Week 6: Office Work>>>Trenton Prieshoff

Sometimes I wonder if the development of "office work" was simply to help pastors feel like they have normal jobs. I'm being sarcastic in saying that, but my feeling is that this change is not for the best. Having worked in a church office, I personally feel like it is easy to hide from "calling on people" by hiding behind office hours. I realize others may not have that problem, but the placement in an office carries with it certain obligations which make it easy to feel that you are not free to be with people or free to do other parts of your duties.

The administrative work done in the office is necessary, but I feel the shift with office work is not a mere changing of titles. The shift is diluting the role of the minister from being a very spiritual position by divine appointment to being just another office job with a different product.

In an ideal world...I would want to spend my week in church work between studying and having lunches and other meetings with students to teach and counsel. Like David said, I am planning on most likely being bi-vocational and spending only a few days a week in the office for meeting with the other staff and to use the resources of the church which I can't access from home though, I wouldn't anticipate spending time at home either. I feel I do studying best in coffee shops and restaurants where there are people around but aren't particularly distracting. That is how my pastor does most of his preparation during the week.