One of the things I’ve learned in my past 16 months of working as a pastor is that there are a lot of things that can come up in a week! From funerals to small groups to weddings to church work days to a movie night at church, it seems there’s no shortage of events you can attend. As a pastor it can be difficult to know how much work is too much. One of the things I’ve heard is that a pastor should work around the same amount of time as the average person in their congregation. As some push back to that is this blog, ‘How Many Hours Should Pastors Work?‘ Early in the article he says,

Here’s the truth in the advice: pastors should work hard. The pastorate is a place where lazy people can hide. I’ve met some lazy pastors, and they do need a kick in the posterior. And yes, we shouldn’t expect more of others than we ourselves are ready to give. And for some, they will be able to work 50-65 hours and still live healthily. Imposing this advice across the board, however, is less than helpful.

Just so you’re aware, he doesn’t give a solid number. In my experience, a typical week in a church is going to be more than 40 hours, but rarely go over 50. One of the things I try very hard to do is to guard my day off. Right now my day off is Tuesday and I try to keep that day to myself both to get some things done around the house and just spend some time relaxing reading and thinking. I’ve found this to be very helpful to my life as a whole, spiritually emotionally and physically. Removing myself from my regular duties has been necessary for me in my regular life. I encourage those of you who are pastors to do the same.