Five things church staff wish people knew...

Jason Boyett has a nice article at the Faithvillage Resource Blog entitled: Five Things Church Staff Wish Their Congregations Knew. It's pretty short and simple, and it explains further the main points I'm listing below.

Jason's 'Five Things Church Staff With Their Congregation Knew':

1. Paid staff members are regular people, like you.
2. Ministry can be really frustrating.
3. They see their job as equipping people for ministry... but church members don't always see it that way.
4. Delivering a sermon is hard, hard work.
5. They take things personally.

One thing I am always amazed by are all the people who think they need to "keep their pastor humble." You know... I suppose there are pastors who need humbling, but for the most part I don't really see that as the biggest problem pastors have. In fact, I would say most pastors I know need encouraged much more than they need humbled. We doubt ourselves, question ourselves, feel like we're not doing enough, feel like we're letting people down... well, at least I do... and most of the time it seems like what we do isn't very worthwhile at all. There is a constant pull (from both within, and our culture) that we need to be and do more and better. So, I feel a little sheepish even posting these five things, because... it's not really about me (the pastor). But I would say number five is the one I struggle with the most. It's hard for me not to take things personal. Mostly because a lot of criticism IS personal. But, you know, it is what it is.

Btw... David Fitch has an excellent post directed more towards pastors who think they need to get a better degree, write a book or some such thing... For All the Big Dreamers in the World - Start Small On the Ground and Let the Rest Take Care of Itself.

Good stuff for everybody.

Peace out; and in.