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Almost everything the author writes is wrong, unbiblical, or just plain bad counsel.
We have discussed at length the biblical description of church government, the points of which we will try not to rehash here.
In addition, the author will repeatedly reference the biblical position, but never quote a Bible verse. Never.
This is a long, faulty, ill-conceived article.
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One of my favorite things is getting together with other pastors and asking them how their ministry is going. Most of the time a pastor will say that things are going great, and then he will share some of the joys of his ministry. However, occasionally a pastor will sigh deeply and tell me that things are getting difficult... and on more than one occasion, that the pastor goes on to tell me that he has a particular elder who demands to know how he spends his time. (The author presumes a grievous thing, but this is not automatically the case. Pastors and all leaders must be accountable, period. They don't get to define their own duties. An elder who "demands" this is not automatically wrong.)
There are few things that elicit a deeper groan of sympathy from my own heart than a fellow pastor of a smaller church who tells me that his elders are suspicious enough to resort to tracking how much time he spends "in the office." (Is there never a reason to be suspicious of a pastor?)
To me, it is an immediate sign of an unhealthy session (eldership) that distrusts the pastor when the elders want a man to keep track of his hours or when they take it upon themselves to do so. (This is not automatically a sign of distrust. The author implies that the eldership should not have the power to do this. He never explains why.
Further, the author will constantly focus on the accountability issue in terms of the hours spent. That is, scrutinizing the performance of a pastor, or having standards, or having the ability to evaluate a pastor, is akin to having him punch a time clock and accounting for every minute of his time. However, there is much more besides the pastor's schedule that is relevant here.
And frankly, we should not exclude the possibility that a pastor might be indeed wasting time.)
I once knew a fellow minister who had an elder who would drive past the church and take note of what time he arrived each day and when he left each day. If he wasn't keeping the same hours as the elder did before he was retired, he was reprimanded at the next session meeting. (This anecdotal story is presented as being representative of the situation. That is, elders who want to know what the pastor is doing inherently unhealthy and wrong. He thinks that that evaluating and correcting a pastor is the same thing as stalking and operating according to worldly business principles. None of this is true.)
Being treated like this makes the pastor feel like a pack animal or Ben-Hur rowing in the slave galleys, rather than what he is - a trustworthy minister and pastor. (It seems that this is the issue up for question. Is the pastor a trustworthy minister? How do we evaluate pastors? If the pastor is not doing a good job, what do we do about it?)
I hear enough of these stories that it seems like something that needs to be addressed. (He judges according to the limited sample size he's acquainted with.)
And part of the reason I feel I can address this, myself, is because I serve a church where the session (eldership) does not treat me as a paid hourly employee. They don't demand that I account for every minute of my day or scrutinize my schedule. In the church where I currently serve, I have never, ever felt like I am their employee; I feel I've been treated as a pastor, a minister who seeks to use his time well and live a life that is above reproach. (Apparently he's a remarkable pastor, and concludes that the treatment he receives ought to be the norm. That is, because he is never called into account, this is the correct approach when dealing with any pastor.)
On the other hand, there are many pastors out there who don't have the freedom to speak on this issue--and likely won't even feel free to share this article on social media--because they are literally turning in time sheets and showing their work as if they were high schoolers clocking in at their first job at the Burger King. (The author manipulates the situation. Reasonable employment conditions and expectations have nothing to do with time sheets or a kid working fast food.
He wants to make accountability a demeaning thing, beneath the high and noble calling of pastor. You see, pastors are beyond these worldly things like being evaluated and questioned.)
There are a few things we can know about a small church that watches and scrutinizes the hours of its pastor:
1) Most likely, there are business leaders on the session. (eldership) (Or perhaps, the pastor is young and inexperienced or is not performing well, and requires supervision, training, and correction. It is not uncommon for a small church to have a young or less-than-desirable pastor.)
2) The session members (elders) do not trust their minister. (Or perhaps, the elders have decided there is cause to monitor the pastor.)
3) The church will almost certainly chase their pastors away. (Or perhaps, the church will not retain a sub standard pastor.)
If you are a ruling elder on a session (eldership) where you know the minister is being watched and scrutinized like this--if not by you, then maybe by another elder--I hope to give you a few reasons to stop this practice immediately, and consider even repenting to the pastor for how you've treated him. (Actually, we would suggest that a pastor who has this attitude should repent for his rebellious independence and prima donna attitude.)
1. Time =/= Increased Productivity.
In the business community, time equals productivity. If you're working in a restaurant, another hour equals more food made and more people fed. If you're running a lawn care business, productivity means more grass cut as fast as possible. If you're in banking, staying in the office for just another hour means that account will be completed, which means tomorrow you'll be able to move on to something else, and over time that productivity turns into greater returns. The business world knows what productivity looks like: Greater return on investment and cash in the books. Time really does mean more productivity in the business world.
But what does pastoral productivity look like? (The question necessarily implies there is indeed a need to quantify. Maybe the quantifiers are different than the business world, but there are clearly quantifiers. Those quantifiers are relevant and should be considered.
It seems prudent for a church leadership to identify and evaluate according to the quantifiers they deem important, and make them a condition of employment so that everyone understands what's expected. As a bonus, the pastor's tendency to cry foul would be minimized, and an errant eldership can also be called out according to pre-agreed terms.)
More money in the church coffers? More behinds in the seats on Sunday mornings? More conversions? More baptisms? The biblical answer is that pastoring is not a job like making widgets or generating financial returns. (The author teases us with the "biblical" answer, but never tells us what it is. Nor does he reference the verses that might instruct us.
He will reference the biblical way of doing things several times without explaining what that way might be.)
Biblically speaking, productivity looks like the pastor fulfilling his calling with "a good conscience and sincere faith," (Finally a snippet of a Bible quote, unattributed and divorced of its context. Here's the passage:
which cannot be numerically measured. (The author persists in this idea of counting things as the only relevant factor in evaluating performance. Is this the only thing we have to work with when it comes to pastors? Is this the only tool available to us from the Bible regarding church leadership? How about 1Ti. Chapter 3, or Titus Chapter 1?
Allowing only the numerical criteria, the author believes therefore that is impossible to measure the performance of a pastor.)
2. Time in the Office Is Not the Sum Total of Pastoral Ministry.
(...)
...you could never really measure the time a pastor spends being a pastor, because he never stops. (This is the key problem. The author's view of pastor is faulty. We refer you again to our analyses of church leadership.
If a pastor, or any church leader, or frankly, any person, cannot shut off their job, they are unhealthy and doomed to failure. Yet the author seems to think that such an attitude commends a pastor.)
Probably even the man himself could not tell you when he stops being a pastor and when he shifts into "average joe" mode, (This is very nearly delusional if a pastor has this mind-set.)
and that is because of the next point I want to mention.
3. Pastoral Ministry Owns All of a Man's Life. (This is egregiously false.)
Part of the reason why office time does not equal pastoral ministry is because all of the pastor's life is ministry in some way. Even when I take my son to Taekwondo, what am I doing? I'm reading a book on my Kindle that helps me be a better pastor. I might visit with the person next to me and see if there's some comfort I can share with them. Sometimes I am sitting with my iPad in my lap tweaking a sermon. I may be composing a letter to a church member, all of which is very nontraditional when it comes to counting office hours. (The author points to his own unhealthy behavior as normative.)
Pastors are always on call and always need to be ready to respond. (No. They shouldn't be. This is inappropriate and dysfunctional. Later the author will mention pastors burning out and quitting the ministry. He attributes these outcomes to tyrannical elders, ironically not considering his description of pastor is an important factor contributing to pastors giving up.
----------------
One of my favorite things is getting together with other pastors and asking them how their ministry is going. Most of the time a pastor will say that things are going great, and then he will share some of the joys of his ministry. However, occasionally a pastor will sigh deeply and tell me that things are getting difficult... and on more than one occasion, that the pastor goes on to tell me that he has a particular elder who demands to know how he spends his time. (The author presumes a grievous thing, but this is not automatically the case. Pastors and all leaders must be accountable, period. They don't get to define their own duties. An elder who "demands" this is not automatically wrong.)
There are few things that elicit a deeper groan of sympathy from my own heart than a fellow pastor of a smaller church who tells me that his elders are suspicious enough to resort to tracking how much time he spends "in the office." (Is there never a reason to be suspicious of a pastor?)
To me, it is an immediate sign of an unhealthy session (eldership) that distrusts the pastor when the elders want a man to keep track of his hours or when they take it upon themselves to do so. (This is not automatically a sign of distrust. The author implies that the eldership should not have the power to do this. He never explains why.
Further, the author will constantly focus on the accountability issue in terms of the hours spent. That is, scrutinizing the performance of a pastor, or having standards, or having the ability to evaluate a pastor, is akin to having him punch a time clock and accounting for every minute of his time. However, there is much more besides the pastor's schedule that is relevant here.
And frankly, we should not exclude the possibility that a pastor might be indeed wasting time.)
I once knew a fellow minister who had an elder who would drive past the church and take note of what time he arrived each day and when he left each day. If he wasn't keeping the same hours as the elder did before he was retired, he was reprimanded at the next session meeting. (This anecdotal story is presented as being representative of the situation. That is, elders who want to know what the pastor is doing inherently unhealthy and wrong. He thinks that that evaluating and correcting a pastor is the same thing as stalking and operating according to worldly business principles. None of this is true.)
Being treated like this makes the pastor feel like a pack animal or Ben-Hur rowing in the slave galleys, rather than what he is - a trustworthy minister and pastor. (It seems that this is the issue up for question. Is the pastor a trustworthy minister? How do we evaluate pastors? If the pastor is not doing a good job, what do we do about it?)
I hear enough of these stories that it seems like something that needs to be addressed. (He judges according to the limited sample size he's acquainted with.)
And part of the reason I feel I can address this, myself, is because I serve a church where the session (eldership) does not treat me as a paid hourly employee. They don't demand that I account for every minute of my day or scrutinize my schedule. In the church where I currently serve, I have never, ever felt like I am their employee; I feel I've been treated as a pastor, a minister who seeks to use his time well and live a life that is above reproach. (Apparently he's a remarkable pastor, and concludes that the treatment he receives ought to be the norm. That is, because he is never called into account, this is the correct approach when dealing with any pastor.)
On the other hand, there are many pastors out there who don't have the freedom to speak on this issue--and likely won't even feel free to share this article on social media--because they are literally turning in time sheets and showing their work as if they were high schoolers clocking in at their first job at the Burger King. (The author manipulates the situation. Reasonable employment conditions and expectations have nothing to do with time sheets or a kid working fast food.
He wants to make accountability a demeaning thing, beneath the high and noble calling of pastor. You see, pastors are beyond these worldly things like being evaluated and questioned.)
There are a few things we can know about a small church that watches and scrutinizes the hours of its pastor:
1) Most likely, there are business leaders on the session. (eldership) (Or perhaps, the pastor is young and inexperienced or is not performing well, and requires supervision, training, and correction. It is not uncommon for a small church to have a young or less-than-desirable pastor.)
2) The session members (elders) do not trust their minister. (Or perhaps, the elders have decided there is cause to monitor the pastor.)
3) The church will almost certainly chase their pastors away. (Or perhaps, the church will not retain a sub standard pastor.)
If you are a ruling elder on a session (eldership) where you know the minister is being watched and scrutinized like this--if not by you, then maybe by another elder--I hope to give you a few reasons to stop this practice immediately, and consider even repenting to the pastor for how you've treated him. (Actually, we would suggest that a pastor who has this attitude should repent for his rebellious independence and prima donna attitude.)
1. Time =/= Increased Productivity.
In the business community, time equals productivity. If you're working in a restaurant, another hour equals more food made and more people fed. If you're running a lawn care business, productivity means more grass cut as fast as possible. If you're in banking, staying in the office for just another hour means that account will be completed, which means tomorrow you'll be able to move on to something else, and over time that productivity turns into greater returns. The business world knows what productivity looks like: Greater return on investment and cash in the books. Time really does mean more productivity in the business world.
But what does pastoral productivity look like? (The question necessarily implies there is indeed a need to quantify. Maybe the quantifiers are different than the business world, but there are clearly quantifiers. Those quantifiers are relevant and should be considered.
It seems prudent for a church leadership to identify and evaluate according to the quantifiers they deem important, and make them a condition of employment so that everyone understands what's expected. As a bonus, the pastor's tendency to cry foul would be minimized, and an errant eldership can also be called out according to pre-agreed terms.)
More money in the church coffers? More behinds in the seats on Sunday mornings? More conversions? More baptisms? The biblical answer is that pastoring is not a job like making widgets or generating financial returns. (The author teases us with the "biblical" answer, but never tells us what it is. Nor does he reference the verses that might instruct us.
He will reference the biblical way of doing things several times without explaining what that way might be.)
Biblically speaking, productivity looks like the pastor fulfilling his calling with "a good conscience and sincere faith," (Finally a snippet of a Bible quote, unattributed and divorced of its context. Here's the passage:
1Ti. 1:3-5 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work — which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.If you're wondering what this has to do with a pastor fulfilling his calling, you're not alone.)
which cannot be numerically measured. (The author persists in this idea of counting things as the only relevant factor in evaluating performance. Is this the only thing we have to work with when it comes to pastors? Is this the only tool available to us from the Bible regarding church leadership? How about 1Ti. Chapter 3, or Titus Chapter 1?
Allowing only the numerical criteria, the author believes therefore that is impossible to measure the performance of a pastor.)
2. Time in the Office Is Not the Sum Total of Pastoral Ministry.
(...)
...you could never really measure the time a pastor spends being a pastor, because he never stops. (This is the key problem. The author's view of pastor is faulty. We refer you again to our analyses of church leadership.
If a pastor, or any church leader, or frankly, any person, cannot shut off their job, they are unhealthy and doomed to failure. Yet the author seems to think that such an attitude commends a pastor.)
Probably even the man himself could not tell you when he stops being a pastor and when he shifts into "average joe" mode, (This is very nearly delusional if a pastor has this mind-set.)
and that is because of the next point I want to mention.
3. Pastoral Ministry Owns All of a Man's Life. (This is egregiously false.)
Part of the reason why office time does not equal pastoral ministry is because all of the pastor's life is ministry in some way. Even when I take my son to Taekwondo, what am I doing? I'm reading a book on my Kindle that helps me be a better pastor. I might visit with the person next to me and see if there's some comfort I can share with them. Sometimes I am sitting with my iPad in my lap tweaking a sermon. I may be composing a letter to a church member, all of which is very nontraditional when it comes to counting office hours. (The author points to his own unhealthy behavior as normative.)
Pastors are always on call and always need to be ready to respond. (No. They shouldn't be. This is inappropriate and dysfunctional. Later the author will mention pastors burning out and quitting the ministry. He attributes these outcomes to tyrannical elders, ironically not considering his description of pastor is an important factor contributing to pastors giving up.
This faulty idea of the role of pastor is a primary reason pastors fail. And it's avoidable. The Bible's leadership model is team leadership, not a pyramid with the pastor at the top.
Further, the author will have nothing to say about the ministry of the Body, one to another. There is no excuse at all for a 24/7 pastor when there are so many in the congregation who aren't being utilized for their gifts and talents.
The author lies to us about what constitutes a pastor, and lies to us, based on this lie, to tell us that we cannot quantify a pastor's effectiveness.)
We might have a disaster at 9pm on a Saturday that requires our attention. Family movie night may have to go on without us. We may have a church member stop by our house unannounced that needs ministered to. We may have a hundred unplanned interactions each day that look nothing like the equivalent of flipping a certain number of burgers or mowing a certain quota of lawns in a day. You cannot quantify the work of a pastor because his whole life is, in a sense, spent on call. (Any pastor who puts his family in second place is not fit to be pastor.)
There are certainly examples of lazy pastors. Sure, that happens. (Waaait. So there is a way to quantify a pastor's job? Will the author tell us what this is? Nope.)
And perhaps someone needs to write an article on that subject. But even then, pastoral laziness still cannot be measured in terms of hours. Pastoral laziness will show up in terms of how the people are cared for, the care that goes into the sermons, whether administrative concerns are being taken care of and so on. (The author concedes his entire case. Apparently there are ways to quantify a pastors performance. Hmm.)
Hours "on the clock," I hope you can see, are not the way to gauge pastoral laziness.
Elders, I cannot emphasize this enough: Trust your pastor. (How about, "pastors, trust your elders?")
Give him room to be himself and give him the freedom to work in a way that he sees best. ("Give your elders room to be themselves."
Why in the world does the pastor deserve carte blanche privilege to do what he sees best? Doesn't the church have a government? A vision statement? A constitution? A group of believers ambitious to grow into maturity of faith and service?)
I have developed my own routines through trial and error, and I am still learning, (He is teaching himself? His eldership is expected to stand by silently and let him work out his job by trial and error? Really? What on earth is this guy thinking?
Apparently the leadership simply needs to shut up and let the professional handle the ministry. The pastor gets to create his own job, figuring it out on the fly. The elders just rubber stamp anything and everything the pastor wants.
And the congregation? Well, they are sheep, aren't they? They don't know anything. They have no position or duty, except of course to show up every Sunday and write their tithe check.
Yet the only problem the author can identify is the elders want to know what the pastor is doing?? Astonishing.)
but I would feel utterly stilted and trapped if I was treated the way some of my fellow ministers are being (or have been) treated, and I would warn a prospective pastor to any church that I knew treated their pastor like this. Many pastors have straight up told me, "I had a church that treated me that way, and life's too short - never again. I would say no to any church who did that in a heartbeat."
I fear that many church sessions (elderships) are not very reflective on the nature of the pastorate or what they really have when they have a pastor. (Yes of course. It's the elders who are wrong and shortsighted.)
This mentality that treats the pastor as an employee is a reflection of an imported business-mentality, but not of a biblical mentality. ("Biblical" again.
In fact, a paid person is an employee. Employees must perform a series of duties in exchange for their pay. They have an obligation to be workers who deserve their wages. And because of this, there must be an evaluative process.
The author has danced around these issues, but in fact they must be part of being paid to do a job.)
Some sessions (elders) see their job as creating friction in the pastor's life, pushing back at every moment and making his life difficult so that he doesn't "rest on his laurels." (Undocumented assertion.)
However, this philosophy misses the very real fact that every pastor is already his own worst critic. There is plenty of friction in the soul of the average minister. (Most likely due to feelings of guilt and inadequacy because of the impossible task of living up to the contemporary version of pastorship, a clearly unbiblical model.)
Derek Thomas has spoken of the epidemic of pastoral guilt - that fear that I'm never doing enough - that fear that there is always something more... that if I could just accomplish one more thing, or preach an even better sermon, I might be worthy of this office or I would deserve to be here. (Exactly. If pastors were acting according to the Bible's teaching, they would likely not be faced with this.)
Some pastors cope with that by doubling down and eventually burning out. Others cope with it by descending into deep depressions that they feel they cannot share with others (especially the members of the session). (elders) Still others decide not to cope with it and leave the ministry. (Notice the author recognizes the bad fruit of his own way of viewing the pastorate, yet never makes the connection that his view is the problem.)
Sessions, (elders) your job is accountability and congregational care, (No, the elders direct the affairs of the church as overseers and shepherds [1Ti. 5:17, 1Pe. 5:2].
And what exactly does this mean, accountability and congregational care? How is it the author is able to identify requirements for elders, but not pastors? Why is he so willing to tell elders what they should do, but bristles at the idea of elders telling him what to do?)
but not to create difficulty, misery, or guilt in the minister's life simply for the sake of friction. (He keeps attacking these nameless elders with the most egregious of characterizations.)
In the end, the cure to this problem of sessions (elders) treating pastors like employees is remarkably straightforward: Sessions (elders) need a biblical understanding of the pastorate and of elders. ("Biblical" for the third time.
The author will never tell us this understanding. He never discusses the Bible at all.)
We need to stop importing the things we've learned in the business world as if there is a 1:1 relationship between our previous success and the office of elder. I fear far too many successful business men have become elders due to perception of competence and worldly achievement when really they ought to be Sunday School teachers or deacons. The result is business philosophy masquerading as biblical eldering or tough love. ("Biblical" for the fourth time.
Again, it's solely the fault of elders, particularly those with a business background. They don't deserve to be elders. They are manipulative and controlling. Elders are the problem, but pastors need to be free and unaccountable.
These elders are oppressive, and the remedy is demotion.
For the author, it's pastors vs. elders. The elders need to get on board with the pastor.)
A church pays their pastor so that he will be free of worldly concerns, (Is this true?)
not as reciprocity for hours spent. (How about reciprocity for agreed duties?)
The intention of paying a pastor is that he is free to minister the word well, shepherd the church, serve the people, (The author has just described the job of the eldership.)
and make sure that he and his family are spiritually fed (As long as they're willing to give up movie night...)
so that he can keep ministering for the long term, not so that he is motivated to work harder or eventually burn out. Ministering well in a sustainable way involves finding a work flow and lifestyle that can leave him free to do those things in the way he best sees fit with a "clear conscience," and that may not look like the easily counted 40, 60, 80, or 100 hour work week. (Again it's about what the pastor decides. Leave the pastoring to the professionals, you elders!
This is the errant perspective of what constitutes the contemporary credentialed pastor, largely divorced from any sort of biblical perspective.)
(Having attacked a caricature of eldership, the author now turns to blame the entire church...) If your church is stalking the pastor's hours, watching every movement he makes, and letting him know that you are holding his feet to the fire, I believe you are in the process of running your minister off, and I believe that you need to repent. This behavior reflects a business-like mentality that does not belong in the church. It reflects a belief in the power of productivity that is wrong-headed, and misses the fact that soul-enrichment is totally unquantifiable. (Astounding. The author continues to insist there is no way to measure a pastor's effectiveness. He says it over and over. He continually represents the issue as hours spent, as if this was the only possible factor.
But he is able to acknowledge that there is such a thing as a lazy pastor. This begs the question, how does he know this is possible, and by what measure is this determined? This is somehow quantifiable; the author knows there are lazy pastors. So he needs to tell us, how does he know this?)
It reflects a distrust of a minister of the gospel who is responsible before God for how he lives and serves the people under his care. (The pastor seems to answer to God alone, not any other authority in the church. This is sick.)
Any church that wants to keep their pastor needs to learn to trust the man, and to trust the Spirit of God to deal with the man when he fails. (Oh, my. There is nothing in this paragraph that reflects biblical prescriptions:
Ga. 6:1-2 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.
Ga. 5:21 ...I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1Th. 4:6 ...The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.
1Th. 5:14 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
2Th. 3:14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
1Ti. 5:20 Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.
2Ti. 2:14 Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.
Tit. 3:10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him.We would counsel any prospective pastor to do exactly the opposite of what the author describes here. Otherwise, you are doomed to failure.)
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