A society in which “Whirl is King” makes a lot of noise about time-savers. But time is not saved by multiplying devices; it is saved by personal discipline.
“Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed,” says management consultant Peter Drucker in The Effective Executive. In applying management techniques to a Christian leader’s use of time, there are several important spiritual principles to keep in mind.
First, time for Christian leaders is not really their own; they’re the ones appointed to manage it. It doesn’t belong to the people they serve; it belongs to God.
Second, God gives leaders enough time to do everything he wants them to do. This includes fulfilling responsibilities to family and personal health.
The third principle is stated by the apostle Paul: “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”
So, God gives us time; he gives us enough time to do all that he assigns; and he has promised us the strength we need. How do we become good stewards of that time?
Drucker has developed a set of simple rules to help in the discipline of time management. They apply to the parish pastor and lay leader as well as the business person.
A. Record Your Time. Management of time begins with knowing how it is expended, and the only way to know is to keep a written record. This may seem like a needless suggestion- most people think they know how their time is spent. However, tests have shown that usually they do not.
Chart your current schedule for a period of no less than three days, and probably not more than three weeks. Be concerned with:
1. The total amount of time expended
2. The classification of how it was spent
3. The frequency and nature of interruptions
B. Consolidate Your Discretionary Time. Discretionary applies to time used for activities other than specific, concrete commitments. Try grouping these scattered bits of time together at a specified hour each day. This will allow you to have uninterrupted time to prepare sermons, plan future programs, counsel individuals, and keep yourself spiritually refreshed.
C. Prune the Time-Wasters. Once you know where your time is going, begin to prune away activities that waste it. The minister must be ruthless with nonessential activities that do not contribute to the real work of the church. On the surface, most of them will seem important; if they did not, you wouldn’t be doing them. One way to decide their importance is to ask, “What would happen to the work God has called me to do if I stopped doing this altogether?” If the answer is “nothing,” then stop doing it.
1. Learn to use a secretary. A good secretary should be the second person added to every church staff, even before a paid sexton, assistant pastor, or minister of Christian education. If a church cannot afford to hire one, the pastor should begin to train volunteers.
Begin by taking a survey, perhaps through the church bulletin, of church members who might donate half a day per week. Find out what their skills are-typing, shorthand, dictaphone- and then delegate these responsibilities. If you then decide to hire a secretary, don’t hire one to replace your volunteers; find one who would be comfortable with both professional secretarial work and volunteer coordination.
2. Learn to delegate. Christian leaders must learn to delegate important areas of responsibility to lay leadership. There is really very little we cannot delegate,, even some of the counseling, or some of the preaching. Pastors tend to make errand boys out of laymen, rather than ministers.
Delegation protects the pastor from constantly assuming the role of the “primary person.” Laymen need to see the minister take a back seat once in awhile. Delegating will eventually, not immediately, give you more time.
3. Learn the use of time-saving methods.
-Mechanical devices such as dictating machines save valuable minutes in the office for you and your secretary, and can be used when you’re traveling.
-An inner-church mailbox is a simple tool that can be used by even the smallest church. During my first pastorate, I had a treasurer, a Sunday school superintendent, and a volunteer staff of twenty-five. I spent a good bit of time every Sunday morning trying to deliver mail to them. Finally, I asked someone to construct a simple box with enough slots to separate everyone’s mail. This freed me to do the things I should have been doing on Sunday morning. Later, the box was expanded to sort all kinds of things-committee reports, board minutes, encouragement cards-and became a valuable communication facility for the church.
-Cassette tapes containing sermons, seminars, lectures, and other informative, stimulating material can be listened to while driving.
Learn to handle your papers only once. Answer mail as soon as it is opened so you will not have to read it twice. Start the agenda for the next committee meeting as soon as you have read the minutes of the last one. I try to make immediate decisions when I see mail and other papers for the first time. Whether it means writing a personal reply to someone, or simply delegating an activity to a staff member, I find it helpful to get the decision behind me. Granted, some papers require careful thought and study; but limit the time you spend each day for such matters.
-Learn when and how to terminate an interview, a counseling session, a friendly call, or an official business meeting. I view most of my counseling sessions in the same way I view a graph. The graph has a steadily rising line that indicates increasing interest in what’s being discussed. Eventually, the line levels out, then it drops off completely. This is the time to terminate the session, even though the visitor may want to keep talking. Ask questions such as, “Is there anything else I can help you with?” or, “May I pray with you about this matter?”
-Learn to use waiting moments. The average person spends three years of his or her life just waiting. Make these moments productive by carrying reading material, note paper, or portable dictating equipment. I also memorize Scripture, make notes about people I need to talk to, or list bulletin announcements. I’ve even prepared sermon notes.
D. Build a Flexible Schedule. A schedule is a pathway, not a prison. There are good reasons for changing a schedule, but without one, you will be unable to maintain an effective, efficient use of time.
Learn to budget your available time. The first step of this process it to plan a weekly schedule. Decide where you’re going to invest your time. Determine long-range, intermediate, and shortrange goals.
Establish a weekly priority list. This will include sermon preparation, calls you must make, counseling appointments to keep, or committee meetings for which you must prepare. Begin every day by writing down the list of things you must accomplish for that day. As you check each one off, you’ll begin to feel a sense of accomplishment.
In The Christian Executive, Ted Engstrom and Edward Dayton say, “For the sake of objectives, many leaders want to surge ahead without determining the best methodologies to meet their goals. It is well said that ‘the solution is not to work harder, but to work smarter.’ “
Time, our most precious commodity, requires our most serious stewardship effort; and as Christian leaders we should model that stewardship before our congregations.
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