This coming summer, I am taking my first sabbatical. As part of that, the congregation that I serve has to figure out how to be the church, for three months, without a pastor in the pulpit (or in the office, or on the phone, or whatever).
When I started working with the executive committee—a subset of the church council that handles personnel matters, among other things—about doing that, I realized that these leaders of the church didn’t really have a good picture of everything that I do. So I sat down and made a list that I shared with them. And now I’m sharing it with you.
I should note that this list is not complete. Even after I shared it with my executive committee, I realized that I had left some things off. I’ve added those things since, but I’m sure that I’ve still forgotten some things. Still, this is, more or less, the big list of things that I do. And it is probably overlaps, more or less, with the big list of things that you do or that your pastor does.
Worship
Plan worship services. This includes writing liturgy: calls to worship and prayers of invocation, prayers of dedication, prayers of confessions, assurances of pardon, prayers of thanksgiving, benedictions, etc. Also organizing things when there are unusual parts of the service. Also plan series and themes for worship (Advent themes, Lenten themes, summer sermon series).
Prepare sermons. Research and write sermons.
Prepare slides. Prepare the slides for the worship service.
Set up on Sunday mornings. Change paraments, unlock the church, turn on lights, turn on sound system and projector, turn on computer, open/set up slide and camera software, start recording. Depending on what the head ushers are doing and how busy I am, I might also fill candles and acolyte stick with oil, get water for myself and the liturgist, etc.
Lead worship. I usually handle the welcome and preparation, children’s time, sermon, prayers of the people, announcements, and benediction. I also handle communion, except for the prayer of confession and assurance of pardon. And, of course, any special events or rites that might be in the service.
Create worship videos. This involves transferring the video to my computer, cutting any extra stuff before worship begins and after it ends, adding a wrapper, fixing issues that might have shown up (usually audio). Then I render and upload the video to our YouTube channel. I make one video that is the entire worship service and another one that is just the sermon.
Post worship, sermon, and other media. I put a copy of the manuscript on the website with links to the worship video and the sermon video.
Pastoral Care
Visit homebound members. I visit members at home, in facilities (like the assisted living place in town), and elsewhere. This includes members who are officially ‘homebound’ as well as other who are not homebound but who simply don’t come to church. I try to do two or more of these per week, but that depends on what else is going on.
Emergency pastoral care. This includes visiting people in hospitals/hospice, and responding to other crises by phone or in person.
Rites and rituals. Funerals, weddings, baptisms, etc. For funerals, this includes meeting with the family, writing the liturgy, writing the homily, leading the service at the church and at the gravesite, coordinating certain things with the funeral home, and generally being available for several days before and after the funeral. Baptisms are much simpler. Let’s not do weddings during sabbatical.
Education
Book Group. Choose books, read books, lead discussion about the books.
Confirmation. Faith Formation created the general outline of the process. I modify the curriculum every year, lead the classes, and check in with the confirmands on out-of-class work. I usually meet with parents sometime during the summer.
Visioning
General Visioning. Work with leadership and the congregation to create an overarching vision for the church, lead leadership retreats and congregational conversations, create follow-up plans from those events. Spending time dreaming about things that we can do and filling in details for other groups.
Culture Creation. Work to create culture(s) at the church. Examples: encouraging church members to take on some of the work of visitation, adding the card table, etc, in order to encourage a culture of care in the congregation.
Be Concerned. I know this is a weird thing to put on the list, but a certain amount of this work is simply being the one who worries about things and finds ways to address the things that we’re worried about.
Presence and Administrivia
Meetings. Attend as many committee meetings as I can. Usually the two meetings that I cannot attend are Generosity and Faith Formation (which meet before worship), but I still stop in. This includes setting agendas and leading meetings for Mission and Worship & Fellowship. Also do some tasks for the committees.
Attend Church Events. Attend as many church events and volunteer opportunities as possible.
Staff Supervision. Be the day-to-day point person for the staff.
Random Stuff. There’s a certain amount of just picking up what gets dropped by other people, committees, etc.
Community Engagement
Volunteering. I am present at church volunteering events as I am able (soup delivery, cookie decorating, etc.). I am also trying to volunteer regularly at the Referral Center and looking of other opportunities to be seen helping in the community.
Community Events. I am present at community events (Autumnfest, Hometown Christmas, etc.). I am trying to add more events to this, with a special focus on things that church members and youth are involved in (concerts, sporting events, etc.).
Media
E-news. The secretary prepares the e-news each week. I look it over on Tuesday, make any corrections, and schedule it to be sent.
Carillon Notes. The secretary writes most of the Carillon Notes. I write the front page column and check over the calendar (along with anything else that Pam wants a set of eyes on).
Website. I manage the website, including updating systems, posting sermons, adding new content, revising existing content, etc.
Social Media. I manage all of the church’s social media accounts. We are active on Facebook (group and page), Twitter, and Instagram. We also have TikTok and Snapchat accounts, but don’t use them.
Wider Church
Committee on Ministry. I chair the Committee on Ministry for the Eastern Iowa Association: create agendas, lead meetings, do a certain amount of administrivia for the committee.
Advisory Council. I sit on the Advisory Council of the Eastern Iowa Association: attend meetings, deliver reports from the Committee on Ministry.
Eastern Iowa E-News. I create and send occasional mass emails for the Eastern Iowa Association.
Continuing Education
Continuing Education. This incudes reading, listening to podcasts, attending webinars, and all of that kind of stuff.
Phew. That is a lot of stuff.
Some of it is stuff that I, as the pastor, really should not be doing. But all of it is important stuff that has to be done by somebody. And there’s a lot that I could say about that—about how individuals congregations have taken the work that the congregation as a whole should be doing and handed it over to the pastor, and about how much that has hurt those congregations—but I am going to leave it there and simply say this:
Pray for your pastor. Ask what you can do to help. Because if your pastor’s list is anything like mine, it is a very big list, and your pastor cannot do it by themselves.