A pastor will face many challenges and demands as he serves the local congregation. He will be expected to prepare and preach weekly sermons, conduct weddings and funerals, make hospital visits, organize outreach efforts, raise funds for ministry, manage conflict in the congregation, conduct business meetings, counsel church members in crisis, oversee staff and volunteers, and attend to the legal issues facing the church. These are but a few leadership tasks that confront the pastor. It is obvious to the objective person that one individual cannot do the work of ministry alone. Pastors have limited time, skills, gifts, energy, and knowledge that hinder their ability to accomplish the work of ministry alone. However, pastors and parishioners often assume that it is the pastor’s job to do all the work of the ministry. Church members may feel that they pay the pastor to do all of these things. Pastors may feel that it is their responsibility to perform all of these tasks.
While a pastor in such a role is to be commended for his good intentions, there are dire consequences if he does not learn to delegate responsibility for certain ministry tasks. First, he will burn himself out by trying to do too much with too little help. Tasks will not get done, or they will not get done with excellence. The pastor will become frustrated and fatigued because he has too much to accomplish. He will feel overwhelmed and stressed as he tries to determine what his priorities for the moment ought to be. He will typically manage by crisis, giving his attention to what is most urgent at the moment. Many important tasks will go undone. The stress of competing demands will affect him personally and professionally as he struggles to manage his time. The second consequence of the pastor’s failure to delegate is the burnout his leaders and congregation will experience. They will become frustrated with the pastor over the inadequate spans of attention and care given to the issues of ministry. Members will complain that the pastor did not care for them during a time of need. Leaders will complain that the pastor is not moving the church forward through executing plans.
The situation described above is paralleled in the experience of the Old Testament leader, Moses. In Exodus 18:14-23, Moses is described as spending most of his waking hours dealing with the issues of leadership among the Hebrew people. He sat all day as the people brought their complaints, dilemmas, and questions to be settled by him. His father-in-law, Jethro, saw that Moses was wearying himself and his people by trying to do too much alone. Jethro keenly advised Moses to focus his time and energy on representing the people before God, instructing them about the statutes and laws, and on teaching them how to live for the Lord in daily life. Jethro advised that other leadership needs could be addressed by delegating them to qualified persons to assist Moses. The leaders, Jethro noted, could be set over groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. These leaders would handle the daily tasks of serving the people, they would be accountable to Moses, and would bring major issues to Moses that needed his attention. Jethro noted that in following his advice Moses would be released from bearing the burdens of the people alone, and that the people would be satisfied as their needs were met.
The principles Jethro advised Moses to adopt are equally applicable to the pastorate. A pastor must recognize that he cannot bear the burdens of leadership alone. Instead, the pastor must devote his best time, attention, and energy to his primary calling which includes overseeing the congregation, representing the people to God in prayer, teaching people the Word of God, and helping them apply the principles of Scripture to their daily lives. Even the Apostles had to recalibrate their ministry in the early days of Christianity in order to maintain their focus on the priorities of prayer and the Word of God (Acts 6:2–4).
The pastor must select qualified persons to assist him. He should consider their character, competency, and giftedness before entrusting them with responsibility. These people may be volunteers, paid staff, or a combination of the two. As the leaders are organized to best serve the congregation, they must have clear instructions on their part in accomplishing the task. An effective leader will help a ministry partner understand the vision of the work, who is responsible for the overall project, what specifically needs to be done by the partner, deadlines for tasks, measurements of success, parameters of authority, and means for providing feedback to the project leader. For example, a pastor may need to organize the congregation into small groups for pastoral care. He could then assign these groups to deacons who are trained to care for the membership’s pastoral needs as an extension of his ministry. The deacons would have a chairman who oversees their daily work and routinely reports back to the pastor how the work is going. The pastor would offer guidance for the major issues facing the deacon ministry. The pastor should organize the church and delegate responsibility for all of the areas of need outside his primary calling. These areas include, but are not limited to, worship planning, financial oversight, the education ministry, fundraising, hospital visitation, and outreach. In doing so, the pastor is not refusing responsibility for these tasks, but is fulfilling his responsibility through oversight (Ephesians 4:11-12).
If a pastor will strategically implement the Jethro principle of delegation the church will be strengthened as communication is maximized, conflict is minimized, and ministry effectiveness increases. The pastor’s load will be lightened as he is freed to do what only he can do as the God-called leader of the church. The people will be satisfied because their needs are being met and they have the joy of serving in ministry. The transformation to delegated ministry will not occur overnight. It will take effort and grace for the pastor and the people to adjust. However, most people will come to see the value of this biblical approach to ministry.
