Pastoring a church is hard work. It is not hard work like digging ditches, mining coal or cutting tobacco, but there is a toil and strain element to pastoring a church that is not found in those other occupations.
The hard work of pastoring includes rigorous thinking as pastors study to exegete a biblical text to prepare a sermon. It requires emotional energy as pastors help church members work through the knotty problems that sin has brought into their lives. It requires mental energy as a pastor gets involved in solving emerging challenges that are connected to a growing church — or worse yet, a church that is in decline.
One of the greatest differences between your church pastor and the average hard-working church member is the spiritual warfare he experiences on a sometimes-daily basis as he tries to lead a church into the harvest field to share the gospel with those who are held captive by the devil.
The old worn-out line that a pastor only works one hour a week — a reference to his Sunday morning preaching — needs to be put out to pasture once and for all in an unceremonious way.
For these and other reasons, there is no place for laziness in the pastorate. A lazy pastor will not work hard at studying, he will not labor in prayer over the needs of the church, he will not strive over the relational work needed to help a church walk in unity and he will certainly not lead a congregation into the spiritual warfare related to taking the gospel to a lost world.
What can a church do if their pastor is lazy? Here are some suggestions:
1. Double-check your diagnosis. It is a serious matter to bring such a charge against a pastor who has been called by God to a ministry assignment. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5:19, “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.” Do not allow yourself or others to level the charge of laziness against your pastor unless you are certain that is the case.
2. Hear his side of the story. Proverbs 18:17 reminds us, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” What may appear to you as laziness could be a different schedule than you are used to from a former pastor. One hard-working pastor I know will take off a couple of hours during a day to spend special time with his family, but he also works six days a week and is found working when others in his church are resting.
3. Have an honest conversation about your concerns. The difficult thing about laziness is that one has to “work” to overcome it and lazy people are work averse. If you are convinced that your pastor is lazy then talk to him about it. Explain your concerns and let him know that laziness is not acceptable for a follower of Christ — much less for a minister of the gospel.
4. Pray for him. Laziness, like all sin, is a spiritual issue first. Many gospel ministers have had to overcome besetting sins to be faithful and effective in Christian ministry. Laziness is no different. Just as many pastors have had to pray for greater sanctification in their compassion toward others, you can pray for this area of your pastor’s life.
5. Take other appropriate action. At some point — if laziness is the true issue and it is not being addressed by the pastor — then other leaders of the church must step in and act. A “Performance Improvement Plan” (or PIP) should be used so that your pastor has fair warning that the church takes this matter seriously and he is being given a chance to correct his error.
Laziness is unacceptable in Christian ministry. Our work is too important, and the mission is too urgent for laziness to be tolerated from those who make their living by the gospel. May the Lord help us to put off laziness and do our work wholeheartedly — as if we are doing it for Jesus Himself.
Dr. Todd Gray 