Adam McLane is a blogger who i follow form time to time. I thought this was a great article (especially as I wait to go into my weekly staff meeting 🙂 )
When did ministry become an office job? | adammclane.com
Somewhere along the way ministry became a desk jockey job.
When I read the book of Acts and even the pastoral epistles I get the idea that being a pastor was action packed.
* John didn’t kick it in staff meeting for 2-3 hours per week.
* Peter didn’t make edits to the bulletin.
* Matthew didn’t work late to attend the facilities team meeting.
* Phillip didn’t put on a collared shirt and sit in a swivel chair from 8-4.Even if you go back 50 years the pastoral staff wasn’t all about programs and project managing. They were out in the commnity visiting elderly, the sick, and doing house calls. If the staff had an office it wa
s for study. If the staff met it was for prayer. There was an administrative staff that did admin work and project management. Not pastors. Pastors were out doing, not sitting behind a desk.
But somewhere between there and here all ministry jobs became something else. If we’re honest the ministry job became 75% administrative and 25% ministry on a good day. New people in a church always say the same thing… this isn’t what I thought it would be.
