Week 6 Office Work Michael Berens

Week 6
Michael Berens
Thursday, 19, 2009

Office Work

I think the shift in the church was a shift that culture induced. The shift from the seventies to the eighties was a bi product of the increase in communication over the phones. Also people had more of a business mind about church during the eighties and nineties. Recently, another change is brewing. The relational church is on the move. The church still may utilize the phones like they use to, but face-to-face, intimate interaction is what people want. Authenticity does not translate on the phone. People want to know that their pastor is real. I wonder if more pastors will be hired to be conversationalists rather than entrepreneurs.

In an ideal church I would be in the church office about 25 percent of the hours I am required to be in. I feel like my ideal life as a pastor still involves being bi vocational. I would still like to work a job outside of the church. I see this as a means fro getting a paycheck and a way to be connected to the community around the church. Even if the hours only add up to a short percentage of the week, it is still worth it to be involved in something outside of the church office. The other part of the 75 percent of not being in the office will be meeting with people over meals and coffee. I would also like to do a daily community project for the least, last and the lost. It would be a way that I could continually serve rather than just a Saturday to appease my serving quota. Finally the actual 25 percent that I would spend in the office would be to tend the administrative tasks. Phone calls, emails, and preparation for the up coming Sunday would fill the majority of that time. Whatever other time is left goes to creating the church staff family and relationships. It would be about a fifty hour a week commitment between my side job, church business, and relationships.