How Much Work Is Enough?
I recently wrote a post based on a survey I did on a pastor's workweek. I also included better research and more accurate information from five-year old data from LifeWay Research.
In this post, I want to approach the issue from a slightly different perspective. I want to ask the question: How many hours must a pastor work each week to satisfy the congregation? Ultimately, I prefer to hear from pastors and church members and get their perspective.
An experiment I tried several years ago, though, might prove instructive. When I was a pastor in St. Petersburg, Florida, I gave a survey to the twelve deacons in the church (I jokingly said we had eleven good deacons and one Judas!). I listed several congregational responsibilities and asked them to share the minimum amount of time I should average in each area each week. I listed about twenty areas; but they were free to add other responsibilities to the blank lines.
I'm not sure exactly what I was anticipating. I just know that I was shocked when I tallied the results.
