Pastors need to be reasonably accessible to their members …

Pastors are some of the hardest working people I know, which is why the myth some people believe about pastors working just one day a week is a sad misunderstanding of the real labor church leaders put forth every week.

HOWEVER …

Some pastors feed such myths by making themselves almost completely inaccessible to their members, or just about anyone.

I’m one of the first to encourage pastors to protect how they allot their time, especially protecting blocks of time for study, prayer, and sermon preparation, but over the last few years, I’ve seen several pastors become all but impossible to make contact with.

Not only is that inappropriate, if you’re shunning the people you serve, you’re not properly doing your job. You cannot adequately serve or lead people you won’t allow contact with!

In trying to contact one pastor, his “gatekeeper” (administrative assistant) wouldn’t even take a message for me or allow me to leave a voicemail, but told me to send an email to the minister. Apparently he only allowed contact through email, just as if you were trying to contact a customer service department with a major tech company who only provides an email address and then they decide how — or if — they will respond to you.

Just this past week I tried reaching a pastor about a counseling client I was sending his way who would likely become a new member of that church. I could never get him on the phone, and he never returned my calls. On another occasion, after spending time teaching the Gospel to a person (in a different part of the state) who embraced it and surrendered her life to Christ, she needed to be baptized (was ready and wanting to do so), to be discipled and taken into a church family. So I called a half dozen pastors I knew in that city, left detailed voicemails and also sent detailed emails. Only one pastor left a voicemail for me saying to give her his number and have her call him! Fortunately, I knew someone else who led a house church and he baptized the person, brought her into fellowship with that group of Christians, and saw to it her discipleship was started.

The other five pastors never responded.

These are just a few real examples of how some pastors are remaining aloof from members and others — too much so! What could be more important than baptizing a new believer or taking in new disciples of Christ or those who wandered off and now are repenting and returning?

Just what is keeping these pastors from the most basic work of pastoring?

Again, I will be the FIRST to support pastors guarding their time, but to be completely unavailable, unreachable, and make no response to the most basic responsibilities of a minister of the Gospel is really inappropriate. I support ministers having “gatekeepers,” protecting their time, and having systems in place where people might leave a message that will be returned, but to never return a call or email and make no effort to be accessible is to shut yourself off from people you must have contact with to do your job.

I am not saying that pastors must take all calls when they come in, or immediately respond to every email. I am saying to never return calls when voicemails are left, or respond to email, is to not do your job of interacting with people as a pastor.

Pastors, guard your time well, but also use your time to engage with those you’re appointed as a servant leader over, and others who have good reason to connect with you and the church you lead. Failing to provide reasonable access to yourself will only cause people to wonder just what you’re spending your time doing.

Scotty