I once served a church that had written in their personnel policies that Saturdays were to be off-days for the ministerial staff. The church building would be locked and the offices closed. Only in unusual situations were any of us expected to put in an appearance on Saturdays.
Later, I served a church where one of its policies required ministers to receive three weeks of vacation each year, two of which absolutely had to be used for vacation. They could not be devoted to meetings or conferences in other churches, time-honored methods most of us have used to extend our ministries and supplement our pay.
These were wise policies, no doubt inserted into the personnel handbooks by veteran church members who had learned how crucial it is that ministers get their rest. As with everyone’s favorite Psalm—the 23rd—sometimes we have to be made to “lie down in green pastures.”
As I write this, it’s been nearly 19 months since Hurricane Katrina did so much damage to my part of the world. One year after the storm, one of our young pastors self-destructed in the pulpit. In his Sunday morning sermon, he unloaded all of his anger and frustration on the congregation, then walked out in the middle of the message. When the lay leadership approached him that afternoon and demanded that he apologize, he went back before the congregation in the evening service and began by apologizing. Then he detoured off into the same sad avenue he had taken that morning, repeated the accusations he had hurled at them earlier, and stalked out again. He was forced to resign that week. Later, he informed me that he had not taken one day off—and no vacation time—since the hurricane.
Lay leaders should have an understanding with incoming pastors and staff members that they are required to take their off-days and vacation times. Then, these same leaders should encourage church members to respect the ministers’ home time and days off.
It’s not simply that we pastors are all Type-A personalities and thus, workaholics. Sometimes the problem is that we want to please everyone and cannot function when we know someone needs us and we might not be available. This is unbiblical, unspiritual, immature, unwise, and self-defeating. Godly lay leaders should help us deal with it.
