Shoveling Snow and Church Work

snow shovel by st. Mattox at freeimages.com

snow shovel by st. Mattox at freeimages.com

You want to know how your preacher often feels?

Go shovel snow to clear your driveway, knowing that the work is only temporary, to understand what he often feels like.  

I know it sounds pessimistic, and even maybe a little heretical, but emotionally ministers regularly wonder is their work making any longterm difference.  Is the work we are doing really making an impact, or is it just temporarily  dealing with a problem?

I was speaking to a minister once who had done church work his whole professional life when he accurately said, “looking back over my time of doing church work, I have to believe that much of the things I did really didn’t make much of a difference.”  He was busy.  He was working hard.  He had good intentions, but many of his efforts seemed to not produce a significant impact.

What impact do most sermons or classes make?  What about the bulletin or a specially planned meeting?  Or the visit we drive an hour to make or the funeral that takes all weekend?

Don’t misunderstand me please, I believe in the activities of ministers.  I believe in the power of one sermon, the necessity of well done Bible classes.  I see the usefulness in a good bulletin article.  I recognize the value in a well organized ministry like a visitation or youth program.  But I also am realistic and seasoned enough to also know much of what ministers do doesn’t have a longterm impact.  They are just needed at the time, like that snow that has to be cleared off the parking lot, so we need someone to stand up and preach on Sunday morning.

I write these things not because I am discouraged or feeling like my work is not significant.  I write them to help others better understand church work.  Young preachers need to understand this brutal truth, because if they think everything they do will reap a long-term impact, they will be burned out before they reach year five.

This is why when ministers do see long-term impact, be it from one sermon or two hundred, it fuels their fires!  This is why we remember the one soul that was reached, while trying not to be too downtrodden about the 10 who still haven’t responded.

So the next time this winter you shovel some snow, remember that is how your preacher often feels about his work.  And preachers, let’s remember ultimately that it is not our duty to produce a harvest with every work, but it is our job to keep shoveling, keep working, and trust the Lord to make the longterm impact.

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2 comments

  1. Very good.

    • John T on January 27, 2016 at 5:18 pm

    Thanks for my first year preacher😉

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