What Your Congregation Wants You to Know, Part One

"Tips for a Pastor"

I read a lot of blogs written by pastors. I understand the many issues, personalities and responsibilities they are called upon to give their time to each and every day. There is no doubt that it is a demanding life for them and for their families.

The following tips deal with observations made from personal experiences as well as issues I’ve read about from pastors around the USA. I hope there might be something you’ll find helpful here.

Some of you might feel I am stating the obvious. That may be true in your case, but I assure you that these points may not necessarily be obvious to others.

#1- Accept the fact that you cannot be all things to all people. Pastors can be called on to be a counselor, a bookkeeper, a doctor, a public speaker, a maintenance person and much more. Any reasonable person must realize you cannot fill all of these roles, much less excel in every area. Try to focus on where you feel best equipped to serve, and then...

#2- Delegate, delegate, delegate! It’s hard to say no, but when you have said you will take care of things, be sure it gets done. Many of you might think to yourselves, "Yes, I said I’d check into that, but don’t they realize I have two district meetings, a sermon to prepare and a funeral on Friday?" No....what they see is that you promised to take care of something and it isn’t getting done. Delegate it.

#3- What about those sermons? Where did yours come from? A big topic of debate online has been the use of "borrowed" sermon material, or even the practice of using others’ sermons word for word. Many different opinions have been expressed, but the bottom line is how you are presenting it to your congregation. Personally, I have never had a pastor cite any source for a sermon...never. However, I have had a pastor who not only preached other people’s sermons word for word, but inserted his and his family’s names into the anecdotes (and then went on to the council about the 30 hours he spent each week writing it). This came to my attention quite by accident, but I can’t tell you what a huge disappointment it was. I would have completely understood if he felt he needed these resources and cited them in the bulletin or at the start of the sermon. But to present it so blatantly as your own....it was just dishonest. I cringed every time I heard him preach after that, knowing that the cute little story he just told about his son never happened at all. Is that how you want your congregation to feel? Be honest. A simple blurb in the bulletin is all it would take, i.e. "Today’s sermon was inspired by the original message of Rev. John Smith, St. John’s Lutheran".

#4- Respond. Always respond to your calls and emails coming in with an idea or concern. Do not let it go. It may not be a priority to you, but you can be sure it is to them. Don’t let those emails and calls sit unanswered. If it’s a matter of time, go back to #2- delegate! If it is an issue you don't feel like addressing....deal with it! Pray on it and respond to it instead of doing that "denial" thing. But be sure to keep up on responding. It is very disheartening for someone to feel their concern or idea isn’t important.


I hope a few of these have been helpful to you in some way. Part Two will continue later this week.

Love ya-