i admit it, i'm jealous.
right now several pastor types i know are spending thousands of church dollars at a conference, a 'retreat' to recharge and re-envision their ministries (horrible word). i'm jealous.
i follow the antics of a few people in my local town who have churches. it seems they are away more than they are here. sure it's "ministry" time but the fact is, they get to fly somewhere or drive somewhere or experience something the rest of us cannot. usually someone else is paying for it.
blogs these days are full of ministry retreat opportunities, emerging conferences, nights and weeks out and full of interaction. i'm jealous.
the problem is, i remember what it was like. i could argue that i was rarely away, but still enjoyed the freedom and occasional afternoon nap. i got paid to study. i miss it.
i spoke with a pastor a couple weeks ago who is taking his staff with him, spouses included, to a retreat in the interior. the bill for the church is somewhere in the neighborhood of 12,000 bucks. he asked why i was not coming. besides the time off, unpaid that is, the bill would be around 800 dollars, minimum. the club gives pretty much every dime to our orphanage. i pitched the idea of me going to the conference to the club people. we decided it wasn't worth the kids going hungry.
i have nothing against retreats, other than the huge jealousy thing.
i wonder about the extravagance.
i wonder about the sheer volume of days away that pastors get.
i wonder about the last time a pastor around here had a real job.
right now several pastor types i know are spending thousands of church dollars at a conference, a 'retreat' to recharge and re-envision their ministries (horrible word). i'm jealous.
i follow the antics of a few people in my local town who have churches. it seems they are away more than they are here. sure it's "ministry" time but the fact is, they get to fly somewhere or drive somewhere or experience something the rest of us cannot. usually someone else is paying for it.
blogs these days are full of ministry retreat opportunities, emerging conferences, nights and weeks out and full of interaction. i'm jealous.
the problem is, i remember what it was like. i could argue that i was rarely away, but still enjoyed the freedom and occasional afternoon nap. i got paid to study. i miss it.
i spoke with a pastor a couple weeks ago who is taking his staff with him, spouses included, to a retreat in the interior. the bill for the church is somewhere in the neighborhood of 12,000 bucks. he asked why i was not coming. besides the time off, unpaid that is, the bill would be around 800 dollars, minimum. the club gives pretty much every dime to our orphanage. i pitched the idea of me going to the conference to the club people. we decided it wasn't worth the kids going hungry.
i have nothing against retreats, other than the huge jealousy thing.
i wonder about the extravagance.
i wonder about the sheer volume of days away that pastors get.
i wonder about the last time a pastor around here had a real job.
posted by Scott at 1/22/2009
5 Comments:
guilt was more what I felt going on those "junketts". I remember skipping a breakfast buffet that was being paid by the church. we had 10min to eat and it cost $14.95 (in 2001). One pastor said to me, "who cares, the church is paying for it." Bingo...
ooooooooooops this week I am preparing to go on retreat -125$ for a week at a winterized (I trust!) camp on a lake - some teaching and then 3 days of absolute silence except perhaps for the odd kachink of a spoon against the rim of a cup - it is a bring your own sheets and pillow place - the one criteria is to leave your name tag at home .......I'm actually looking forward to it - while there, I will think of the warm bread you serve ........
I must be in the wrong part of church land. I know little of the life away from ministry that you speak of. I'm always here. And glad to be.
Yes, I'm going to a Study Conference next week organized by my denomination. But this happens ONCE a year. And it's a good time of learning, connecting, beer drinking, and sleeping.
(Un)fortunately, my congregation keeps a tight leash on me. I have to justify every trip, expense, cost, etc.
But then again, I wouldn't have it any other way. Some pastors feel entitled to the trips, conferences, study opportunities, etc, forgetting that it's peoples' hard won offerings that pay for it.
kgp
For me, watching these men and women go off in gaggles to 'encourage' and 'motivate' each other just makes me feel more isolated and on the fringes.
But it's all very clubby and if you don't have the dosh or the credentials, you're left out. Even though in my corner of town, there's nothing they do that I don't. Except get paid.
I'm not so much jealous as lonely, sometimes.
I don't know, man... I get a couple weeks vacation a year and paid time at Christmas; just a regular working shmuck trying to keep the family housed and fed. Why can't pastors just do the same as the rest of us... paying their own way and using their own time off for stuff like this? It's never made sense to me.
I can understand paying for work related training, but really... no business would shell out the amount that most churches do to ferry their leaders/managers from workshop to seminar all across the continent. Especially not 2 or 3 (or more) times a year.
Granted, most of the churches I've been part of could hardly scrape together gas money for a 4 hour around trip, so I'm really speaking as an outside observer.
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