Peter Drucker famously remarked that the three most difficult jobs in the United States were university president, hospital administrator and pastor of a local church. Yet no one seems to be able to explain what a minister does. There are common (and usually passive-aggressive) jokes about, “I wish I had a job where I worked one hour a week.”
John Chandler
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Seriously? That’s like a toddler putting hands over eyes and saying, “Because I can’t see you, you must be invisible.” I’d encourage us to lose that joke. It’s lame.
One by-product of the usually hidden and fluid nature of ministry is an ever-flexing schedule. Office hours often don’t always adequately measure appropriate ministry. Of course, the nature of ministry beyond an office can be a hiding place for the lazy. But its lack of structure can also be the breeding ground for boundless, incessant work. Sunday certainly isn’t Sabbath for congregational leaders. So how do we who help others find Sabbath rest find it ourselves?
Thankfully, I see an emerging focus on what Sabbath looks like for those who lead and serve in congregations. There is great conversation about how leaders can live and model a “rhythm of life” that sways between:
• Rest/Work
• Abiding/Bearing Fruit
• Covenant Relationship/Kingdom Responsibility
Leaders are attempting to divert daily, withdraw weekly and abandon annually. Some understand that you cannot always pour out at the spigot if there is nothing in the reservoir. And to that end, I see leaders:
• Reading the Bible for devotional purposes and not just for sermon or lesson prep
• Praying for the care and cure of their own soul rather than only interceding for others
• Taking seriously the value of seasonal “unplugging” electronically (fasting from e-mail, text, Facebook, internet, television)
• Using liturgical seasons like Advent and Lent to purify and recalibrate their habits
• Letting their spouse have more say in their scheduling
• Finding “finish lines” that give occasion for pause, celebration, and regrouping.
I am most encouraged by this trend. To preach about “abundant life” is one thing. To model the kind of life that anyone would want to imitate is something else.
Trending is written by John Chandler, leader of the Spence Network, www.spencenetwork.org./equip.htm. Coming next: Balanced relationships.