One of the things that amazes
me most, thinking back to my first few years as a pastor, was that most Sundays
I preached twice a week. It made for a busy life, as each new sermon usually
took two days to write. But between being allowed to exchange pulpits once a
month or so, and having a few Sundays a year off, I managed the
two-sermons-per-week routine without too many problems.
I could never manage that
sort of preaching load anymore. Why not? In a word (or two), church
administration.
In my first congregation,
things pretty much ran themselves—and if they didn’t, a layperson was there to
make it run. So, when a new church needed to be built (around the bones of an
old fire station), every detail was handled by church members—from building
support for the project, to fund-raising, to getting zoning approvals, to final
construction. Many members contributed free labor, as well. I didn’t have to do
a thing, other than take a few turns behind the paintbrush and serve as a
cheerleader.
Worship was the same every
week—only the songs and sermons changed. On Tuesday mornings I’d pick the songs
we were going to sing the following Sunday, write a few announcements about
upcoming events, and pass them along to the secretary. Members of the
congregation looked after almost everything else—nursery and coffee schedules
and volunteers, committee meetings for education, building and grounds, as well
council meetings. The clerk received all church mail and responded to it all.
It isn’t that I didn’t have a
few projects of my own that I promoted and planned for. But the bottom line was
that the church was owned and run by the membership. Volunteers were never in
short supply. And the church template—what churches did on Sundays, in
particular—was far simpler than today’s.
These days, things are
different. It isn’t that there isn’t any more lay participation. In my current
congregation, there certainly is—from the flower guild to the council, from
greeting to coffee preparation, many volunteers participate in the life of the
church. Still, volunteers, especially for longer-term responsibilities, have
become harder and harder to find over the past thirty years. And when things
are not going smoothly church members look to the pastor and his or her staff
to fix it.
What has changed?
1. Most
people have less time. Especially in large urban centers like Toronto, where
most people now live, people are feeling more and more pressed for time.
Traffic is a mess, especially in the hours leading up to traditional
church-meeting times like breakfast and just after supper. What is more, with
unemployment hovering between 7 and 8 percent, people have to give extra time
and effort to their jobs. Many feel vulnerable. Again, time for other
activities suffers. On the plus side, some people have less time because
community—and even foreign—NGOs are also dipping into the traditional church
volunteer pool.
2. A
related factor, and probably the single largest factor in this list, is that
many more women—once the heart and soul of church volunteerism—are now working
professionally. They (as was almost always the case with their husbands) are coming
to church exhausted. They want to participate in worship, but resist teaching for
and planning Sunday School, babysitting during the service, organizing social
and community events, and serving on council. More and more equality in the
workplace means more and more tired, stressed out church members.
3. Our culture has encouraged greater expectations for
parental involvement compared to the seventies or eighties. Parents want to cheer
kids on, drive them to and from practices, and spend quality time at home or on
vacation with their kids. Overall, this is a great development, as many of us
boomers can remember when parents were just too busy or distracted to spend
much time with us. But a byproduct of this is that both parents and kids are
too busy to help out at church.
4. Still,
expectations for the quality and variety of church programing have only increased.
No surprises here. In the era of TV preachers, megachurches, and a
consumer-satisfaction oriented culture, churches that don’t shine don’t attract
new members. They lose old members and fail to excite current members.
People—whether consciously or not, rightly or wrongly—treat churches as
franchises they have to choose between. Franchise outlets that don’t sport the
best menu, the latest innovations, the best music, the latest technology all fall
behind. Churches run as mom and pop operations don’t keep up with the times and
fail. Ironically, just as members have less time for church involvement,
expectations for what churches must deliver have increased.
5. Technology
can save time, but it has also increased expectations on pastors and staff for
fast response times about ever more and more matters. More insidiously, the
very ease of sending off an email means that lots of them are sent! Even when
parishioners are not deeply involved in offering time for church matters, they
are making suggestions and asking for answers. Email represents a great
opportunity to stay in touch—and to touch—church members. But it comes at a
cost in time and energy.
6. Technology
two. The Internet and other contemporary technology is great for getting your
church noticed—if you are good at it. But that means someone on Facebook and
Google Plus, and updating your webpage on a weekly or more frequent basis,
providing great content for blogs, and regular tweets. As the franchise
competition heats up, more and more resources have to be dedicated to
marketing. Someone on staff has to be on top of this.
7. Bigger
staffs themselves require more administration. Although my first congregation
and my current congregation are about the same size, many of the factors
mentioned above mean I work with a much larger staff than ever before—from 1.2
FTE to 4+ FTE. But working with a large staff, maintaining morale, helping them
grow in their skills and keeping everyone on target takes a lot of
administration too.
8. Laws
have become more and more complex—often for good reason. But the burden on
churches is also real. From the annual audit to voluntary sector criminal
reports, to writing policies covering matters as diverse as sexual harassment
to what foods can and cannot be served during coffee time, churches are being
held to a higher standard. And the staff is expected to stay on top of the constantly
changing demands.
9. Worship
is better. More musicians playing more genres of music practicing with each
other and looking for direction from staff, more thoughtful use of movie clips
and other media, more drama and lay participation, more responsive reading,
more consideration for historic liturgical practices—worship has changed a lot
from the days I used to give the part-time secretary a list of six songs to put
into the church bulletin’s never changing worship template. All of this
requires a lot of planning and administrative work behind the scenes.
10.
Denominational and local church structures are more intrusive than ever before.
They always claim that every new initiative is going to save you time and help
your church thrive, but the truth is denominational leaders have only rarely
figured out how to offer real and timely help rather than more obligations. Denominations
undoubtedly struggle with many of the same trends that local churches do. Denominational
agencies and affiliated organizations are vying with each other for time and support
in an era it doesn’t come to them automatically anymore. As a result, there is
more and more stuff from denominations, more and more new initiatives, and more
and more insecurity. A lot of pastors try to ignore the whole scene, but that
won’t make for improvements, either—or eventually deliver real help.
We live in an era heavily
influenced by post-modern suspicion of institutions. People think institutions
are rule-bound, hidebound, and acronym-obsessed. They don’t like the rules,
regulations, master plans, and perceived coerciveness of institutions. They
want church experiences that are of a gee whiz sort rather than church
responsibilities that require time, attention, and dedication.
But ironically, as their
other obligations make church involvement more and more difficult, and as they
download their old volunteer jobs onto church staffs, and as they raise their
expectations, churches themselves become more and more the staff-driving
institutions that the same members are suspicious of.
What’s the solution? Well, it
isn’t going back to how things were, because it just isn’t going to happen.
Jobs will not become less demanding. Children won’t need less nurture.
Technology is not going to simplify our lives. Commutes will only rarely take
less time. And so on.
No, the solution, though
counterintuitive, has to be better administration. As church administrators,
our work has to become more effective from Monday through Saturday, so that
our work becomes mostly invisible on Sundays. That creates the atmosphere—along
with great worship and community that staff has done much to arrange—where
congregants may become inspired to figure out how they can give more too.
What do you think?
