She came to class for the first time in many weeks. We chatted a moment afterwards. I assured her she was missed, and we always enjoyed having her in study and worship.
“I love our Sunday School class,” she responded, “but I really don’t like preaching.”
I stood a moment trying to look sympathetic and sweet, but didn’t she know the guy responsible for the preaching was me?
Surveys report several reasons people don’t attend church including Sunday work, family obligations and broken relationships with others. And according to malphursgroup.com, “I can get better preaching from a podcast.”
The latter reason is, no doubt, true. Some of the “big” preachers have research assistants and enough staff that they don’t have to do much pastoral care or administration. Pastors of normative-sized churches, in the midst of other needs in the membership, struggle with sufficient time to craft weekly sermons in obedience to Paul’s word that we “study to show ourselves approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15),
In my younger years I tried to follow the counsel of the late W.A. Criswell of First Baptist Dallas. He always told us to “give your mornings to God.” I tried to reschedule visits and phone calls until after lunch.
Sometimes this didn’t work.
We had a custodial couple at one church and the gentleman always wanted to talk to me for 30 minutes when he came to empty trash. I heard the same stories a lot. Henry was the treasurer at another church who signed checks on Thursdays. He insisted on bringing mine to me, which was a nice thing except he would draw back his hand after offering the envelope to me. He laughed at his prank and said, “You don’t want this, do you?’ He did this every week for seven years. And then he talked for 30 minutes.
Another pastor mentor told me he always worked with his door open. He said you needed to be available to people when they need you, not this afternoon or tomorrow. He was right, of course. I’ve tried to find middle ground in recent years. I guard study time, but look for unplanned opportunities to encourage those with business at the church, or when out running errands, for that matter.
Another thing I’ve found is that I can go to the office early in those busy weeks. I can get there at 6 if I try and then have several hours of uninterrupted study time. And, of course, with the advent of the computer pastors can study and write at night.
Pastors strive to create messages that are relevant and fresh, but also strive to be caring shepherds. It can be an uneasy balance.
