One of the things that happened more naturally in my schedule during the first year of our church was community interaction. No office + no people = plenty of time to spend in the community!
As a church grows so do leadership and administrative demands. And when I recently evaluated my ministry schedule I discovered that I'm spending too much time working behind my desk on our own organizational needs.
From a theological standpoint, I think Jesus' story of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep in search of the one that was lost has incredible implications for a pastor's weekly schedule. Is there a healthy balance in the way we divide our time between the ninety-nine and the one?
In an effort to go back to my church planting roots, I've revamped Thursdays by devoting a chunk of the day to community driven projects. Here are a few of the ways I'm beginning to spend that time:
- Greater involvement with the Berkley Chamber of Commerce
- Prayer over community issues and needs (one of our volunteers emails me news stories every week detailing various tragedies in our city)
- Strategic work on our evangelism and public relations system
- Personal relationship building with community leaders, business owners, and neighbors
- Personal follow up on recent guests (phone calls, notes, visits)
- Planning for upcoming outreaches (Easter, neighborhood pastors, special events, etc)
- Writing (blog, emails, messages) to encourage our church leaders to prioritize community service
Thursdays used to be my least defined day of the week. I would usually knock out tasks before my Sabbath on Friday. But this new focus is adding fresh purpose and energy to what is effectively the last day of my work week.