m an introvert, I loved shepherding people. The problem was that I left far too little time to be with non-believers.
- I consumed too much time looking at numbers. I believe that numbers matter, and I do think pastors bear some responsibility for growth – but I allowed numbers to determine the success of my ministry and the strength of my leadership.
- I relied too much on pulpit evangelism. This admission relates directly to #6 above. Not being with non-believers much, I convinced myself that sharing the gospel from the pulpit was sufficient to fulfill my evangelistic responsibility.
- I exhausted too much energy in search teams looking for new staff. Our assumption was generally that we needed a search team to look outside the church for staff. I did not lead the church enough to raise up the next generation of leaders from within.
- I did too much "firefighting." Far too much of my leadership was reactive – responding to concerns, questions, and issues rather than leading proactively.
What are your thoughts? Do you do too much in ministry?
Chuck,
Thank you for this reflection and admonition! Other than numbers 2 (I’ve only married 1 couple in 15 years) and 4 (I generally serve overseas twice each year), I battle all of these regularly.
Blessings, brother
Thanks, Randy.
How insightful! You are correct on every point. Especially point 10, we really do need to lead proactively and we need to be led by the Holy Spirit to do so.
God bless, Dale.
I don’t doubt that I’m guilty of all these. Unfortunately the fix is not always easy. I probably preach more than I should mostly out of necessity. Vacations can be costly, spending money we don’t have, and easier to work. Ministry is certainly the most demanding work I’ve ever done. I wish I could find greater balance.
I completely understand, Steve. Let’s both keep working at it.
My husband is the pastor of a small church, with no other paid ministry staff. The one thing we both do too much of is taking on roles/jobs just because there is a need and no one else will do it.
Many of us have faced this reality, Shae. Blessings on your work.
Than You Chuck. Very insightful. My wife and I have bee at the same church for almost 35 years. As I look back, one or both of us have been guilty of ALL you mentioned. I do now have a 24 ya old Associate that is helping out a bunch, and I’m trying, in these “Fall years” to allow him to do more and more. Maybe I/We can finish much better than we started!! Pastor Shelby Harbour, NC
Perhaps so. Thanks, Shelby.
It's all good. However I have a question; What should you do?
Great question, Dennis. I think most of us have to pick one or two of these issues and begin to work on them. We probably need to improve one step at a time, which probably means that we’ll still be overwhelmed in the meantime…
Very insightful. My biggest struggles have been with #2 & #10. Yet, I have seen most of the others cause me some angst over the past thirty years in ministry. Thanks again for sharing your heart with us.
Blessings, Michael.