The PuritanBoard - View Single Post - Are Pastors REALLY over-worked

KenPierce · #2 (**permalink**) 10-01-2008, 03:00 PM

Are pastors overworked? Yes.
But, not necessarily in the way you put it.
I have done manual labor, and felt the good tired of a day spent accomplishing a tangible project.
Compare that to office work where one often goes to bed, the events of the day still swirling in his head, and without the satisfaction of saying, "I produced x widgets today."
There is no quantifiable accomplishment in ministry. Even "new members added" really doesn't count.

Pastors are overworked in the sense that we are the "clerical professionals," and are called upon to do far more than equip the saints for the work of ministry, which, it seems I read somewhere, is our job description! The rest of the ministry should be carried on by the saints, for their own welfare and benefit, and yes, taking into account their work week.

Paul says that those who labor in the gospel should make their living from it, as the Levites did of old.

I don't know that ministry is inherently more stressful than many other cerebral lines of work. I do know it is uniquely stressful mostly, I think, due to spiritual warfare, and the discouragement that comes from realizing the vanity of one's best efforts.

Why do we get burned out? Probably a lot of reasons, but at least one is, "we care about those we care about more than those we care about care about themselves." In short, we grieve for the souls of our people, morethan they care about their own, in many cases. Ponder that one for awhile!!!

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