Only 11% of those surveyed are bivocational. What is the real percentage of bivocational (senior) pastors in the ministry?

LOL... my Catcha phrase is 'worrying time'.

David,

Nobody knows for sure if you include all denominations (like this survey did).

In denominations with low polity and credentialing requirements (like yours and mine), I would guess around half.

Ed

Did they ask how many hours were spent playing World of Warcraft or commenting on blogs (internet time)? I bet the hours on that would exceed TV watching.

Isn't there a study somewhere about church planting that says that planters who spend less than 15 hours with their family have smaller churches than those who spend 20? But that those who spend over 20 also have smaller churches?

I mention it because if your are spending 40 hours with your family...when are you working?

Then there is the category, Managing church business.
I'm the only full time staff person of the church. I don't but everything for the church and I don't pay the bills, but there are a lot of incidentals in the week to take care of.
Then there's Facebook and Tweeter, I have to know what Ed Setzer and Mark Driscoll are up to!

Two thoughts:

1) I think 'visitation' is something that is evolving with the times. There's no substitute for a personal visit, but technology has made some major changes to the way we communicate and even 'visit'. Plus the availability of most families has decreased due to increased busyness.

2) We pastors are always thinking in terms of earning our paycheck. That is, we feel we need to be busy about the things that our congregations think are worthy of our time. We make excuses for neglecting prayer and personal devotions because these are considered inappropriate while 'on the clock'. But are they?

I hope that the graphic on the front page does not tell the whole story. If it does then the typical protestant pastor works less then 30 hrs a week!

Now it is true that many that I know do work less then 30 hrs, I just had hoped that they were anomalies.

"I hope that the graphic on the front page does not tell the whole story. If it does then the typical protestant pastor works less then 30 hrs a week!"
This is exactly what I was thinking. It shows very little effort from pastors. I am working as a bivocational pastor, and spending about 15 hours ministry related weekly.

And also dont see the biggest responsibility of a leader in this time sheet: teaching and discipling new leaders...

Endre & Kevin,

I just finished reading the full article and found it to be "interesting." As a former Southern Baptist who now serves a mainline denomination, I suspect that the graphic above doesn't reflect the "fact" that pastors are slacking but, rather, sloppiness on the part of the folks putting the article together.

As you mentioned, the graphic doesn't have any time devoted to many unseen administrative things that we pastors do on a weekly basis, such as planning the worship services, producing bulletins, writing newsletter columns, and other "modern" tasks like maintaining the church website, blogging, and church related phone calls/emails. The full article does a little better, but not much.

I believe that the central problem of the article is the survey method. If I were to get a call from someone with a survey, I wouldn't have a lot of quality time I could give them. My answers to questions like, "How many hours a week do you spend doing X" would be nothing but guesses, as I don't log my time. A proper study of this nature would have had pastors actually counting the hours that they spend in given activities over the space of several weeks, then reporting back.

As a final, admittedly snarky comment, I'd point to the 9% of pastors who report spending 25 or more hours in sermon preparation as being the biggest time-management problem shown in this article.

Happy New Year!
Paul in CT

Get real! How many people attending these churches get 20 hours out of their work week to spend with their family? Most of them work 50 or 60 hours to keep their job and then find time for their families. And what are they watching on TV for 6 hours? The working people watch TV in their "free time". The ethic of today's pastors is pathetic. What ever happened to "the call" to labor on until He returns. Fire all of them! The Lord is capable of raising up replacements with a zeal to do His work.

They're on Facebook playing Mafia wars. And that's just the independent Baptists. I'm not joking, by the way. I have the Facebook newsfeed to prove it.

I only bring this up because it is in the article. Whoever started using the 'Pauline bivocational principle' for senior pastoring has misled many ministers of the Gospel, and stunted many a congregation. It is more often than not a way to make people feel better who aren't taking the plunge into faith-based ministry. "Oh... well, Paul was a senior pastor, and he made tents." Yeah... not really.

I think my problem with the survey is that it takes the calling and treats it like a 'punch-clock' job. A time evaluation survey that works with an assembly line worker at Boeing, does not necessarily work with a senior pastor of a small comeback church.

As far as the television comment, the average American watches over 15 hours of television a week, and some studies push it to 4 hours a day. And yes, we choose how much time we spend with our families. If I want to spend 20 hours a week with them, I will. If I want to spend 1 hour a week, I will do that as well. Our culture doesn't have a time problem... we have a priorities problem.

Hey, survieys have limitations. If you like the process, you don't mind trusting what they tell you. If you don't trust them, you will be suspicious. 4 out of 3 people agree. ;-)

That seems like a lot of sermon prep time. Is that really how long it takes or is that mostly rehearsing the sermon? I don't think I spend that much time on a given sermon, but I will time it next time.

I applaud the 9% who can spend 25 hours on their most important job, feeding and protecting God's sheep with the Word of God. The primacy of preaching is lost in this article and in the research. I believe today's pastoral job description looks too corporate. Unfortunately, most churches want CEO's and not pastors.

David, That was my Ph.D. dissertation (many years ago) and yes, sometimes the planters spent too much time with family!

Clark, quit that. ;-)

Kevin, read the whole article for the rest of the story. However, the numbers on individual activities should not add up to the total worked. We did ask how many hours they worked. We also asked about specific tasks and how much they did of each. One should not add up to the total since there are things we did not ask which would be part of the total.

Paul, the survey method is standard phone polling and all of that is listed in the methodology. It is a survey and not an investigation. However, I would be interested to see how their "reported" time differs from the actual time spent on each activity. My guess is that some of the socially desirable behaviors (more time in prayer, with family, etc.) might be lower in practice than reported. But, that is just a guess and we can only report with confidence what they said, not what we think they do. (Although I think I just did that anyway!)

Harold, most pastors I know work hard. I am honored to serve them and appreciate their work. I do hope we see pastors and non-pastors all fully empowered to do the work of the ministry.

Dan, I can't imagine spending 25 hours a week on a sermon. However, it would be nice. I have just never seen it. ;-)

God bless,

Ed

A painful amount of bitter comments in this blog. I'm not a pastor, but I trust that my pastor is using his time to the glory of God. I hope that the same can be said for you with your pastors.

I'm a lay person involved in ministry. I work 40 hours a work in a secular job. Although I do believe that there must be hard working pastors out there, I haven't been very impressed overall.

Listen to me: 1. Most of the people you ask to give time to the church already worked more hours than you did last week. 2. Don't tell us how hard life is for pastors. You are free to pursue an "easier" life and minister during the off hours. Like the rest of us.

Again, there seems to be a growing ignorance (def. - not knowing any better) regarding the role of the pastor. Pastors are to work to a point of exhaustion , no denying that. If they don't, they do not deserve esteem or appreciation (I Thessalonians 5:12). And unfortunately, many pastors do in fact take advantage of their flexible schedules and lack of a time clock. But, shepherding, feeding, and protecting the flock of God involves first and foremost the preaching and teaching of His Word not the administrative responsibilities of a CEO. And to do that correctly takes diligent, pain-staking preparation because the salvation of the pastors and their flock are dependent upon it (I Timothy 4:16). Therefore, the majority of their hours during the week should be spent in that preparation. Unfortunately, most church members don't think they're "getting their monies worth" if "that is all he does". They simply don't understand the importance of their sanctification and the Word's role in that. It seems both groups need to repent.

And Dana, please know that ministry should take place within the 40 hours of your work week not just "at church". Because while God has given you your job to provide for your needs, He has placed you where you are for the primary purpose of Gospel ministry. Don't confuse whatever role you have at your church (ss teacher, awana volunteer, etc.) with your minsitry to share the truth about the Gospel of the Lord Jesus throughout the week.

If one is spending less than 10% of their time with their family (the immediate missionfield), there is no wonder the Church is fading in its cultural impact. Very little of the N.T. is devoted to developing the skill of 'sermonizing'... even in the pastoral epistles. Paul does emphasize administrative-based 'personal impact discipleship'... Things we find towards the bottom of the list.

I will concur that solid preaching is vital for a healthy church.

The pastor works 24/7, and spending time with his family IS part of his job; he is to be setting an example for the rest of his flock.

For every minute I spend behind the pulpit preaching, I spend an hour in preparation, which includes reading, writing, and praying about the sermon.

I rarely visit members in the home anymore for a variety of reasons, some already mentioned, but mainly because visitation is the job of my elders. As far as administrative work, again, my church has been set up so that most of that work is done by members, freeing up the pastor, me, to do what he was hired and called to do: preach the Word and train the saints.

Mike - you hit the nail on the head.

One of the qualifications of an elder/pastor that is often neglected and overlooked is that he manage his household well. That can't be done without time. There is no quality without quantity. We must evangelize and disciple those in our homes first. We must model what we encourage those in our churches to display and that begins at home.

Pastors Mike & Chris, With all due respsct I believe that you have missed the point.

Are not elders & deacons also called to rule their houses well? Do they not have oblagations on Sunday & at other meetings? Should they also be spending time in the word?

And do we not expect them to do all of these things AFTER they have spent 50+ hours a week earning a living?

I have noted a trend in the last (few?) years that has Pastors including their "normal" family life & "normal" christian life counted as part of their work week.

I consider this a negative trend (speaking as a deacon). Speaking as a (unpaid) church planter, that also has to raise 5 kids & earn a living, I feel a bit like the mid level plant manager listening to the union members (who earn more then him) compalain that the new contract now require them to work 38 hrs a week, and they need to actually sick to claim a sick day.

Chris - Thanks for pointing out that ministry does not just happen at church. I do agree with you. You mention that I may be confused about my role at church and my ministry to share the truth. I don't think that I am, I happen to be fortunate enough to be employed at a state university where my job gives me plenty of contact with foreign students who are very open to conversations about spiritual matters.

But maybe I am confused about something else. I work my forty hours and I get paid for it. I'm not getting paid for the time I spend in conversation with the students, nor do I expect to be paid for that. It's not my job. I don't get paid for the Sunday School lessons I either write or prepare. When I meet with a woman from church whose drug-addicted husband is caught cheating on her, I don't put it down on my timesheet. Nor the time spent preparing to teach Bible studies during the week. So I guess my confusion is this: I get paid for my job and also spend time on both my local church and the kingdom. How do pastors get paid for their job and also spend time on both the local church and the kingdom? Or are they not expected to?

I don't want to cause a fuss, but thought that my point of view might be helpful for people in paid ministry that have to work with volunteers. That's all.

Hi Kevin,

Not all members of churches are called to be elders. If you, or other elders reading this don't like the job description, don't become an elder. The book of Titus outlines the qualifications of an elder, and they are weighty indeed; being an elder and even a deacon involves sacrifice and discipline. I suspect the average church member has no idea what is involved. If they did, they would think twice about getting the position!

As a senior pastor, I don't punch a time clock, however, I am "on the clock" 24 hours a day. Though, as I stated previously, I don't visit much any more, when a member is sick or in the hospital, it is me they call, whether it's in the middle of the night or Christmas day or while on vacation. I cannot tell you how many vacations have been cut short because of this sort of thing. While "it's all about Sunday," my life is on display all day, every day, wherever I go. People watch how I interact with my family, while standing line at Wal-Mart or even where I get a hair cut. Now, I have no problem with this, I understand it is the nature of the ministry and have long ago accepted it. This is an aspect of pastoral ministry that goes unnoticed by many people, obviously, as some comments on this board have demonstrated.

I don't have a "work week" or a "work day." Truth be told, I have no clue how many hours a week I work, although I do maintain regular office hours so members can find me when they need me. I suspect many pastors are in the same boat; the ministry is all encompassing. It is not a job, it is not a career. It is a calling, and it is something most people don't understand. My whole life is my calling, it impacts every aspect of my life. It is not a something I would ever choose to do, assuming I had a choice.

So here it is, New Year's Day, and like most New Year's Days, I am in my office, finishing my sermon and Bible study. Two members dropped by to chat and I am getting ready to visit another member in the hospital. Holidays, weekends, special days are all the same for those of us in the ministry. Much to the chagrin of my wife.

Kevin - I'm a bit confused with your response. I would answer yes to your first round of questions. But I for one do not count going to my sons' basketball games or my daughter's ballet recital as a part of my work week. I am simply pointing out that preaching and teaching are primary responsibilities of a pastor.

Dana - It sounds as though you are definitely involved in God-glorifying ministry. Praise the Lord. You are loving well!

I have never taken a Friday off because I work on Sunday. I consider my time on Sunday to be no different than anyone else who serves in some capacity building up the body. I also have never left early because I was returning for an evening meeting. No one else can do that, why should I. At the same time, Paul is clear in
Ephesians 4 that some are given the gift of pastor-teacher, in I Corinthians 9 that those who proclaim the gospel should have the right to earn their living by the gospel (a right he forfeited), and in I Timothy 5 that those who rule well, especially those who preach and teach are worthy of double honor which carries a monetary connotation.

It is a very interesting dicussion and one that pastors should heed. Again, I take my responsibility to work myself to the point of exhausition (I Thess. 5) seriously.

This is my last day of vacation so my responses will be less frequent. Being a bi-vocational pastor and father of 3, I don't have time to surf the blogosphere with regularity.

Grace and peace to you Dana.

Mike - Blessings to you my brother.

Wow, sounds like a number of people who have been burned by pastoral leadership in one way or another.

I'm a full-time pastor/church planter.

The issue here is to 1) work hard, 2) using our gifts and abilities for the glory of God 3) in all areas where God has asked us to serve, 4) in a manner that is sustainable for the next 50+ years, 5) and reproducible by following generations... no?

Of the dozens of pastors I'm in contact with regularly, I don't know of ANY who works less than 50 hours a week. A regular work week is 50-70 hours. 15-25 hours is essential to build into my children and wife as God has called me to.

Work + family time totals 65-100 hours a week. Add another 10 hours or so of personal refreshment time as well as misc., then time to sleep. And we've arrived at 168 hours a week.

I've sat down and walked through this with many members of our church, encouraging them to organize their time as well... work & mission, family, personal refreshment, etc.

EVERY job/life/family is different. But we are all called to work, to mission, to love our families (and these often overlap).

Blessings,

-Rob