How many hours must a pastor work each week to satisfy the congregation? This question, often unspoken, hovers over many churches and their leaders. A simple experiment I conducted several years ago might shed some light on this complex issue.
When I was a pastor in St. Petersburg, Florida, I surveyed the twelve deacons in my church (I often joked that we had eleven good deacons and one Judas!). The survey listed several pastoral responsibilities, and I asked them to share the minimum amount of time they believed I should devote to each area every week. The list included about twenty predefined responsibilities, with space for them to add others if they wished.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I expected from the survey, but the results were startling. After tallying the responses, I discovered that to meet the deacons’ minimum expectations, I would need to dedicate the following hours each week:
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- Prayer at the church: 14 hours
- Sermon preparation: 18 hours
- Outreach and evangelism: 10 hours
- Counseling: 10 hours
- Hospital and home visits: 15 hours
- Administrative functions: 18 hours
- Community involvement: 5 hours
- Denominational involvement: 5 hours
- Church meetings: 5 hours
- Worship services/preaching: 4 hours
- Other: 10 hours
Total: 114 hours per week
To put this in perspective, meeting the minimum expectations of twelve deacons would have required me to work over 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Alternatively, if I took one day off, I’d need to work 19 hours a day for six days a week. And keep in mind, these expectations came from just twelve people—not the entire congregation.
This exercise revealed an impossible reality: no pastor can humanly meet the varied and often conflicting expectations of every church member. The sheer number of responsibilities competing for limited hours in the week creates constant tension for pastors.
A Few Key Questions
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- For Laypeople: What are your workweek expectations of your pastor? Are they realistic, and do they account for the human limitations of a single individual?
- For Pastors: How do you manage these expectations without succumbing to burnout or neglecting your personal and family life?
Reflecting on this topic reminds us that ministry is a calling, but it is also a role performed by humans with finite time and energy. Honest conversations about expectations—rooted in grace and mutual understanding—can lead to healthier relationships between pastors and their congregations.
Posted on March 31, 2025
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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13 Comments
My husband is a pastor, now retired. I know he worked more than 40 hours per week, but many people do, such as mothers with children at home, and many business people, etc. Surely, there are things on your list that others can do, maybe better than the pastor can, such as administrative duties, less time counselling and community functions, less home visits. What about a monthly pulpit exchange with another pastor (no new sermon to make), or just a free Sunday? Why not use the talents and gifts of the elders, and install deacons who can do some supportive family counselling, outreach, and compassion care? What about women parish nurses (I’m against women in office), but some are very gifted and Jesus and the apostles used women in various ways? We just have to be a bit more creative and find some study in the Scriptures on how to use gifts in the church. How about seminaries teaching “time management,” as a course? I am speaking from experience.
Hi Thom,
From a pastor’s perspective, how would your breakdown of the week ideally look?
Thanks!
Jeffrey –
Every context is different. But remember three of the primary responsibilities of a pastor: prayer, preaching and teaching the Word (Acts 6:4), and equipping others to do the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12).
Thom, How did you do the survey to get such numbers? This is interesting. I figure that it is a conglomeration of all of their answers. Clearly they didn’t all want you to do all of this.
Please see my article for my methodologies.
And yet, if a pastor keeps such hours, the same people will accuse him of neglecting his family. Sometimes pastors just can’t win for losing. 🙁
So true. Sad, but true.
Very surprised the sum wasn’t more than the hours in a week! Like others have said, the proportion of time given to each task is instructive.
I have never found this to be a concern, let alone a problem. Pastors pastor and the congregation manages the ministry of the Body according to their spiritual gifts. My goal was always to set people free to do the ministry, letting them know that the Body of Christ is a “We” and not a “Me.” Committees and task groups with clear terms of reference and responsible and accountable individuals with regular reviews make for an efficient functioning church. Whether I was pastoring a large congregation or a smaller one, I never felt nor was I ever criticized for not doing enough or for letting things slip by.
Interesting study. Best takeaway is the proportion of time split among various tasks. Very surprised not to see “teaching” listed, but maybe this was included in the “Other” category.
Thom, did you share your findings/calculations with your deacons? If so, what was their response, either individually or collectively? Larry
Larry –
I did share it with them. Several of them were very supportive and began working with me to equip others to do ministry.
Thank you. Have you considered creating a webinar using this instance as a case study? I think it would be both informative and helpful.
Larry