Murphy’s Laws of Ministry

Murphy, the famous person who gave us Murphy’s Law (“If anything can go wrong, it will”), was a minister. At least, so it seems when you read the following church corollaries to Murphy’s Law:

1. You’ll remember the person’s name-five minutes after you fumble a greeting.
2. The one Sunday morning you’re late in getting your sermon prepared, the computer won’t print.
3. When you arrive late, the meeting starts early. When you rush and arrive early, it’s the wrong evening.
4. The obnoxious driver you honked at Friday will be a first-time visitor on Sunday.
5. The church van sits idle for weeks at a time, but the senior high and middle school groups will want to use it the exact same weekend.
6. The harder it is raining, the farther you will have to park from the hospital.
7. The week the district superintendent visits, two ushers and the soloist will not show up.
8. When you remember to thank people, they forget that you did; when you forget to thank them, they remember it forever.

-Jim Schmotzer is from Bellingham, Washington

1996 by Christianity Today/LEADERSHIP, journal.

Last Updated: October 7, 1996