Time Win-Win

A challenge in full-time gospel work is to free up time.  There is just so much that can and needs to be done.   As we seek to grow healthy churches and plant new churches, as a denomination our GROW strategy includes encouraging full time ordained ministers to re-evaluate their timetable and responsibilities to free up time (for example, at least one day a fortnight) to review existing initiatives and develop new initiatives in the local congregations.   The goal is that pastors will give serious thought to how their church can increase their gospel effectiveness in equipping and nurturing their members, in reaching more and more people, and in the planting of new congregations.   But who has the time?

Typically church leaders attempt some time management strategy to "free up time" to tackle new initiatives.   But as Craig Hamilton points out, "You can manage a lot of things:  yourself, others, systems, businesses, your hair.  But time is not one of those things.   You can't make time go faster or slow it down.  You can't make it more efficient.   No matter what you do, you cannot increase the amount of time it outputs per minute.   Time ... won't listen to you and it will not be managed by you." (Wisdom in Leadership, p.112).  So if you can't manage time, how can you free it up?

One of the realities I discovered through years of pastoral ministry is that my time was limited.   I only had so much time each week to accomplish the ministry tasks expected of me and/or which I felt called to do.   I would regularly review how much time I spent in the various tasks.   I simply made up a pie chart and divided the pie into sizeable chunks.   When circumstances or my pastoral role required that I had to shift more time into an existing or new area of ministry, this meant that another piece of the pie had to be reduced in size.  This did not mean that that piece of the pie was no longer required;  it simply meant that those chunks of ministry had to be delegated to others.   I remember a season of ministry when my eldership thought is was critical that I devote more time in discipling those who had strayed away from the faith.   They had the wisdom to know that I could not simply fit this added initiative into an already full schedule.   So they delegated some of my previous responsibities to others.   My preaching load was reduced and an additional staff person was hired to do some of my administrative work.  This shift of responsibilities allowed me the time to engage in the church's discipling initiative.   And we had a growing number of people involved in doing ministry.   For me this was a win-win.

I wonder how much time full-time ministers actually give to review how effectively their church is reaching the lost as well as equipping and nurturing their members?   Would they give the 16 hours a month as suggested in the 'fourfold task'?  Probably not.   But yet giving these matters serious thinking time and review is critical to churches effectively increasing church health and gospel impact.   Ministers should not just try to 'fit in' this type of thinking or review into an already full ministry schedule.   This type of thinking and review requires both quality and quantity of time.   So here is my suggestion:  take some time to make a list of all your ministry obligations and categorize them into ministry areas.  You will recognize that there are a number of things that other people could do just as well or even better than you.   Drop these things.   Delegate them to others.   Continue to carve up your weekly schedule by either dropping things or delegating things to others until you have a significant amount of time to do the kind of review and ministry development that will grow a healthy church, the kind of church where members are nurtured and being equipped, where the lost are evangelised, and possible church planting opportunities explored.

And here is the bonus:  when you as a full-time minister learn to drop things and delegate things, this opens the door to multiplying ministry leaders and workers in your church.   And that is how the body of Christ, the church, is built up!    Church members are equipped for works of service and given opportunity to partner in the gospel (see Ephesians 4:11-16).    And as more and more members are engaged in ministry, time is freed up for pastors/ministers to keep looking ahead and considering how as a church we can be more effective in growing the church and reaching the lost.  It really can be a win-win!