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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Clergy Time Management
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christianbuddhist
Apprentice
# 17579
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Posted
What strategies do clergy on here use to manage their time? Does anyone intentionally divide their time between the various elements of ministry? What does an average week look like, as far as its possible to describe it? And does anyone ever stick to the "two out of three sessions" rule?
Posts: 15 | Registered: Mar 2013
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
Not a clergy person responding here.
I definitely know that the pastors at our church do use a calendar to schedule time for the various different responsibilities they have, such as a weekly staff meeting, sermon preparation, leadership meetings, mentoring, one full weekday off each week to compensate for Sundays and weekday evenings, pastoral care calls/visits, weekday speaking engagements at schools or community groups, professional development and so on.
There is some flexibility to that to allow for pastoral emergencies to pop up, having a well-coordinated volunteer pastoral care team is important to make sure the integrity of existing appointments doesn't need to be compromised in those circumstances.
ETA: what's the "two out of three sessions" rule you're talking about? I can't find anything on Google for it.
[ 17. October 2013, 17:11: Message edited by: the giant cheeseburger ]
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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fletcher christian
Mutinous Seadog
# 13919
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Posted
You missed out time spent in prayer from your list. I know it probably wasn't meant to be exhaustive, but it always seems to be the thing sidelined as less important and not central.
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'God is love insaturable, love impossible to describe'
Staretz Silouan
Posts: 5235 | From: a prefecture | Registered: Jul 2008
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Not a suggestion, the old routine used to be:
Morning in your study (prayer, correspondence, service preparation and personal development)
Afternoon pastoral visiting (both emergency but also routine visits to members)
Evening in meetings (whether wider church, local management, leading Bible study or social).
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by fletcher christian:
You missed out time spent in prayer from your list. I know it probably wasn't meant to be exhaustive, but it always seems to be the thing sidelined as less important and not central.
No. My experience is that it is in everything, not sidelined.
Outside of gathered prayer meetings I don't think it should ever need to be on a schedule in work hours though, it's part of the Christian life and not just the pastor's life.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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Pyx_e
Quixotic Tilter
# 57
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Posted
You can be busy and going in the wrong direction. It is a calling not a competition. If it is a vocation it is all God’s. Time management tools are like diets, the need for one shows a lack of basic understanding and are unnatural therefore easy to fall out of. Trying to fulfil your congregations expectation to be “busy” is a road to perdition. Some days you may be full on from getting up til you get home at whatever time, some days you won’t. It is better to do one thing well and in God than 10 this rushed and badly. It is all God’s work our lives as Christians is to marry our will to His, not impress him with how busy we are “for him” because it is in the end it is not for Him. It is supposed to be fun, why do so many clergy crash and burn? Often after years of selfless dedication? Ask any Christian what bought them to church/God it will be another Christain, one who had a smell of Holiness. Lord show me the way to You, that my life may reflect your Love. Not my need to be loved.
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It is better to be Kind than right.
Posts: 9778 | From: The Dark Tower | Registered: May 2001
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seasick
...over the edge
# 48
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Not a suggestion, the old routine used to be:
Morning in your study (prayer, correspondence, service preparation and personal development)
Afternoon pastoral visiting (both emergency but also routine visits to members)
Evening in meetings (whether wider church, local management, leading Bible study or social).
Jengie
Which assumes that you have a dutiful minister's wife doing all the household chores and putting meals on the table at the appointed time and generally not minding that she never sees her husband. Few of us live in that situation now! [ETA This was intended to be ironic... I think it is good that we generally now recognise spouses of the clergy as proper people in their own right!]
To answer the two sessions point - it's the idea that you should work two out of morning, afternoon and evening and take the other for recreation, household jobs, whatever. I used to keep to that fairly strictly until I got assigned lots more work and I work 3 sessions most days now. I'm due to move next summer and one of my aims is to get back to having 2 sessions as the norm rather than the exception.
[ 17. October 2013, 18:07: Message edited by: seasick ]
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We believe there is, and always was, in every Christian Church, ... an outward priesthood, ordained by Jesus Christ, and an outward sacrifice offered therein. - John Wesley
Posts: 5769 | From: A world of my own | Registered: May 2001
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Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378
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Posted
Something I learned a long time ago, if most pastors don't be careful, they can easily get into a 60 hour work week; yet it has been found most people will quickly burn out after 54 hours of week in the long run.
A trick I used was to divide the work day, Sunday, through Saturday, into four hour time slots (8-12; 1-4; 5-9) I always took Friday and Saturday off, but if I worked more than two of those four hour time slots in a day, I would take compensatory time off somewhere else. I would work no more than 10 time slots per week.
Posts: 2193 | From: Pullman WA | Registered: Apr 2011
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Tubbs
Miss Congeniality
# 440
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by seasick:
quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Not a suggestion, the old routine used to be:
Morning in your study (prayer, correspondence, service preparation and personal development)
Afternoon pastoral visiting (both emergency but also routine visits to members)
Evening in meetings (whether wider church, local management, leading Bible study or social).
Jengie
Which assumes that you have a dutiful minister's wife doing all the household chores and putting meals on the table at the appointed time and generally not minding that she never sees her husband. Few of us live in that situation now! [ETA This was intended to be ironic... I think it is good that we generally now recognise spouses of the clergy as proper people in their own right!]
To answer the two sessions point - it's the idea that you should work two out of morning, afternoon and evening and take the other for recreation, household jobs, whatever. I used to keep to that fairly strictly until I got assigned lots more work and I work 3 sessions most days now. I'm due to move next summer and one of my aims is to get back to having 2 sessions as the norm rather than the exception.
Rev T has set days when he does stuff - sermon writing, toddlers, home group - that includes some flexibility for pastoral visits, reading, prayer, time off, family time and child care. He didn't get one of those wives who does all the house-work, child care and then does a pile stuff at church. He got one of those newfangled career women, who are crap at flower arranging and expect him to be at home every so often.
Tubbs
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"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it up and remove all doubt" - Dennis Thatcher. My blog. Decide for yourself which I am
Posts: 12701 | From: Someplace strange | Registered: Jun 2001
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Cathscats
Shipmate
# 17827
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Posted
I have a wider administrative role as well as my own two parishes. Recently when describing to my husband how I had to take care that a neighbouring minister could observe the two out or three sessions rule (which means that if you have to work an evening, you should take a morning or afternoon off), he commented that it didn't seem to work that way for me. Which is true. But I do try to balance time in the study with meetings and pastoral visits. And all includes prayer! ![[Angel]](graemlins/angel.gif)
[ 17. October 2013, 21:16: Message edited by: Cathscats ]
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"...damp hands and theological doubts - the two always seem to go together..." (O. Douglas, "The Setons")
Posts: 176 | From: Central Highlands | Registered: Sep 2013
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Rowen
Shipmate
# 1194
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Posted
In my ministry job, in remote Australia, any single event may involve a journey in the car of several hundred kms.... Screws time management up a bit!
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"May I live this day… compassionate of heart" (John O’Donoghue)...
Posts: 4897 | From: Somewhere cold in Victoria, Australia | Registered: Aug 2001
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
I'm obsessively organized so "time management" as the term is being used here is not much of a problem for me. I'm very good at working the to-do list, ical, etc. to apportion my time and make sure I'm working at maximum efficiency. The harder task for me I find is being interruptible-- being open to those "holy moments" when something comes along that isn't on my schedule-- whether it's a ministry task (e.g. hospital emergency) or a family thing (kids want to talk) or even an unexpected joy (e.g. beautiful sunset). I also can get lost in the details-- I enjoy the process of organizing my time, ticking things off my to-do list so much I can lose sight of the bigger picture.
What's helpful for me is to look over my meticulously well-groomed calendar at the beginning of the day-- the sooner the better, before my obsessive to-do list train gets out the station-- and ask myself prayerfully "what is the most important thing today" and particularly, "who is God calling me to love (or "love on" in charismatic parlance) today?". Taking a minute to focus on that, and then pray over that one thing helps me (sometimes at least) forestall some of the obsessiveness and keep an eye to what's most important.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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HughWillRidmee
Shipmate
# 15614
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pyx_e:
You can be busy and going in the wrong direction. It is a calling not a competition. ......Time management tools are like diets, the need for one shows a lack of basic understanding and are unnatural therefore easy to fall out of. Trying to fulfil your congregations (employer’s) expectation to be “busy” is a road to perdition. Some days you may be full on from getting up til you get home at whatever time, some days you won’t. It is better to do one thing well ...... than 10 this rushed and badly. ........ It is supposed to be fun, why do so many ..... crash and burn? Often after years of selfless dedication? .....show me the way .....that my life may....reflect..... Love. Not my need to be loved.
Reading this it struck me that it was (as amended) very like working from home in a sales job. Then I realised why – it is selling isn’t it: both in the sense that we all sell all the time but also in the narrower “sales/marketing” sense. It’s the justification for what we do – getting the knowledge of the product out there, getting it adopted and getting it paid for.
Reading that – it seems dismissive – it isn’t meant to be so. Selling can be done honestly and to the benefit of all involved - it isn't always of course (either in the wider world or the religious sector) - but it can be so done in both.
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The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things.. but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them...
W. K. Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief" (1877)
Posts: 894 | From: Middle England | Registered: Apr 2010
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Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378
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Posted
Rowen
Learn to fly.
Short of that take a lot of books on tape to listen to.
Posts: 2193 | From: Pullman WA | Registered: Apr 2011
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Rowen
Shipmate
# 1194
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Posted
Oh yeah, the library here has great books on cd...
And for flying? Too mountainous....
Ahhhhh, but the scenery is magic, winter or summer.
As I cross the top of Australia I know I am close to heaven
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"May I live this day… compassionate of heart" (John O’Donoghue)...
Posts: 4897 | From: Somewhere cold in Victoria, Australia | Registered: Aug 2001
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gramps49:
Something I learned a long time ago, if most pastors don't be careful, they can easily get into a 60 hour work week; yet it has been found most people will quickly burn out after 54 hours of week in the long run.
Just an observation: most people in this area (and therefore the congregation) work those kind of hours or at least they are "at work" for that length of time.
I'm not convinced, personally, that those work such hours are productive throughout the time. There's down time trawling the net, talking to people about the weekend or the evening to come: attendance doesn't always equate to productivity IME.
I have to say that I probably haven't worked less than 54 hours a week since I was 15 - in a whole range of employment from labouring, to study, to employed, to self employed.
As regards my own time management - I'd say I'm fairly well known for being organised: I ran a division of a major UK finance institution for several years and survival (let alone effectiveness) depended on organisation and punctuality. Without either (and a thick skin) you didn't last long.
My aim is not to be run by the calendar nor by the urgent - only by the important. I happen to like (and to be able) to get going early in the day: that's when I do my sermon and other writing, praying and thinking. The phone rarely goes at 6 am and I can chose whether or not I answer e mails at that time of day. The result being that by 9 I've often done a fair bit and begin again with a sense of satisfaction and achievement.
I work 6 days including Sunday but have wider responsibilities beyond the immediate congregational: a couple of them regional, a couple that can bring a phone call or mail from anywhere in the country. I enjoy the range and the depth and the interruptions. I'd say that organisation creates the space for interruptions and means that I don't habitually end up doing stuff at the last minute which is contrary to my character and inclination.
I keep committee and group meetings to a minimum: if I think nothing will be achieved, I won't go. (I began this many years ago - and in the days when I had a PA, Lynne knew not to fill my diary with things I considered wasted time. I didn't need to go to a meeting to be given the latest stats: I could read a report and ask questions for myself).
I do focus on small groups and personal contact as I see that of greatest importance. I won't even arrange more than 1 "group" in a day and will keep such meetings to less than 10% of my time.
I have a list in my head of what HAS to be done and by when. If it needs to be done by Tuesday, then it's first off the blocks on Monday. I don't want to be doing Thursday's prep on Monday and leaving Tuesday's until Tuesday morning, for example. I don't work on lots of things at once but give each one thing my full attention (given interruptions - I rarely use answerphone) until it's done.
One thing I would add is that life is way more flexible in ministry than most people would believe. Yes there are demands on time and such like, but it compares very well to other employment. I rarely had the opportunity, for example, when working in my last (non ministry) job to get a break in the day to go to my children's school for a play or sports. I was in a direct customer facing role with 36000 plus "clients:" 9 to 5 was full on, preparation before and after essential.
Sometimes methinks ministers complain too much about working conditions - there are loads of people who are far far worse off. After all, we all know what we're in for don't we when we start? Yes and no, I suppose but above all we might not want to consider ministry without being self aware about our expectations of it all (and of how we work) in light of others' expectations of us.
[ 18. October 2013, 06:52: Message edited by: ExclamationMark ]
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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earrings
Shipmate
# 13306
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Posted
I think it's about flexibility, not being dominated by anything. I don't do the 2 out of 3 thing but if I have a run of very busy time I don't worry about taking part of the afternoon out to do the shopping or whatever. The day off I try to keep constant but there I are times when something is called for that really has to be then, in that case I'll swap and take a different day (or at the worst parts of a day). I could be better, I'm sure many of us could. One "time-management" thing I do which is about trying to maintain a balance between various different responsibilities in parish, diocese and wider church is to colour code appointments in my (electronic) diary. This enables me to see at a glance whether a particular week has a particular bias (it often does)and over time to try to make sure I am being as fair as I can be to all concerned. Most non-appointment time isn't colour coded, I'm not manic about it, but it helps see patterns. The colour coding by the way includes time for personal development, reading etc. It's a tool I find helpful but I don't use it to beat myself up.
Sometimes busyness is overwhelming for a while, but where there is pastoral crisis or a particularly important time in the life of the church that is inevitable. We have to learn to live on rhythms that nourish and sustain us whie we do what we believe God is calling us to, and listen when others call us to reflect.
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My blog musings on all sorts of stuff https://priscillavicar.wordpress.com/
Posts: 135 | From: West Midlands | Registered: Jan 2008
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
To think that when I was a child I wanted to become a preacher, because they only work on Sundays ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
(I haven't become one.)
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Pyx_e
Quixotic Tilter
# 57
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Posted
When I get pissed of with being a Vicar I am going to be a development worker and do fuck all, all week.
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It is better to be Kind than right.
Posts: 9778 | From: The Dark Tower | Registered: May 2001
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
On your bike, preacherman. Rev.
(are the vicars on motorbikes like the paramedics of the clergy?)
A former vicar seemed to have it sorted. He couldn't possibly do everything demanded of him, but he always took an interest in everyone. So, once a term or so, he would turn up to one of the meetings of each group and take part. That meant every group knew he valued their work, but it didn't overwhelm him or detract from other things he needed to do.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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tentmaker
Apprentice
# 17867
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Posted
After 30 years in government and business and 2 and a half as a deacon/priest in the Anglican church, the issue of burnout has loomed rather ominously for me recently. I have worked for two vicars neither of whom were particularly helpful on hours on the job. The first was committed to a 7 day week and the other was culpably uncaring. I began recording my hours in January this year. The long run average is 57.5 a week. I regularly miss days off. I commenced a conversation on this with a churchwarden who is also chair of my field committee (support team) about the hours (feeling like I was heading into burnout) and he responded, "oh, yes, but you must be available". Great!
I have raised the question of what is an acceptable time load (not counting pastoral emergencies - which do not enter into my consideration - they should be responded to always) with a number of clergy. Not one person was prepared to commit to a number.
I spent 10 years working in management consulting, much of it with big (I mean big) a international firm. Let me compare that with my recent life as a priest.
First, the average hours in the long run are much higher in the church. I am under a 6 day week regime - Saturday is my day off as I have a Monday commitment. In my business life you almost always got a two day weekend. The long hours are usually long days rather than long weeks. Long working hours in business in my experience were in relation to projects (I was a consultant) so there was almost always a sense of completion - this is important. Also there were only a few people directly dependent on you. In a parish there are a hundred or so dependent people - it is hard to respond to some and say forget it to others. Most importantly, clergy deal, literally, with matters of life and death. These take an emotional toll which is simply not present in secular work. This toll needs managing with rest - which is usually not available. Also ministry is vocation in a way that a secular job is not. That in itself is emotionally demanding. I find the act of preaching is draining in a way that running an all-day workshop with querulous clients was not. You do (or should) put your heart and soul into it.
However, I don't buy that clergy are somehow different to other people and need to respond unflinchingly to some higher call to commitment. We are fragile humans. We need rest, probably more than in other occupations. I have experienced a pathological tendency for, especially male, colleagues to make this claim to a need to be tough. I think it is crap. People do that in secular work too. They are usually not the best performers.
My solution? First, get your Vicar and wardens on-side. Limit planned/scheduled hours to not more than 40 per week. (Yes we are like everyone else! Note: if you have morning prayer at 8.30 and evening prayer at 5.00 Mon-Fri and you work through lunch you have a 45 hour week already, not counting Sunday!!) Make one day (especially if you are on a 6 day regime) a work at home day - where you do the urgent and necessary but not much else. This I found was how most clergy compensate, but they don't admit it. Keep a log of hours worked over about 45 a week. Either take these off as 'leave in lieu' or take them as a retreat - I have found it is internally/politically easier to say I am going on a retreat than to say I need time off. I don't mean to deceive, but you do sometimes have to act in your own interests. Remember you are not the messiah.
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Tentmaker
Melbourne
Posts: 1 | From: Melbourne | Registered: Oct 2013
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Pyx_e: When I get pissed of with being a Vicar I am going to be a development worker and do fuck all, all week.
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gramps49:
Rowen
Learn to fly.
Short of that take a lot of books on tape to listen to.
Gramps, have you seen the terrain Rowen covers? As she says, mountainous.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
50-60 hours a week sounds about right to me, to be honest. I'm pretty strict about one *day* off per week, but I'll go to evening meetings on that day if I have to. Most everyone else there is a volunteer who has come from a full day of work, and it's not like I have meetings every evening. I'm sure that my work hours add up to less than work hours plus parish volunteer hours of several of our more active parishioners.
The long hours also mask that a lot of what I do isn't all that hard. Just being around at events other people are working their tails off to put on, and talking to people is part of my job. About three hours a week are spent watching kids play sports. I don't kid myself that that's real work. My spiritual reading and personal prayer (which would be part of my life anyway) form part of my work hours.
It's not all easy going of course. If I was in finance council meetings all week (like I was tonight), I would definitely object to my work hours. But, tedious stuff like that really takes up a pretty small percentage of my hours. Some of it isn't tedious, but is draining. I spent a year working one day per week as a hospital chaplain and I definitely couldn't do that fulltime, but I also noticed that the staff chaplains had ways of managing their emotional resources and did a lot fewer hours per week than most parish clergy.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gramps49:
Something I learned a long time ago, if most pastors don't be careful, they can easily get into a 60 hour work week; yet it has been found most people will quickly burn out after 54 hours of week in the long run.
A trick I used was to divide the work day, Sunday, through Saturday, into four hour time slots (8-12; 1-4; 5-9) I always took Friday and Saturday off, but if I worked more than two of those four hour time slots in a day, I would take compensatory time off somewhere else. I would work no more than 10 time slots per week.
This is almost exactly what a former minister of ours took to Presbytery as Pastoral Officer, when concerns were raised about burn-out.
Of course a minister needs to be able to be reached in cases of emergency, but at least, as he said, he could go to a movie without sneaking into a back row and hoping nobody from the congregation would spot him.
It is easier, though, if you're not virtually a one-(wo)man band in a small parish, but have other clergy to share the load with.
And those were the days before cell-phones.
GG
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
At last year's URC General Assembly, a resolution was taken about Minsters' working hours. The basic aims, as far as I could see, was to stop workaholic ministers doing too much, and to allow ministers to say "no" when asked to chair yet another meeting (or whatever).
This caused a lot of controversy as a lot of Ministers didn't want to be tied down to a working week. But the whole aim of the measure was to protect them. I doubt if it has had any effect.
Three thoughts:
- Ministers (including myself) are not always good time managers and fritter away time needlessly.
- Some Ministers overwork out of a sense of guilt and compulsion. There could be several reasons for this.
- It is not always easy to define when "working hours" merge into "free time" although this is true for many professionals.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Oscar the Grouch
Adopted Cascadian
# 1916
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Posted
Over the years, I have come to a pattern that seems to work OK.
First of all, the Day Off is essential. And that includes the evening. No meetings - nothing. It is very rare that there is an emergency that HAS to be dealt with immediately. Most things will wait at least until the next day.
If the Day Off DOES have to be eaten into, then another day off must be taken WITHIN A WEEK. And sorry if that means cancelling appointments etc. You should NEVER use your day off and then arrange to have another day in lieu a few weeks down the line. Let me tell you now - it won't happen!
Don't overload the diary. Always leave wriggle room, so that something truly urgent can get squeezed in. I have found that it is always on the day when I have back to back appointments and meetings all day when I find that I really, REALLY need to see someone or visit the hospital. Control the diary - don't let it control you.
And there will always be times of frantic activity and times of quietness. In the times of "not much going on", don't load the diary to keep yourself respectably busy. Enjoy a couple of days where the workload is light and you can sit outside in the garden for a couple of hours, reading a trashy novel. Don't worry - before you know it, you'll be hectic again.
And I always plan well in advance for quiet days, where I focus on reading and long-term sermon planning etc. I go through my diary a year ahead and designate certain days for this purpose. If anyone wants to ask, I am in meetings all day.
And this brings me to one of the biggest tips I ever got. If someone asks to see you on an evening off, it is perfectly acceptable to refuse. But don't say "I'm sorry - I'm having an evening off." Just say "Sorry - I am already fully booked that evening." It's true. In passing - make sure that you don't have something in your diary on EVERY evening (apart from your day off). Partners need to see you as well as parishoners - not to mention your children.
And the final insight that has helped me is that there is ALWAYS more to do than time to do it. You will NEVER get to the end of the list of things to be done. So therefore, you simply have to learn how to identify the really important things and be strong enough to say about the rest "sorry - can't do it."
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Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu
Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001
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Pyx_e
Quixotic Tilter
# 57
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
quote:
Pyx_e: When I get pissed of with being a Vicar I am going to be a development worker and do fuck all, all week.
You joked, I joked back.
Anyway another tip, get a small diary, fit less in.
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It is better to be Kind than right.
Posts: 9778 | From: The Dark Tower | Registered: May 2001
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
Whatever.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
What shocks me in the thoughts above is the lack of anyone stating the bleeding obvious: to be in ordained ministry is not a job, it is a vocation. However much you may wish to be able to pigeonhole or schedule your pastoring, there are limits.
Someone up-thread touched on a vital point: that being in ministry (often working alone) is a good recipe for frittering away time "being busy" rather than actually doing something.
I realise it won't suit all, but my late parent's schedule might be a useful template: - 7am said communion service in church
- home for breakfast with children then walk to school
- 9am said Morning Prayer in church, then home communions
- in office to open post, sort through and prioritise
- 2 mornings per week communion service for mums & toddlers/mobile elderly
- c11am coffee at one of local schools followed by either an RE lesson or short prayer service with mums if the pre-school
- c12am half/three-quarters of an hour in church for quiet time, followed by vestry admin
- then back to parish office to sign letters, deal with anything that has come in
- LUNCH - at least once a week with deacon/newly ordained curate
- Read through any papers for meetings that evening
- 3.15 leave to collect children from school with dog, walking back "the long way" killing two birds: time with off-spring and exercise for self and mutt
- If no confirmation class free time or visiting elderly/housebound
- 6pm said Evening Prayer in church
- time for evening meal, etc
- 7.45 onwards meetings, baptism preparation, marriage preparation, etc
Of course, some of the timings changed from day-to-day but that was the broad outline.
Also added to the mix would be staff meeting once a week - held over post-communion breakfast - plus things like funerals. There was more than one church and every group like Brownies, Cubs & Scouts, Choirs, Bellringers could expect at least one quick visit per month.
On days off the parish took a back seat as far as possible after Morning Prayer, which was said straight after early communion. And Saturdays were more relaxed - but there were c70 weddings per year so still busy.
Reading for personal development and growth was done in the evenings and on holiday.
I don't think papa ever sat down to work out how many hours he worked but his attitude in any case was that having the cure of souls for the place was a privilege and you did what was required when it was required.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Someone up-thread touched on a vital point: that being in ministry (often working alone) is a good recipe for frittering away time "being busy" rather than actually doing something.
I'm good at doing that, which is why I said it. In fact I'm doing it now ...
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Pyx_e
Quixotic Tilter
# 57
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
Whatever.
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It is better to be Kind than right.
Posts: 9778 | From: The Dark Tower | Registered: May 2001
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Could you two feud elsewhere, e.g. Hell.
Thanks,
Doublethink
Purgatory Host
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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