Response to “Why Most Pastors Aren’t Answering Your Phone Calls”

On one of my favorite blogs, Internetmonk, there was recently an article responding to another article on Christianity Today called, “Why Most Pastors Aren’t Answering Your Phone Calls.” You can find the response by Internetmonk here. The original article was a not-well-done justification by a pastor on why pastors do not immediately return telephone calls. Chaplain Mike responded to the article with some well selected thoughts, summarizing his opinion with the following words:

I don’t think this is one of those black & white, unambiguous issues. I have made my position clear on many occasions. Anyone who carries the name “pastor” is charged with the spiritual care of people. No one who neglects personal ministry to others in favor of “running a church” or preparing messages or giving “leadership” is worthy of the name pastor.

But, I found myself wanting to add some additional words, so I made the following comment, which I leave with you:

I am one of those pastors who works full-time. I work at a VA Medical Center. I also have temporary care of a small parish that, sadly, is headed toward disappearing unless younger couples start coming. And, I find that I just do not have the time to “pastor” in the way in which some rather idealistic, but misguided, people would wish me to pastor.

By medical center rule, I am not supposed to answer my personal cell phone while on duty, so I do not. I have found the hard way that if I break the rule, then promptly folk begin to call me during my on-duty time and get upset if I do not respond. This is not fair to the people who are paying 95% of the money on which I live nor to those with whom I work at the medical center. Does this mean that sometimes I may miss an “emergency” call? Yes, it does, but Jesus was right when he said that it is not really possible to be faithful to two masters. Any pastor who works full-time at another employment has two masters, which is not a good situation. But, many times this is necessary because the very sheep that are being pastored are not capable of supporting a full-time pastor.

So, why not be faithful to the sheep that I pastor? When I read that type of response, I see a misunderstanding. It is the same misunderstanding against which pastors began to speak in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In various denominations, this was also the time that minimum pastoral stipends began to be the rule. The misunderstanding is that the pastor is essentially placed in the position of having to apologize for not pastoring enough, for wanting time with his family, for wanting time for himself, and for wanting a basic living wage. This is misusing the concept of service and washing the feet of those you pastor in order to put the pastor in a headlock of guilt.

The pastoral relationship then becomes a one-sided relationship in which the sheep control the shepherd by shaming him out of a basic living wage, out of time with his family, out of time with himself, and out of time for almost anything else. It is noteworthy that the Gospels record a couple of instances in which Jesus left even his apostles behind and said that he needed to be by himself for a bit.

I know too many pastors who have no hobby and no life outside of their congregational situation. I know too many congregations that would think that this is appropriate, that they have “hired” a 24/7/365 person who should lay everything down whenever someone believes that they “need” something. It is noteworthy here that Jesus, himself, refused to go to Lazarus on Martha and Mary’s timing, but went on his own timing. It is absolutely true that He knew that there was going to be a resurrection, but it is also clear that Mary and Martha were quite disappointed. “Lord, he would not have died if you had been here.” Every pastor faces an occasion like this sometime in their ministry, and should not feel the need to apologize unless their decision was clearly and badly made.

I agree with Pastor Mike that this is not a black and white issue. I also agree that the pastor who wrote the article could certainly have written it better, as he leaves out much of the passion, and even pain, that is involved in the pastoral life and that finally leads to the realization that you have to have some personal rules to guard against burnout. Had the author put some of that in, his points might have come across in a more understandable-to-the-non-pastor manner.