What Is Required Of A Pastor?

 

‘A man must himself be cleansed, before cleansing others:
himself become wise, that he may make others wise;
become light, and then give light:
draw near to God, and so bring other near;
be hallowed, then hallow them;
be possessed of hands to lead others by the hand,
of wisdom to give advice.’

Gregory of Naziansus, Oration, 2.71

The PA Game

I’ve found it amusing, and also annoying, to have encountered a number of church leaders and teachers over the past year who have no idea how to use a diary. In fact, it seems to be a part of ‘making it’ as an evangelical church leader, to be able to demonstrate the importance and busyness of one’s ministry, by constantly referring me to their ‘PA’ to make meeting arrangements.

It’s not that I contest the question of whether such leaders are busy, and / or involved in important ministries – in fact I’m quite sure that both are true. However, my certainty is owed to the fact that both have or do apply to me as well, and yet I seem able (and certainly have no choice but to) use my personal diary for appointments. Most church leaders up and down the country have to manage their own diaries, and the question of employing a PA to manage their schedule on their behalf would seem quite ridiculous and unlikely.

I find it even more strange that today one such occurrence involved an exchange of emails, in which the church leader in question could simply have responded to my suggested dates, but rather directed me to his PA to make an appointment. Emailing his PA resulted in an ‘Out of office auto-reply’ informing me that his PA was out of the office for another two days – did the church leader in question know his PA was off work?? If our church leaders are this bad at ‘people business’, maybe we should be challenging the notion that a more busy pastor with a PA is necessarily a better pastor. Let’s schedule a meeting to discuss further... Contact my PA!