How Pastors Spend Their Time During the Workweek (Any Surprises?)

Serving a church is not a 9-to-5 kind of job. Ministry comes with odd hours. Josh and Sam discuss their typical workweek and how they keep a rhythm going. Very few pastors work less than 40 hours per week, but how do they allocate those hours?

• • One study a few years ago revealed 84% of pastors work 40 or more hours per week on average.
  • Additionally, 35% of pastors are working 60 or more hours every week.
  • How do some of these hours break down? Two studies give us some ideas.
  • 15-20 hours in sermon preparation
  • 10-20 hours in pastoral care (e.g., counseling, weddings, hospital visits)
  • 8 hours of custodial duties (e.g., opening facilities, cleaning)
  • 5 hours in prayer
  • 5 hours of evangelism (in growing churches), none for non-growing churches
  • 4 hours in meetings
  • 3 hours in electronic communication (e.g., email)

Resources:

• The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

• Churchteams

• FREE Research Report! New Surprising Insights

• Church Answers Central

• The Hope Initiative

Episode Sponsors:

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