The Role of a Pastor

The pastoral ministry is a haven for multitaskers. Running a church is a great remedy for those who tend to get bored with their work. No two days are the same. There is a wide variety of things to be managed and looked after, and at the end of each week there still remains an enormous amount of work to be done. Hospital visits, sermons, Bible studies, committee meetings, weddings, printing bulletins -- these are (almost) all thrilling activities. That doesn't even touch the personal spiritual work of prayer and contemplation, which most pastors would rather do more of.

Some pastors may have formal job descriptions, but I doubt that most do. It would simply take too long to list all the things that one has to attend to. Besides, what church board or committee would want to actually wade through that long list on a regular basis when doing an evaluation?

Instead of providing a detailed job description, the United Methodist Church lists four main areas of responsibility for its pastors:

• Word: preaching, teaching, and counseling
• Sacrament: communion, baptism
• Order: administrative oversight, financial operations, budgeting, reporting to the denomination
• Service: extending the ministry of Christ into the world

The explanation of these four areas takes more than two pages in the Book of Discipline (Paragraph 340). While this kind of broad overview is helpful, it doesn't help to create focus. In fact, it can even be discouraging, especially when a pastor might feel that they have to excel in all these different areas.

For the pastor who needs things to be boiled down, let me recommend what Eugene Peterson has written on the subject. Peterson says that the real work of a pastor is to cure souls. Even if the day-to-day responsibilities of running a church involve a variety of other activities, the basic job can be boiled down to these three things: teaching prayer, developing faith, and preparing for a good death (The Contemplative Pastor, page 59). Those responsibilities aren't easy, but I find that Peterson's short list keeps me focused on what really matters.

If you are a pastor, I encourage you to focus on the three-fold task of curing souls. If you are on the committee that evaluates your pastor, then encourage him or her to stick to what matters.