Some years ago I developed the habit of working seven days a week. Besides developing that bad work habit, I also developed a cough that would not go away. With my new church growing, I was being trampled by church activities. My weariness increased, but not necessarily my efficiency.
My doctor advised, “If you don’t slow down, your cough will only get worse, along with a few other new ailments.” So I began to take an entire day off to pursue my hobbies and my sanity. And you know what? I lost my cough while new members continued to find their way to my church. I wasn’t all that indispensable. It was a lesson I have never forgotten, and during a recent stint as an interim pastor, I was both healthier and more efficient because of it.
I have learned a few other things as a result of that episode:
Take time to think. Get off the dizzying merry-go-round for a little while and count the horses. Close your office door (if you have one) and ask your secretary (if you have one) to explain to any callers, “The pastor is in prayer and meditation.” Maybe even take an unthink walk around the neighborhood come evening time and examine one of God’s great freebies—a sunset or stars in their heavenly patterns.
Are you a morning or night person? Some people turn into a tiger at night; I personally turn into a pumpkin. In the morning I sing, but at night I prefer to snooze. When possible, schedule meetings and counseling sessions accordingly.
When you write notes to yourself, make them longer, not shorter. We’ve all jotted down an idea that was so cryptic that later we could not figure out what it meant. Also, what works for me is putting my notes in a computer rather than on a little piece of paper—a computer is harder to lose. In other words, control stress where it can be controlled rather than making it easier to get out of control.
Decide who should run the church office. However, here’s the rub: Many ministers, male or female, young or old, do not like to be a boss. They don’t come by it naturally, and it was not a course taught in seminary. If you fall into that category, it’s not too late to learn: take a course, or read books, or talk to successful business people. You are, after all, running a business, and sometimes a big business, even though you may prefer not to think of it as such.
Determine a phone-answering policy. The telephone is often the church’s main means of communication, so whoever—secretary, paid or unpaid helpers—answers the phone should understand church etiquette. Anyone calling a church will have certain expectations, and reasonably so. I have called many church offices, and occasionally the response I received made it very obvious that the person answering felt he or she was doing me a favor to take my call. Obviously, not a proper attitude.
This should not be considered a small detail because a minister’s compassion can be undermined by a staff’s lack of the same.
Learn to delegate. As we all very well know, or should know, we can’t do everything. Part of successful teamwork includes learning who can do what and then letting them.
I still remember one minister friend who would grab a broom and re-sweep the front steps of the church only a short time after the custodian had finished. Nothing anyone ever did was as good as he could do it, or so he thought. He did not die young, but he did live in much greater physical, mental, and emotional discomfort than was necessary.
Believe in yourself. Worth its weight in emotional vitamin C, a little healthy self-confidence allows you to feel good about a job well done. If you practice self-abrogation and daily rebuke yourself for not doing enough, you can expect that from others. Too much ego can be offensive, but too much humility can be self-defeating.
Be thankful for your degrees but be not overly impressed by them. Proverbs talks about pride going before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Well, some ministers with more credentials than their egos can handle, and without enough moments of humility, can be like the man who, having jumped out of a five-story building, kept saying, “So far so good.” In both cases a loud splat is about to overwhelm the scene.
Let’s put it this way: To deny any need for change is to sabotage improvement. Therefore, each of us needs to practice occasionally what I like to call the Columbus syndrome. Have the courage to sail forth into the unknown, to discover a new continent of thought or procedure, and by so doing discover something new and wonderful and challenging for your future.
