Importance: 10%
The Big Idea
A description of my overall time commitments with LCOS
As we continue to navigate life together and decide the direction for future ministry and involvement. I think it is worth while to be as open and transparent about where I focus my time and energy. This can afford the council and elders the information needed to assess church health, my health, and staffing needs in meaningful ways.
Office Hours
There are very few days that look exactly alike in Pastoral Ministry. But in an attempt to be as consistently available as possible, my current Office Hours are:
- Mon. 8am to 2:30pm
- Tue. 8am to 3:30pm
- Wed. 8am to 4:30pm
- Thu. 8am to 4:30pm
However, working hours flex outside these times as needed. Examples of this kind of flex are attending evening meetings, other events, last minute hospital visits, Lent, and Advent midweek services as well as attending important events on Fridays during my usual day off. My afternoon hours also shift depending on the availability of people to meet for one on one counseling, planning meetings, confirmation classes, or member assimilation meetings. Because of all this variety, the specific amount of hours I work each week flex some as well. Quiet weeks tend to sit around 36 hours per week and busy weeks pushing the 60 plus range.
Beyond this basic breakdown here are my general time commitments by activity.
Predictable Time Commitments
Predictable time commitments are those which I can reliably plan ahead of time according to a set schedule.
Preaching
I have become more efficient in preparing sermons since I started. The usual prep time for a sermon takes me around six to eight hours throughout the week.
Worship and Worship Planning
I am the primary planner selecting Hymns, prayers, and Liturgical settings. I also proofread the bulletin and will be adding proofreading slides. Depending on the season this averages about one to two hours per week.
My current routine on an average Sunday is to arrive at 8am, attend to any last minite preparation for the morning and be ready for Bible Study by 9am.
Teaching
The current classes that I teach are:
- Sunday Morning Confirmation
- Thursday Evening Adult Confirmation
- First communion (which we will do with the rest of the confirmands this time).
- Sunday Morning Bible Study Preparation time for each class varies depending on the depth or the style content. A typical confirmation class takes about half an hour to an hour of prep. Sunday morning Bible study takes about an hour.
Chapels and Children’s Messages
I am also involved in Preschool chapels. I am not the primary planner and have more of an assisting role. Preparation of a preschool message takes about half an hour to and hour.
I also prepare a children’s message anywhere from two to three times a month on average. This tends to add about an extra half an hour to a sermon’s preptime.
Meetings
Current Meetings that I attend on a regular basis:
- Elders
- Council
- Preschool Board
- Preschool Call committee
- Praise Worship planning Meeting length ranges from half an hour to two hours.
Monthly Shut In Visits
We currently have a list of 9 members who have requested regular shut in visits. This list is split between myself and Pastor Oliver each month. Each visit takes about half an hour to an hour consisting of visiting, prayer, and communion. Total time commitment averages out to about one full day depending on their availability and travel location (I usually schedule it across two mornings or afternoons).
Study and Devotional Life
An important part of being a spiritual leader is to continue learning and growing myself. Otherwise I run the risk of burning out or stagnating in my teaching and faith life. I notice a direct correlation to the amount of time I spend learning to the quality of my preaching and even prayers. To this end, I do my best to continue reading theological literature, as well as devotionally read and study Scripture. While this is important, it is one of the areas that is easy to neglect from week to week. Each morning I begin my day with prayer even if it is a quick few minutes. Additionally, I try to devote at least one hour to study and devotion. On weeks with enough breathing space this sometimes can grow up to about four or five hours across the week. Recently, this has been very unlikely to happen.
Unpredictable Time Commitments
Due to the seasonal or dynamic nature of the following commitments specific time estimations will be left off.
Administrative Work
I have started to keep up with a couple administrative tasks including:
- Official district documentation (registration for convention, etc.)
- Registration of LCOS for nonprofit status for available software (Canva, google workspace, etc.)
- Keeping track of needed materials for confirmation and seasonal devotions.
- Looking into background checks for volunteers and other best practices for accountability.
Projects
There are also a few projects that I have started to take on/be involved with:
- Website refresh
- Be an advisor for the Constitutional review
- Visioning and Planning for the counsel and across the various boards.
Team Recruiter, Incubator, and Facilitator
I have incubated and launched a number of teams while in ministry. This is a very fluid part of my ministry in that the early stages of standing up a team takes quite a bit of time and effort, but once a team has successfully gelled and is working together I can transition into an advisory role.
Website and Communications Advising
I regularly work with Anne to update needed announcements. This will also soon involve the slides team.
Faith Formation Development
As Pastor it is also my responsibility to overseen and think about the long arch of faith formation. How do we want to pass on the faith to the next generation? I am a firm believer that we must start this work at the moment of baptism.
Therefore, it is important think about and work toward everything we do working along the lifespan of our people from cradle to grave. There is no part of our lives that should not be connected and fed by our faith and life together as a community. This work of development is an on going one that I am sure will take many forms in the coming years.
Member Assimilation and Follow ups
Based on attendance during weekend worship I follow up with visitors that leave some kind of card or other information. I also do my best to meet with and encourage new members/visitors towards involvement in areas of interest around the congregation and follow up to see how things are going. New members tend to come in waves with this being a major focus some weeks while others weeks having nothing to be done in this area.
Pastoral Care and Counseling
One of the most unpredictable areas of pastoral care is hospital and grief care. We can go weeks with no one in the hospital and all of the sudden I have experienced five to eight all at once. The same is true for funerals with none for a while and then two or three all in the same week.
Circuit Involvement
Our congregation is not an island. It is deeply important that we build a larger community of faith across our LCMS congregations as that starts with the Pastors. I have committed to attending the monthly winkle meeting that is hosted around our circuit. There are times when I miss, but I do my best to go as often as I can. I have also started to participate in a weekly zoom during which we discuss the readings for the week as fellow pastors.
Broader Community Involvement
I have also started to meet other local Pastors as well as other local nonprofits. It is important that as we think about our mission and call to seek and serve the lost, we do it in a way that interacts with our community in helpful and meaningful ways. One way to actually know what that might be is to have a relationship with and know what other Christians are doing in our area already.
Writing and Communication
Part of my personal practice of learning and growth is writing. It helps me to think things through, and to remember. This writing also finds external usefulness in a variety of venues. I have been sharing a monthly newsletter blurb, post various essays to my substack account and share my writing in process on my digital garden.
I also author communication for many different reason such as emails, text messages, letters, announcements, etc.
Projected Areas of Involvement
These are areas that have been tagged as needing my pastoral involvement and leadership but have not been fully worked into my load.
Adding Additional Meetings
Meetings to start attending that have not fit within my current schedule yet.
- Christian Ed
- Potential Larger group Worship meetings with musicians, slide tech, etc.
Raising Up New Leaders
One of the most important jobs of a congregation is to raise up leaders. Without this work even the most healthy and thriving congregation will die when current leaders retire or meet Jesus. There is a real need to pass on the healthy leadership culture of LCOS to new leaders while we have the chance. Rebuilding a leadership culture after a loss is immeasurably harder than passing it on proactively.
Misc.
I am sure there are other things that I am missing but this is a good overview to start with.