Setting priorities

Several recent posts have focused on finding and equipping persons to serve in bivocational ministry.  Much of this discussion has addressed the skills a person needs to serve in such ministry.  We've looked at the importance of relationships, and we've looked at what seminaries teach, what they don't teach, and what they should teach.  This post will look at time management.

As I talk to people who are considering to go into bivocational ministry this is the area of greatest concern.  How will they find the time to meet all their obligations to their families, their church, and their work, and to the other activities to which they may be committed?  It is a question that must be answered, and I commend those who address it.  There is no question that bivocational ministers have to juggle a lot of responsibilities.  There were times when I felt like the entertainers on the old variety shows who had several plates spinning on thin rods.  They had to keep running from plate to plate to keep them all spinning.  If they stopped even for a minute the plates would start hitting the floor.  How does the bivocational minister keep all the plates spinning?  More importantly, how does he or she create a life that allows a healthy balance that makes life and ministry more enjoyable?

It begins with having a clear sense of vision for your ministry and for that of the church.  No small church or small church leader can be all things to all people.  You cannot compete with the mega-church down the road, and you shouldn't even try.  You must know what God wants your church to be and do and then focus your resources on that one thing.

One of the things a clear vision will give you is the ability to determine priorities for your life and ministry.  These priorities will reflect the things that are required to accomplish the vision.  Those are the things you must do.  Everything else is optional, and I do mean everything.  If you don't do the optional things it will have zero impact on fulfilling the vision God has given you.

Early in my pastoral ministry I was working in a factory full-time, pastoring the church, and going to a Bible school about 50 miles from my home.  We had two children who were active in the sports programs in their schools.  I had a very full schedule.  I was occasionally criticized by people in our association for not attending the monthly association men's meeting.  The fact is, the only such meeting I did attend was the month it was held at our church.  One year I was invited by a member of our church to attend the men's meeting, and because I had a free evening I agreed to go.  The program that night consisted of criticism towards all the men in the association who did not attend the monthly meeting!  The next month it was held at our church.  At the appointed time I went to the pulpit and announced my topic for the program that night: "Why I Don't Attend Your Men's Meetings!"  You could have heard a pin drop.  I wasn't mean about it; I just explained my schedule and how I felt it was more important for me to spend that evening at home with my family than to attend their meeting.

I had set my priorities for that stage of my life, and that meeting wasn't on that list.  If you want to enjoy a healthy ministry and have a life as well you will have to set your own priorities.  And if you don't, others will set your priorities for you, and they may not have your best interests at heart.  As I often say in my workshops, someone has changed the first of the four spiritual laws to say, "God loves you, and everybody has a wonderful plan for your life."  You must own your calendar, and you begin by setting priorities for your life.  Everyone else has to schedule around your priorities.

If you want a weekly date with your spouse, put it on your calendar in advance.  If someone calls wanting your presence at that time you can legitimately tell them you already have an appointment for that time.  If you want to attend your children's activities put those on your calendar as soon as you get a schedule.  If you want to take a continuing education course to help your personal development, put it on your calendar.  Schedule the things that are most important to you, and then everything else can be scheduled around that.  This ensures the priorities you have established for your life remain priorities.

Will something ever interfere with that?  Sure.  There will be genuine emergencies sometimes that will force you to shift your focus, but these should not be a regular occurance.  A real emergency may change your priorities for a few days while you respond to the emergency, but if this happens every week something is wrong.

There are few things that will lead to a more productive and enjoyable ministry than finding God's vision, setting priorities for your life and ministry that will enable that vision to come to pass, and then living out those priorities.  Are there other things that will need to be done?  Sure, but that doesn't mean they have to be done by you.  These are the things you delegate to others who have the gifts and passion to accomplish them while you focus on the specific tasks God has given you to do.

Why don't you start today?  Take a pad of paper and begin listing the things that you believe are the most important way you can invest your time and energy.  Be sure to include your job, your church work, your family, God, and your own personal well-being.  Begin making your list and start transferring that onto your planning calendar.  Do it in pencil because you'll probably have to make adjustments when you get started.  The important thing is to get started.  If you'll set priorities for your life and ministry you won't have to be afraid of bivocational ministry.