When Charles resigned as pastor of a fast-growing church, I attended his farewell reception. The members of his church extolled his virtues and handled their grief with tears and humor.
Since I knew Charles (we served in the same community) I was surprised at the most commonly mentioned virtue—accessibility.
I knew Charles was a runner who did five miles four days a week, a golfer, a fisherman, and a sports fan who rarely missed an athletic event at the university. I spent twice as much time with my members as he did, and in fact, some of his members had called me in crisis because Charles was out of town. But now they acted as if they were losing their best friend.
You would have thought Andy was moving from Mayberry.
Three years later I sat with a pastor who, if he did not find another position in the next three months, would be terminated. Among the complaints was that he was not accessible to his congregation. His enemies said he was never there when they needed him and painted him as an absentee pastor. But Preston was in more homes than an Amway distributor and saw more folks in his office than a divorce attorney in Hollywood. He was far more accessible than Charles, yet he was about to be terminated—while Charles had been canonized.
A common complaint lodged against pastors is that they are not accessible to their members. While this charge on occasion may be justified, more often than not, this conflict may be a misunderstanding: The minister and the church have different perceptions of what being accessible means. Pastors think they are accessible, while their actions may be perceived by members as indicators they are not accessible.
What precisely does make church members feel their pastor is accessible?
Pastoral qualities
Usually, a congregation praises its pastor for being accessible if the pastor has one or more of three qualities:
1. Visibility
Some churches define accessibility as, “We see our pastor at public gatherings.” This was true of the church Charles served. Members may not have had a conversation with the pastor at town events, but they felt they could have if they so desired.
In one community, Friday night high school football games became an important part of my ministry. Members would greet me, and, amid the small talk, tell me of a job problem or prayer need. I didn’t see much football, and I would come home exhausted, but attending games enhanced my effectiveness in that community.
One pastor had a short and painful pastorate because when he was not at the church, he felt he was off-duty. He rarely attended community events, and when he did, he usually did not interact with people. He did not intend to be rude, but because he had worked long hours at the church he felt he needed down time.
This pastor had an open-door policy when he was in the office and was excellent at hospital visitation. In the small town, this combination is often effective. I suspect, however, that his (now former) church would have preferred he spend fewer hours in appointments and more hours being visible.
Another minister in a small town allots two hours each week to shop at the grocery store. He deliberately goes by himself at the busiest time of the week. He is making himself accessible to people who might not make an appointment with him. If a pastor serves in a community that defines accessibility as visibility, the pastor must be willing to be seen—and to engage those with whom he comes in contact.
2. Personality
Some folks define accessibility as personality. The amount of time the pastor spends in personal ministry is irrelevant. A warm smile, a genuine listening ear, and a firm handshake are the true test. Those come easy for some pastors. For others, they are more difficult than second-year Hebrew.
But the pastor not known as Mr. Personality can compensate. A friend who is naturally shy had an effective ten-year pastorate in a small town just south of “Bubba-ville.” Early in his ministry, he met with key members and told them he needed them to be missionaries on his behalf. He asked them to explain to their fellow members that he did not do well in social settings or in small talk but that they should not take this as a sign of emotional distance or a lack of interest. This core group successfully interpreted his introverted tendencies to the church family.
3. Pulpit presence
Some pastors appear accessible in the pulpit. When you hear them preach, you feel you have had a wonderful conversation with them. Their eye contact, body language, and delivery build rapport. If such a pastor happens to be good with names, he will be remembered for his accessibility, even though his door may be closed more often than not.
A friend serves a church at which the two previous pastors had a warm, conversational style in the pulpit. My friend is warm and cordial in his pastoral duties but not in the pulpit. He reads from a well-prepared manuscript and does not have good eye contact with the congregation. Before and after the worship service, he mingles with the crowd. He was stung by the criticism that he is not accessible, yet those who have had direct contact with him feel he is more genuinely accessible than his predecessors.
Often the minister and the church have different perceptions of what being accessible means.
Feeling wounded, my friend asked a tenured church leader how to discount the charge. The sage told him, “Be patient. Your preaching speaks to the mind, and your pastoring speaks to the heart. This is the reverse of the previous pastors’ approach, and accessibility is a heart issue.”
A new pastor’s reputation for accessibility may not have much to do with reality; it may be based on preaching style. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the pastor needs a preaching-delivery makeover; he may just need to allow time for his pastoral style to be recognized. In our culture, people’s expectations are often governed by emotion rather than by reason.
Congregational factors
Whether a pastor is perceived as being accessible depends on more than the pastor, though. It’s important to know the hidden factors in the congregation:
1. Previous pastors’ style
In well-established communities, where the membership is fairly static, new pastors are measured as accessible in comparison to their immediate predecessor. However, in high-turnover congregations, your predecessor is not the individual who was previously pastor of the church; your predecessor is the pastor of the church that the members moved from. In today’s suburban church, which often has a 25-percent turnover each year, a new pastor may have several hundred predecessors.
When someone criticizes my lack of accessibility, I ask him or her, “Tell me about your favorite pastor.” Often I find this person had a pastor whom he or she considered to be a close friend and near in age.
2. Members’ work environments
Members who see their pastor less as a chaplain and more of a leader want their pastor to be as accessible as the leader in their company.
In rural and small-town America, the model for pastoral accessibility used to be the country doctor. But that is no longer a viable model—your physician is now an HMO and at least three phone calls away. Today, many young executives expect their pastor to be more like a compassionate CEO than a physician.
Although the CEO model for the pastor has been severely criticized, the role of the ceo is dramatically changing. In some large corporations, the CEO is the motivator, counselor, consoler, and listening ear for the top level of management. If you read Tom Peters and Stephen Covey, you may think you are reading a primer for pastors.
When white-collar baby boomers want to discuss downsizing stress, they will more likely visit the ceo than the corporate counselor. An acquaintance who consults for companies that are restructuring is frequently asked to teach his clients pastoring skills. The employees know they may not be able to see the CEO whenever they want, but they know because he is organized and works his schedule, they will get on his schedule.
3. Members’ age
I have found those born prior to 1940 generally feel that an accessible pastor takes the initiative to contact them. On the other hand, baby boomers, and especially Generation Xers, expect an accessible pastor to respond to their calls.
Also, older adults prefer the pastor to be easy to locate in times of difficulty, while the younger crowd desires immediacy of contact, not necessarily physical presence.
A pastor accepted a position in his denomination that required frequent weekday travel. He remained pastor of his church, but he was unable to officiate at many funerals, make pastoral-care visits, or visit hospitals. But by phone and e-mail, he stayed in contact with his young, growing congregation. One member said there were few complaints about his lack of accessibility.
The complaint that pastors are not accessible may never cease, but understanding the dynamics can at least lower the anxiety when the complaints arrive.
Gary Fenton is pastor of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
1998 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or contact us.
