Ministry Is Hard

Yesterday Brother, Sister-in-law and I were talking about their pastor, who recently resigned effective immediately. The reason for his resignation was unclear, since he is now unemployed and his plans are very vague. He has removed his facebook page and cut off contact with everyone from the church. Of course, speculation is rampant. What is known is that he has a drinking problem. He has gone to AA at various points, but is currently drinking (he was recently spotted in a bar by a member). He is also very far away from family support. He is divorced. He is currently without a driver's license.

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Daughter was listening to the discussion, and brought it up this morning. It bothered her. She thought he was a good guy. She liked him. She is confused. We talked about how he made poor choices. We talked about how God still loved him. I don't know whether the conversation helped or not.

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The reality is that ministry is hard. Without a strong spiritual life, it is impossible to keep going long-term. Even with a strong spiritual life, there are times when it is overwhelming. I don't know what happened with Brother's pastor. I won't speculate about what happened with him. I will write in generalities, though.

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I once heard ministry described as like being a stray dog at a whistler's convention. That certainly describes part of the problem. It is impossible to do everything that the congregation would like to have done, especially if you are the only ministry staff in a particular congregation. Prioritizing work becomes key. The thing is, a pastor can have a carefully laid out plan for the priorities for the week and how to get everything done, and a single phone call can destroy the entire plan. My goal is for us always to be far enough ahead on work in the office that we can handle a funeral or other emergency. But even planning for the disruptions isn't enough. I once heard of a young pastor who complained that he couldn't get any ministry done because of the constant interruptions. A wiser, older pastor informed him that the interruptions were his ministry.

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Last week I was struggling to prepare for an event that was taking place in a few hours. Technology wasn't cooperating at all (to the point that eventually we did some of it on the office computer because mine refused to do what I was telling it to do-- the same commands on the same software worked on the office computer). A member came into my office. She was having what most would describe as minor surgery in a few hours. She was extremely concerned about the surgery. She had been doing research and reading worst case scenarios. So I listened, reassured, and prayed with her. I hope my impatience didn't show through. Fortunately, the event for which I had been preparing was with a forgiving group, because I wasn't as organized and prepared as I would have liked to be.

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The things on my to do list exceed the available hours in my work week. Each day I make difficult decisions about what will get my attention. Much of my ministry is dependent on the cooperation of volunteers. Some volunteers are not very dependable. Members have different priorities for my time and energy, and only a little bit of knowledge about all the demands on my time and energy. Much of what I do is confidential, so they can't know all the demands upon my time. They aren't going to know about the hours I spend with various hurting individuals. They don't know how a planning meeting turns into a counseling session. What they do know is that I haven't given their top priority enough attention. They have no idea why, they just know it's not done in the time or way they'd like.

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I just spent 20 minutes talking to a man who stopped by to pick up a key. He just visited a good friend who is putting his affairs in order as he prepares for death. He is disturbed by the way the friend has failed, and remembers how he was over 50 years ago. The man never took off his jacket or sat down, so I suspect as far as he's concerned, all he did was pick up a key.

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I told Administrative Assistant Thursday that a top priority for Tuesday is sitting down and mapping out/prioritizing work for the week ahead (Monday is her day off). I have a board meeting tonight. I need to spend a little bit of time praying and prioritizing our work this evening. Daughter has an appointment with her therapist at 4:00 today, so I will be rushing before the meeting, and need to finish my prep earlier. I'll take some work with me to do while she's in her appointment, but I need to think carefully about what I take, as often I run into people and end up talking, not working. But those conversations are important, too. The daughter of a member works in that building. Occasionally I run into someone connected with Daughter's care.

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I've been doing this for over 25 years, so the juggling has gotten easier. Brother's pastor was young, in his first call. He was serving a challenging church. He had struggles in his personal life. He was far away from family and friends. I think an important ministry for our regional bodies is providing support systems for pastors. I'm fortunate to be a part of a wonderful group of colleagues that gathers monthly here. We talk, we pray, we share programs. Unfortunately, we can't make participation in those types of groups mandatory.

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I could write much more, but now the priority is to begin to map out the work for this week and get some things done. I need to take advantage of the time between interruptions (ministry) to get planning and preparation done. Hopefully today will provide plenty of time for that. If not, I'll do what's most important and figure out the rest later. After more than 25 years, I'm beginning to get more comfortable with figuring it out later. I doubt Brother's pastor had that opportunity.