The seven “major concerns” for a pastor are areas, aside from godliness and family, that seem to me most important for today’s pastor. Here are some major attached after going through these concerns one-on-one with almost 150 pastors and many more in group meetings. See papers on my website* if you wish.
1. Personal schedule
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- Do I have a personal “master schedule” that is my best approach to a normal week?
- Do I really follow it most weeks, unless interrupted by tragedy, or family need — not just whim?
- Do I schedule and give enough time for a good expositional and personal sermon?
- Does my schedule include a weekly “date” with my wife? Time with children? At least fives times for exercise?
- An “open breakfast” meeting where a group of men can review the past sermon with me and I can get to know them, and they each other?
- Times with staff, board chair, others who serve? Are shut-ins cared for?
- Do I write thank-you notes Monday mornings?
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2. Staff and volunteers
Are all the thirty areas of church life — okay, most of them — covered for
thought or prayer or vision by someone on paid staff? If the pastor is the only one on staff, covered by him?
If there is multiple staff, do specialists like a youth pastor have also two or three other areas in their “assignment folder” so they think or pray or read about those areas, even if nothing is happening yet? For instance, if there is no sports program, that may be ne for the time being, but someone on staff should have it as an area of reading or thinking or praying or envisioning.
And — equally important! — do all of the areas that have something going on have a volunteer ministry manager, who carries out a lot of the details from the vision given by the staff member? This is the way it works best.
Do you remember what MBWA means and how it helps?
3. Board
Have you adopted exactly what the board does and what the staff does? If they fare the same, you are wasting someone’s time. Or asking for conflict.
Have you thought through if term limits would be a good thing for your board members?
Have you considered the “soccer eld” approach where the board handles the oversight of the church and gives the player/coach, the senior pastor, the team to play on the field within the boundaries (foundations, resources, guidelines, goals)?
Do you have a discipleship program to help develop new members of the
board? Does everyone on staff have it as a requirement to have five or six men or five or six women in a true discipleship-accountability group?
Do you have a board covenant that everyone signs every new year?
Do you have a clear way that people are approved by the congregation to be board members? A good number for the board – usually 5–9?
Have you studied why it seems best for only the senior pastor and not other staff to be a member of the board? Do you make decisions before 9:00 pm?
Do the pastor and the board chairman have a clear way to plan on the agenda and to work out any differences before that item hits the board?
4. Love
This is the only subjective area of the seven major concerns. Is it a priority for the pastor and the staff? Are you carrying out the clear objective ways of showing love to the people?
5. Worship services and sermons
Is there a strong and good system for planning the services? Is there a general theme?
Does the pastor have as much input as he wishes?
Are the services and sermons geared for a response? Is there a plan for that ?
Do you stay within a consistent time limit?
Has anyone who knows better critiqued or analyzed one of your sermons recently? Was it specific about both content and delivery?
Do you have a good way to plan future sermons? Are you preaching “the whole counsel of God”?
6. Groups
Are at least half of your average worship attendance people in a community or life group?
Do you make a difference between community or life groups of mixed gender and true discipleship groups of 5 to 6 men or 5 to 6 women?
Do your community or home or life groups meet at least twice a month? Do they have their own choice of times to meet? Do they continue in the summer and also stay together for as long as they like, or do you have to start over every year?
Does the group have a care leader so that your pastoral care in general is pushed down to the groups where they attend, people that know them? Is the main facilitator or teacher different from the host?
Is it essential for members of staff to have a clear discipleship-accountability group?
7. Values
Are they simple and memorable, and biblical, so that all staff knows them and so do the regular attenders? (This as opposed to a long list that is not remembered by anybody.)
Do you renew them or remind the people every six weeks or so on Sunday mornings?
Why do you have them? Do you really follow them as you make decisions? Does the board really own them?
Do you keep this simple or have a whole list of values and another list of purposes and another whole mission statement? Often there are many of these and few know them or pay attention