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

Pergamum · #25 (**permalink**) 10-02-2008, 12:01 PM

BEN:

Yes, thanks brother:

I have a shocking confession: I don't like the book "Reformed Pastor" [waiting for the toe-maters to hit me now].

Cannot we write something more fitting today about how a pastor ought to operate? Of course, the principles would mostly be the same, but phones, emails, etc were topics that Baxter completely forgot about mentioning!

Any advice on newer manuals for pastors?

Ben,

How does your wife and kids fare?

I say this because usually I am gone every couple weeks for multi-day-week interior treks. Also, I have no "black-out" days either because everyone knows where I live and the last 3 nights had to finally turn people away so I could put my kids to bed. At my son's birthday party, we ended up treating malaria, pneumonia, a spider bite causing cellulitis and a cough.

Hold that pinyata and give me more Cipro!

This was all well and good when my wife was healthy - she is very independant and strong-willed and can run the home on her own. But now she is sick and must depend more on me until she heals (wow, poor soul...). So, I am in need of re-evaluation of my work and rest.

If I worked at secular employment in the US, my wife would have used up all her sick days already and me too, since I need to be home taking care of the kids.

Plus, I can "work from home" so to speak when the folks that support me cannot, but they labor with their hands for 8-12 hours per day.

What is more, since we have been sick, we have gotten a flood of emails (and a flood of packets is on the way....we;''ll probably get them at Christmas) because people are sacrifically given out of their love to us and doubling up becuase we are sick. Plus, now we are in financial crisis in the US and my supporters are cinching their belts while the exchange rate has actually improved for me. So, in short, I have been reflecting on how good we have it lately.

YES, on one sideof the issue, we need to heed the advice to guard our familie. On the other side of the issue, WHAT IS OUR 8-5 jobs? I do not think reading and sitting in a study every day suffices.

From the NT, those guys seemed a lot more action oriented. I don't see that they spend 20 hours per week reading during the day and 30 hours per sermon preached.

While I am glad for pastors giving adequate preparation to their sermons, a pastors job is to pastor and not merely deliver 2 one-hour monologues per week, yet many calvinistic churches I know have pastors that are strong in preaching and weak in visitation or other works besides sermons. It almost appears that a man could be a good man, a lover of souls, and invest much time with people, but if he is a poor preacher then he is a failure totally - and yet at the most, most preachers preach a max of 120 minutes per week.