Randi Meyer
Tuesday 2/10/09
5. Hours Worked in Ministry

Grant United Methodist Church
Pastor Constance Cherry

1) Study: 7-8 hours; actually writing 5-6 hours (total sermon time: 15-17 hours)
2) Administrative/Office: 10-15 hours
3) Services: 5 hours in actual services for a small church (worship service, Sunday school, prayer group, bible study) 3-4 hours of preparation for services (not including sermon).
4) People (meetings, pastoral care and counseling, visiting): 10 hours
5) Community Work/Outreach/Service: 1-2 hours average weekly for entire year because it is more sporadic.
6) Personal Study Time: Includes with sermon preparation – goes over same material for personal study.

Observations:
1) When you add up all the hours it ends up that you work more than 40 hours. I don’t think on realizes how busy they can be working in a church.
2) I had a discussion with Pastor Connie about including her sermon preparation in her personal study time. Some believe that it is not wise to do this. But by listening to her and through my own experience, I have realized that personally one should wrestle with the scripture in their personal life too. Do we really need to place these in separate compartments in our lives? I believe a sermon needs some intellectual time, but also personal time too.