To Be a Pastor

  Recently I posted an entry about the truths I would want people to know about being single. It lead me to start thinking about truths I would want folks to know about being a pastor.

1.) We really do work more then Sunday. In fact, it is not funny when you insinuate that I only work one day a week. That "one day" alone is usually 10-14 hours. It is not uncommon for pastors to put in 60 or more hours a week.

2.) Its insulting to tell clergy that we should be happy with a low salary because we work for God. Yes, we do work for the Church. Yes, we are called. But, especially in my denomination, we have a minimum of 4 years of undergrad and 3 years of a master degree. Call doesn't mean bills don't need to be paid. And we put in more hours then we will even be compensated for with this level of education. No, we don't do it for the money at all, but at the same time it doesn't help to hear that you feel that we should work for less.

3.) The best gift you can give us is to say that you are praying for us and mean it.

4.) The worst thing you can do is tell us how you would do our job better, what you don't like, or talk behind our backs. Sometimes we can't explain everything to you, because of pastoral confidence, but decisions are made only after prayer and with wisdom. Sermons have a lot of hours of work and prayer that go into them. And we hear a lot more criticism then positive comments.

5.) When you have an opinion about the church, please remember that everyone else in the pew also has an opinion, some of which will also be shared. Is it kind? Relevant? Necessary?

Clergy, what else would you add?