Week #3 Administrative Work

January 27, 2009
By: Nick Smith

Last Friday I interviewed Bob Woods about the types of “administration” he does as a pastor. The following is a list of what he does.
1. Sending and receiving correspondence (letters and emails)
2. Planning and participation in meetings such as elders, board, missions, etc.
3. Planning worship services and other gatherings (such as Thursday evening, Christmas Eve, etc.)
4. General organization and coordination of the church calendar and programs
5. Serving as a contact person for the church with prospective members, sales people, etc.
6. Purchasing various items for the church such as office supplies, worship materials, some building supplies, etc.
7. Corresponding with various missions individuals and groups
8. Working with the church secretary with church communications such as emails, newsletter, bulletins, etc.
9. Oversight of several church staff members.

Bob said that throughout the years this number has fluctuated quite a bit but here recently it has been about 20-25 hours a week spent on administrative type of work.

The first thing that surprised me about the work that Bob does is the amount of time spent on these tasks. He was the solo pastor for many years and has been able to give some of his administrative type of things to the youth pastor. I am guessing in a larger church, not all pastors are going to say that they spend that much time on administrative type of things. Another observation that I had was at the number of times that Bob said “etc.” This caught my attention because it seemed to me like he was saying, “This is generally it, but there is more than this and there are always exceptions to this.” I also got the sense that Bob didn’t especially like doing this type of work but he didn’t hate it either.