How I Enable My Parishioners to Support Me in Using My Time & Energy Wisely as Their Pastor – Transcript
Jim Latimer
Welcome to Coaching for Interims. We are about empowerment for interim ministry, best practices and quick help – wisdom from the field. This is our collaborative Wisdom from the Field project featuring short interviews with transitional interim ministers, and others, with practical help and wisdom to offer those engaged in transitional ministry. Thank you for tuning into this episode of wisdom from the field.
Jim Latimer
Today we have with us again Reverend Joe Graumann. Joe’s a millennial and an ordained minister in the ELCA Lutheran tradition. And one of the things that I have noticed about Joe, in the couple of years that I have gotten to know him, is how his commitment to gospel justice and faith – he is passionate about faith, which is great – and how he connects that with Church Administration, such as making meetings not only productive, but also fun and inspiring, and things like that. He has a genius for that! And I wanted him to speak to – relatedly – how often lay leaders don’t understand the administrative load and details that pastors can face. And as a pastor myself, I know that can take away from the real work that they want us to do. And Joe has some genius that he offered to speak to about that. So, Joe, if you could say a few words, that’d be great.
Joe Graumann
Thanks, Jim. I think you’re very kind to say genius. There’s a fine line between genius and disorder. And I guess we’ll leave it to the listeners to decide. So, thanks Jim. Yes, I think often in the church, particularly people who aren’t employed by the church, we can overlook that churches take administration. You need to be registered. You have to have a register yourself of baptized and confirmed, and funerals and those kinds of things. And they are important. They are, in fact, vital to the ministry of the church, to preserving the history of our congregation for future generations, and also to serve the people that we’ve made a commitment to serve.
Joe Graumann
In my previous call, I was at a church where my predecessor kept no parochial records for the duration of his ministry – 12 years. And it was difficult. I had children who were confirmed asking me if their baptism counted. Because it wasn’t recorded. So, you’re right. This is something I’m very passionate about. And in some ways this congregation was a model for how it viewed administration as the work of the church. And when I say the church, I mean, the people of the church, like the work of the people – like liturgy, but not a liturgy. And so, a lot of the admin tasks of the church, whether it was checking the mail, or making the duty rosters who are worship leaders and all of that, were handled by volunteers. And it really worked out in some ways and didn’t in others. The music director made the bulletins and he received a small stipend on top of his music director pay to make the bulletins, because we had an eye toward hiring an administrator, which was something that I had advocated for a long time. And we had another person do the duty roster. And then a third person did the email communications – like the announcements, and those kinds of things.
Joe Graumann
Well, the stuff that fell to me were often like, checking the mail and the voicemail and corresponding with anybody who has any inquiries for the church, and maintaining the register in the ELCA – a big red binder. And coordinating all of the other functions. But it also fell to me to do some things that perhaps a typical church secretary or office staff might do, like, Oh, do you have the number for Cynthia, because I want to get a hold of her. Or, Do you know the lockbox code for the church? And over time, I think coordinating all of that was ultimately seen as the pastor’s responsibility, which was okay, but also, when the pandemic hit, and then we added more admin, whether it was Zoom stuff, YouTube stuff – and making sure that you had everything set up and accessible to people on the web. And suddenly, website management became a big burden.
Joe Graumann
So, honestly what I did to encourage people to see that this is the broader work of the church and that it fell to us all, and that we needed help, was to complain. And so, one can complain without structure. But as I’ve come to realize, I really like a good structure. And in our previous episode, we talked about flipping in equipping the council, I used my pastor’s teaching time during the council thing to talk about admin, and to list out what are the tasks, and who does them. And also kept track of the amount of time I was spending on admin. And I made the business case too, to say, Okay, we already have this stipend for the bulletins – that is towards growing someone. We have had this increase in giving, and the church is in a healthy place financially. And this is, I believe, what we can do. So, structured complaint showing people what the tasks are and what the problems might be, positing a solution that’s rooted in the realities of the church. And then fourth, was talking to peer congregations. It’s really important to see what their admin situation is like – how they staff their admin tasks, and graciously, if they have job descriptions, if they have an employee handbook – those kinds of things. If you can provide your church with this map and a vision. We want to make it happen; this is what we need to do. You can make things happen, hopefully.
Jim Latimer
Joe, I love it. I appreciate it, because this speaks to so many churches across the so called Mainline denominational world, or any church that’s small. In small churches, a lot of pastors end up spending a lot of time on things that parishioners don’t know they’re spending time on. And we pastors are finite – our resource, our energy, our time is finite. So, whatever we’re spending on these tasks that someone else really could do, then we can’t spend on other things that no one else is trained to do. Right? And people aren’t going to see that most of the time. People don’t see that unless we teach them and help them see. And we do it in a way that doesn’t shame them, which is what I heard you say. You do it in a structured way, a thoughtful way, with church counsel with others over time, so they can see it. And you equip them to see the reality of how you spend your time and your energy, and then they can make a choice. Oh, well, we’ve got some options here. That’s a thoughtful and respectful way to do it, and to get the needs met too of the church and so that you can be more in your sweet spot – for why you became ordained and all those things.
Joe Graumann
Yes. Thanks, Jim. And you try. Yes. Now, of course, full disclosure. We got this vote. And a couple of months later, I resigned and took a new call. But I hope and pray that the work that we did to make those goals came to fruition.
Jim Latimer
I’m sure it did, Joe. And that’s how that is right? People move on and all, and you did a really good piece of work for them with that, that I’m sure continues to serve them.
Jim Latimer
Joe, this has been really helpful and inspiring and just good awareness for parishioners and also for us pastors in the role that we play in helping parishioners understand our world. And then we can serve more collaboratively and all that good stuff. So, thanks, Joe, very much for your time and your wisdom and your energies. It’s been great.
Joe Graumann
Bye, Jim.
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