AMBITION, EXCELLENCE & SUCCESS
Modern notions of ambition,
excellence, and success are very slippery indeed. They assume you’re ‘more OK’
if you ‘get to the top’ than those not-so-OK who don’t. ‘Ambition’ comes from
the Latin ‘ambire’ = to go around (canvassing for votes). It’s what politicians
do. It’s the massaging of one’s ego by power or adulation. It’s loving
something other than the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. It’s
a preoccupation with my destiny rather than the pain of my sister or brother. It’s a desire to surpass others, to
have more than they have, to be more than they are – ie. to be more like the
devil than Jesus.
Our business in life is not
to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves. Selfish ambition
produces chronic anxiety, so ‘anxiety reduction’ is big business today. Often
people with the most talent, money or power have the most anxiety. (That’s one
difference between the poor and the rich: the poor think money will buy
happiness; the rich know better). The overly ambitious use power for their own
ends, often unconsciously engaging in ‘power games’ – repeating gossip (‘for
your prayers’ of course), withholding information, discouraging others, etc.
James 4:1,2 gives the reason – jealousy.
We’ve been seduced into
thinking that, properly-organized, life can be trouble-free. Psychotherapist M.
Scott Peck (The Road Less Travelled) says our society doesn’t believe
life should be difficult, or that solving problems gives life meaning. Neurosis
is always a substitute for legitimate suffering (Jung). But Jesus promised
constant trouble and constant joy (because of his constant presence).
Godly ambition, for Paul,
meant three things: 1. Pleasing Christ (2 Corinthians 5:9). If you love someone
(self, Christ, another) you’ll want to please that one. The ‘American 5-star
system’ (success, prestige, money, power, security) is essentially
self-pleasing. Christ did not please himself (Romans 15:3). 2. Proclaiming
Christ (Romans 15:20). We do that by what we are, what we say, and what we do:
these must all be congruent. ‘A Christian is someone who’s met one’. 3.
Portraying Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12) – by ‘living quietly and calmly’
(you can’t do that if ambition is self-centred).
Serenity is a function of
contemplation – allowing the Word to descend from the mind to the heart, so
that we move from opaqueness to transparency (Henri Nouwen, Clowning in Rome).
Here’s another slippery
idea. Maximizing your effectiveness, developing and using your talents to the
full, being useful as well as decorative is alright, but for whose glory? A
brilliant life for the glory of self is a wasted life. An obscure life
ministering to enhance that of others is eternally successful. Arthur Miller
says of Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman, ‘He is writing his
name in a block of ice on a hot day’. ‘Do you seek great things for yourself?
Seek them not’ was the Lord’s word to Baruch (Jeremiah 45:5).
Chuck Colson says he read
the Bible through three times and couldn’t find ‘God helps those who help
themselves’. On the other hand, as Anthony Campolo put it so well, ‘two dangers
threaten the survival of Christendom. The one is mediocrity; the other is
success…’ Mediocrity, he says, has come to characterize the behaviour of most
people in most institutions. ‘They live out their Christian commitment in a
mediocre fashion within the context of churches that have mediocre programs…
Holiness is excellence, so there is no excuse for mediocrity. Success is
worldly, so there is no excuse for Christians pursuing it’. (Forward toChristian
Excellence: Alternative to Success, by Jon Johnston, Baker, 1985).
The species ‘pastor’ does
not easily survive either success or failure. We (Western) humans have an
inordinate need to demonstrate our worth by performance. We strive to be
luminaries, rather than letting our light shine. We are what we do and achieve.
And we have an insatiable appetite for approval: much of the way we behave is a
veiled means of soliciting compliments. Paul Tournier decribes a universal
comedy of innumerable individuals all motivated by the intense desire to appear
in the best possible light. ‘They are always on the watch, lest their
weaknesses, their faults, their ignorance be discovered; anxious to distinguish
themelves, to be noticed, to be admired, to be commiserated with. Some do it
openly and naively, and are considered vain. Others hide it better, but are no
less vain… The people who fail are those who try hardest to succeed.’ Success
and/or failure may produce spiritual health – or they may not. As Kipling said,
they’re both imposters. Winning isn’t everything; we need the faith to face
failure: ‘When I am weak, then I am strong’. I can do all things – even fail –
through Christ who strengthens me. How can we learn to make weakness a source of creativity (see Nouwen’s Creative
Ministry)? Sometimes we give the impression we’ve ‘got it all together’; or
‘victorious Christian life’ preaching leaves strugglers in confusion and
despair.
The Puritans preached that
‘success’ results from God’s blessing, or God’s testing, or God’s abandonment and
judgment, or the devil’s seduction. Only one in four was God’s prospering. Does
the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) teach success as a correlate of
faithfulness? Peter Wagner: ‘Why were the two servants who put their talents to
work faithful, and the one who did not unfaithful? Very simply, because they
were successful’. Orlando Costas disagrees: ‘The point of the parable is not
the money they made, but the fact that they did not hide it away. They were
faithful not because they were successful (made money), but because they
faithfully put to work the resources the Master entrusted to them’.
The ‘possibility thinking’
movement does offer some wisdom: ‘You may not be what you think you are, but
what you think, you are!’ (Sports stars talk about ‘imaging’). ‘I don’t know
the secret of success, but I do know the secret of failure – try to please
everybody’. ‘Success is not permanent. The same is also true of failure’. ‘The
biggest reward for a thing well done is to have done it’. ‘Mistakes are to life
what shadows are to light’. Albert Einstein’s formula for success: ‘X+Y+Z where
X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut!’ Charles Dickens’ secret:
‘I bestow on the least thing I undertake the same attention and care I bestow
on the greatest’. Here’s one I don’t like: ‘The haves and have-nots can often
be traced back to the dids and did-nots’. That’s not true in half the world…
Hope and optimism are not
the same. ‘Hope is humble, trustful, vulnerable. Optimism is arrogant, brash,
complacent. Hope has known the pang of suffering and the chill of despair. Only
one who has cried de profundis can really appreciate the meaning of hope.
Optimism has not faced the enormity of evil… What drives some to atheism is not
a genuinely biblical hope but an insensitive optimism masquerading as such
hope’. Perhaps John Macquarrie could have extended this idea to God’s being
with us in all our times and testings – when we abound, and when we are abased.
Success is never
permanently satisfying: God hasn’t made us that way. We’re not to settle down
here permanently – not even on the top of a mountain. (Looking down on others isn’t helpful
spiritually; and you expend a lot of negative energy excluding others from the
peak).
The reward/prize is offered
in the next life, said Jesus and Paul: in this, our badge of office is a towel,
serving others rather than dominating them. Life is most enjoyable when
serendipitous. Satisfaction is in the journeying, rather than the arriving.
Even in heaven we keep on discovering things, growing, says C S Lewis.
The saints have a
well-developed ‘theology of gratitude’. Their God has another name –
‘Surprise’.
‘We must make sure’, says W
A Visser’t Hooft, ‘that we do not decide that we shall succeed. If we decide to
succeed than we may succeed without succeeding in God’s way. But if we go on
from day to day seeking to do his will then we shall be prepared to receive
success from him if he wills it; and if he does not, then humbly to say: it is
God’s decision that David shall not build the temple, but he will raise up
Solomon’. A.W. Tozer: ‘God may allow his servant to succeed when he has
disciplined him or her to a point where success is not necessary for happiness.
The one elated by success and cast down by failure is still a carnal person’.
* Never ignore the
Prophetic vs. Institutional tension. Walter Brueggemann (The Prophetic
Imagination) says Judaeo-Christian communities face ‘Mosaic vs. Solomonic’,
prophetic vs. kingly, alternative vs. ‘dominant community’ tensions. Prophets
nurture, nourish, and evoke an alternative consciousness to that of the
dominant culture, which espouses a religion of static triumphalism and politics
of oppression and exploitation. Prophets do theology from below, the royal
consciousness from above. The community of Jesus surrenders power to energize
others; kings can’t do that and remain kings. Prophets dismantle, kings manage.
Jesus the Messiah comes to destroy principalities and powers (‘royal
confiscation’). (Herod and Pilate, not Jesus, are on trial). In this process
pathos and amazement, suffering and singing, death and hope, suffering and
doxology, weeping and joy, groaning and dancing are counterpointed.
* ‘Church Growth’ ideas
produce ‘winners/losers’ among evangelical pastors. ‘The Lord wants lost people
found and the church to grow… and the pastor is the key’ produces frustration
and guilt in many. ‘Numerolatry’ or ‘remnantism’ – growth for the glory of the
church (the ‘edifice complex’) or non-growth as an index of supposed
‘faithfulness’ – are both bad. The ‘homogeneous unit principle’ (aim for people
and pastors ‘like us’) may produce ecclesiastical apartheid, country clubs.
Moltmann (The Crucified
God) says the church of the crucified Christ has ‘solidarity with the
alien, creative love the for the “different”‘. Very few churches both grow
rapidly and prophetically at the same time. Large institutions tend towards
culture affirmation rather than the transformation of culture. ‘An increase in
the size and financial affluence of a congregation is a handy measure of
something, but it may not measure spiritual success. Indeed, the ‘successful’
church may not be serving God’s purposes at all; it may be serving the purposes
of human egocentricity’ (John Sanford, Ministry Burnout). Church
growth may worship the ‘god of the impersonal calculation’ (Fromm) asking ‘what
works?’ rather than ‘what is truth?’ (How many sermons or songs do these
churches have on biblical ideas of social justice?).
The New Testament has
little emphasis on a self-conscious strategy for church growth. Growth was
celebrated rather than planned. The apostles ‘persuaded’ rather than ‘propagandized’.
Church growth is a sign, not an instrument of mission, so aim for ‘church
health’ rather than ‘church growth’: living organisms grow anyway. The vision
of the church in James, Peter and the Revelation is of a suffering, patient,
scattered people who are encouraged to face the hostility of the world without losing hope. In the church of the
crucified Lord, one’s esteem should not be a function of ‘better’ or ‘smarter’
or ‘bigger’. The only valid comparison is not between me and others, but
between my actual and potential. ‘Effectiveness’ – the appropriate embodiment
of faithfulness in given human contexts – is a better idea.
Conclusion: How can we sort
out our motives here? First, ask honestly in your prayer, What is my desire?
What do I think I need in addition to the Lord to be ‘fulfilled’? Why do I need
those things? Then, having written down the answers to these questions, talk
them over with a trusted friend or spiritual director.
Ignatius Loyola founded the
Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. It was his life-work, the fulfilment of a
consuming amibition. He was once asked how he’d feel if the Pope suppressed the
Society. ‘A quarter of an hour of prayer’, he replied, ‘and I would think no
more of it’. He’d cultivated a sublime indifference to temporal success or
failure. The one thing that mattered was that Christ was honoured.
The key to the whole
business is in a little chorus we used to sing: ‘Have I done my very best for
Jesus?’ In the end, says C.S. Lewis there will be just two kinds of people –
those who say to God ‘thy will be done’ and enter into the joy of their Lord,
and those to whom God says ‘thy will be done’ and sink deeper and deeper back
in the chaos.
~~
I was brought up by good Christian parents to believe
that work was good, laziness was bad, and that sanctity is measured
by omnipresence at church meetings.
~~
TIME MANAGEMENT
I was brought up by good Christian parents to believe
that work was good, laziness was bad, and that sanctity is measured
by omnipresence at church meetings.
Once or twice in sermons I
remember someone quoting
the words from the old clock in Chichester cathedral:
the words from the old clock in Chichester cathedral:
‘When as a child I laughed
and wept, time crept.
When as a youth I dreamed and talked, time walked.
When as a youth I dreamed and talked, time walked.
When I became a full-grown
man, time ran. And later
as I older grew, time flew. Soon, I shall find while travelling
on, time gone!
as I older grew, time flew. Soon, I shall find while travelling
on, time gone!
Will Christ have saved my
soul by then?’
Someone else calculated
that we would answer to God
for every second of the 613,620 hours we were allotted in our
threescore and ten years, and we must make these seconds ‘count
for God’.
for every second of the 613,620 hours we were allotted in our
threescore and ten years, and we must make these seconds ‘count
for God’.
As a student-pastor in my
first church (Narwee Baptist
in Sydney) I tried to fulfil this sort of calling. One November
I sat for thirteen 3-hour exams. There were two sermons most weeks,
Bible studies to be led, parishioners to be visited, new ministries
to develop (the missionary giving increased 2000%), two persons
were added to the church staff, I lectured at various times in
two Bible Colleges, drove a taxi once a week to pay university
fees, played sport every Saturday (and at other times) and led
beach missions in holidays. (And I was married with two small
children). Crazy!
in Sydney) I tried to fulfil this sort of calling. One November
I sat for thirteen 3-hour exams. There were two sermons most weeks,
Bible studies to be led, parishioners to be visited, new ministries
to develop (the missionary giving increased 2000%), two persons
were added to the church staff, I lectured at various times in
two Bible Colleges, drove a taxi once a week to pay university
fees, played sport every Saturday (and at other times) and led
beach missions in holidays. (And I was married with two small
children). Crazy!
In my first ‘full-time’(!)
pastorate – Blackburn
Baptist Church, Victoria – we had, at one stage, 25 people drawing
salaries. In my first year there I finished off a Masters’ degree,
completed a B.D. after five years and said ‘yes’ to too many interesting
committees.
Baptist Church, Victoria – we had, at one stage, 25 people drawing
salaries. In my first year there I finished off a Masters’ degree,
completed a B.D. after five years and said ‘yes’ to too many interesting
committees.
I enjoyed doing several
things at once. Often on
long walks I listened to a ‘walkaround’ radio/cassette clipped
to my belt, carried a sheaf of letters and dictaphone, and had
a small book in my pocket. (I there learned the ‘art’ of reading
while walking).
long walks I listened to a ‘walkaround’ radio/cassette clipped
to my belt, carried a sheaf of letters and dictaphone, and had
a small book in my pocket. (I there learned the ‘art’ of reading
while walking).
Biblical scholar A.S. Peake
used to like the story
of the American author who wrote one article with his right hand,
another with his left, dictated a third to his secretary, and
in order to lose no time, rocked the cradle with his foot. Peake
said his own life ‘is like that of an acrobat, who has always
one ball in his hand and five in the air’. He paid for his timeaholism
- when he was sixty he was an over-tired man.
of the American author who wrote one article with his right hand,
another with his left, dictated a third to his secretary, and
in order to lose no time, rocked the cradle with his foot. Peake
said his own life ‘is like that of an acrobat, who has always
one ball in his hand and five in the air’. He paid for his timeaholism
- when he was sixty he was an over-tired man.
The first step in my ‘cure’
came when our teenage
son complained that while I might be home more than some busy
fathers, my ‘head was mostly somewhere else’. He noted that when
the telephone rang, a parishioner’s demands overrode those of
the family and wondered why.
son complained that while I might be home more than some busy
fathers, my ‘head was mostly somewhere else’. He noted that when
the telephone rang, a parishioner’s demands overrode those of
the family and wondered why.
Then a difficult pastoral
experience in Canada encouraged
a total overhaul of my priorities. I saw how my work-ethic had
spilt over into workaholism. My self-esteem had been too much
identified with what I was doing instead of how I was as a son
of the Father.
a total overhaul of my priorities. I saw how my work-ethic had
spilt over into workaholism. My self-esteem had been too much
identified with what I was doing instead of how I was as a son
of the Father.
I dropped out and spent the
most ‘productive’ year
of my life, reading some spiritual classics. I learned to read
Scripture with my heart, rather than just my head. The Cloud of
Unknowing – a chapter a day – nourished my spirit for many months.
I learned, existentially, what I had been preaching – that life
does not consist in the abundance of one’s achievements.
of my life, reading some spiritual classics. I learned to read
Scripture with my heart, rather than just my head. The Cloud of
Unknowing – a chapter a day – nourished my spirit for many months.
I learned, existentially, what I had been preaching – that life
does not consist in the abundance of one’s achievements.
WHAT IS TIME?
Augustine said, ‘If nobody
asks me what time is,
I know; if I want to explain it to anyone who asks me, I am at
a loss’.
I know; if I want to explain it to anyone who asks me, I am at
a loss’.
The New Testament suggests
three ways of understanding
time: ‘chronos’ (measurable, quantitative time), ‘kairos’ (‘timeliness’)
and ‘aion’ (time-limited and time-unlimited). None of these is
abstract: but though we are ‘exiles in time’ we also possess ‘eternal’
life here-and-now.
time: ‘chronos’ (measurable, quantitative time), ‘kairos’ (‘timeliness’)
and ‘aion’ (time-limited and time-unlimited). None of these is
abstract: but though we are ‘exiles in time’ we also possess ‘eternal’
life here-and-now.
Unfortunately, we have done
to time what we have
done to nature: obeyed only half the Creator’s injunctions. We
have tried to ‘subdue’ it (as in the time-management courses)
rather than be ‘replenished’ by it.
done to nature: obeyed only half the Creator’s injunctions. We
have tried to ‘subdue’ it (as in the time-management courses)
rather than be ‘replenished’ by it.
An adequate Christian
understanding of time ought
to be redemptive rather than exploitative. Our lives ought not
to be measured by either their duration or accomplishments. The
Puritan ethic (‘work is good and pleasure is bad’) and hedonism
(‘pleasure is good, work is bad’) are both wrong.
to be redemptive rather than exploitative. Our lives ought not
to be measured by either their duration or accomplishments. The
Puritan ethic (‘work is good and pleasure is bad’) and hedonism
(‘pleasure is good, work is bad’) are both wrong.
‘Managerial’ approaches to
time are espoused by institution-captives.
And most ‘mystical’ or contemplative understandings emanate from
institution-celibates. They may suffer either from unholy involvement,
or else other-worldly withdrawal.
And most ‘mystical’ or contemplative understandings emanate from
institution-celibates. They may suffer either from unholy involvement,
or else other-worldly withdrawal.
BOTH-AND
How then can managers – out
in the ‘real’ world -
and pastors, with the many competing demands on their time, work
both effectively and serenely?
and pastors, with the many competing demands on their time, work
both effectively and serenely?
I believe we need both
managerial and mystical, hard
and soft, ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, Western and Eastern, approaches
to time usage. With God’s help, we can learn both to ‘master’
time and also ‘submit’ to it.
and soft, ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, Western and Eastern, approaches
to time usage. With God’s help, we can learn both to ‘master’
time and also ‘submit’ to it.
If
‘how-to-get-more-done-in-less-time’ is our only
concern, the clock will become a tyrannical master. Perhaps we
should learn to ‘waste’ time regularly as well as ‘spend’ it.
After all, when we are with a lover or close friend we may not
have a conscious agenda at all. Pastors and others in the helping
professions will ‘spend’ hours of their precious time with those
in need. We only deliberately ‘waste’ time with those we love:
it is the purest sign that we love someone if we choose to be
in their presence when we could be doing something more ‘constructive’.
(Maybe this is why pastors of growing churches or managers of
large corporations generally do not make good contemplatives,
and vice-versa). TIME-MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR PASTORS
concern, the clock will become a tyrannical master. Perhaps we
should learn to ‘waste’ time regularly as well as ‘spend’ it.
After all, when we are with a lover or close friend we may not
have a conscious agenda at all. Pastors and others in the helping
professions will ‘spend’ hours of their precious time with those
in need. We only deliberately ‘waste’ time with those we love:
it is the purest sign that we love someone if we choose to be
in their presence when we could be doing something more ‘constructive’.
(Maybe this is why pastors of growing churches or managers of
large corporations generally do not make good contemplatives,
and vice-versa). TIME-MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR PASTORS
Pastors have more
‘discretionary time’ than any other
group, but surveys show they have great hassles with time-management.
They spend too much time doing secondary things.
group, but surveys show they have great hassles with time-management.
They spend too much time doing secondary things.
If a pastor or priest is
committed to the idea of
the ministry of the whole church, they will need to educate their
people regarding biblical priorities for them and their flock.
For example, the only text in the New Testament about caring visitation
says all those whole religion is ‘pure and genuine’ should be
doing it (James 1:27). The pastor-teacher equips people for such
ministries, so he or she must be rigorous about training and delegation.
the ministry of the whole church, they will need to educate their
people regarding biblical priorities for them and their flock.
For example, the only text in the New Testament about caring visitation
says all those whole religion is ‘pure and genuine’ should be
doing it (James 1:27). The pastor-teacher equips people for such
ministries, so he or she must be rigorous about training and delegation.
And briefly, some other
ideas: * Multiply the effectiveness
of preaching/teaching by encouraging lay persons to read spiritual
books and articles. Overheat the photocopier! * Have people -
newly-arrived with older members of the congregation – to the
manse or rectory in groups. They will meet each other, and will
be gratified to be invited to your home. * Take Wednesday or Thursday
off, not Monday. Do light work on Mondays. And remember – you
are not called to work harder than your Creator! * Get a dictaphone
and a secretary (a volunteer if necessary). * Take lay leaders
with you as you visit and counsel some of your people (in non-confidential
situations). On-the-job training is not a high priority with many
pastors for some reason. * Put in a telephone-answering machine
for prayer, counselling and family-times. * Print out a sermon
each week or month: people will give these away to friends. *
Learn word-processing. * For intensive study of a chapter or articles,
photocopy and then mark it rather than taking summary-notes. *
Listen to cassettes of conferences you should say ‘no’ to attending.
* Use a month-at-a-glance diary to check that your program is
in balance. * Pray/counsel/encourage by phone, as well as face-to-face.
* Don’t be a victim of ‘in-basket time management’, simply doing
whatever comes along. You are called to ‘make it happen’. As a
pastor, you are the leader of those who are in a sense your ‘employers’
- both leader and servant. You will never escape that role-conflict.
of preaching/teaching by encouraging lay persons to read spiritual
books and articles. Overheat the photocopier! * Have people -
newly-arrived with older members of the congregation – to the
manse or rectory in groups. They will meet each other, and will
be gratified to be invited to your home. * Take Wednesday or Thursday
off, not Monday. Do light work on Mondays. And remember – you
are not called to work harder than your Creator! * Get a dictaphone
and a secretary (a volunteer if necessary). * Take lay leaders
with you as you visit and counsel some of your people (in non-confidential
situations). On-the-job training is not a high priority with many
pastors for some reason. * Put in a telephone-answering machine
for prayer, counselling and family-times. * Print out a sermon
each week or month: people will give these away to friends. *
Learn word-processing. * For intensive study of a chapter or articles,
photocopy and then mark it rather than taking summary-notes. *
Listen to cassettes of conferences you should say ‘no’ to attending.
* Use a month-at-a-glance diary to check that your program is
in balance. * Pray/counsel/encourage by phone, as well as face-to-face.
* Don’t be a victim of ‘in-basket time management’, simply doing
whatever comes along. You are called to ‘make it happen’. As a
pastor, you are the leader of those who are in a sense your ‘employers’
- both leader and servant. You will never escape that role-conflict.
TIME-MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR
PASTORS
Pastors have more
‘discretionary time’ than any other
group, but surveys show they have great hassles with time-management.
They spend too much time doing secondary things.
group, but surveys show they have great hassles with time-management.
They spend too much time doing secondary things.
If a pastor or priest is
committed to the idea of
the ministry of the whole church, they will need to educate their
people regarding biblical priorities for them and their flock.
For example, the only text in the New Testament about caring visitation
says all those whole religion is ‘pure and genuine’ should be
doing it (James 1:27). The pastor-teacher equips people for such
ministries, so he or she must be rigorous about training and delegation.
the ministry of the whole church, they will need to educate their
people regarding biblical priorities for them and their flock.
For example, the only text in the New Testament about caring visitation
says all those whole religion is ‘pure and genuine’ should be
doing it (James 1:27). The pastor-teacher equips people for such
ministries, so he or she must be rigorous about training and delegation.
And briefly, some other
ideas: * Multiply the effectiveness
of preaching/teaching by encouraging lay persons to read spiritual
books and articles. Overheat the photocopier! * Have people -
newly-arrived with older members of the congregation – to the
manse or rectory in groups. They will meet each other, and will
be gratified to be invited to your home. * Take Wednesday or Thursday
off, not Monday. Do light work on Mondays. And remember – you
are not called to work harder than your Creator! * Get a dictaphone
and a secretary (a volunteer if necessary). * Take lay leaders
with you as you visit and counsel some of your people (in non-confidential
situations). On-the-job training is not a high priority with many
pastors for some reason. * Put in a telephone-answering machine
for prayer, counselling and family-times. * Print out a sermon
each week or month: people will give these away to friends. *
Learn word-processing. * For intensive study of a chapter or articles,
photocopy and then mark it rather than taking summary-notes. *
Listen to cassettes of conferences you should say ‘no’ to attending.
* Use a month-at-a-glance diary to check that your program is
in balance. * Pray/counsel/encourage by phone, as well as face-to-face.
* Don’t be a victim of ‘in-basket time management’, simply doing
whatever comes along. You are called to ‘make it happen’. As a
pastor, you are the leader of those who are in a sense your ‘employers’
- both leader and servant. You will never escape that role-conflict.
of preaching/teaching by encouraging lay persons to read spiritual
books and articles. Overheat the photocopier! * Have people -
newly-arrived with older members of the congregation – to the
manse or rectory in groups. They will meet each other, and will
be gratified to be invited to your home. * Take Wednesday or Thursday
off, not Monday. Do light work on Mondays. And remember – you
are not called to work harder than your Creator! * Get a dictaphone
and a secretary (a volunteer if necessary). * Take lay leaders
with you as you visit and counsel some of your people (in non-confidential
situations). On-the-job training is not a high priority with many
pastors for some reason. * Put in a telephone-answering machine
for prayer, counselling and family-times. * Print out a sermon
each week or month: people will give these away to friends. *
Learn word-processing. * For intensive study of a chapter or articles,
photocopy and then mark it rather than taking summary-notes. *
Listen to cassettes of conferences you should say ‘no’ to attending.
* Use a month-at-a-glance diary to check that your program is
in balance. * Pray/counsel/encourage by phone, as well as face-to-face.
* Don’t be a victim of ‘in-basket time management’, simply doing
whatever comes along. You are called to ‘make it happen’. As a
pastor, you are the leader of those who are in a sense your ‘employers’
- both leader and servant. You will never escape that role-conflict.
CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES OF
TIME MANAGEMENT
1. Be positive: time is
God’s gift, and you have
all the time you need to do his will for you. Jesus was busy,
but unhurried,and did what God had ordained for him to do. So
can we, if we are good stewards of our time. We can always make
time for things that are important to us.
all the time you need to do his will for you. Jesus was busy,
but unhurried,and did what God had ordained for him to do. So
can we, if we are good stewards of our time. We can always make
time for things that are important to us.
2. Know what’s important:
for example, loving the
Lord is more important that loving the work of the Lord. Ministry
to your family comes before your ministry in the church or to
anyone else. Pleasing God is more important that saying ‘yes’
to all the demands of others.
Lord is more important that loving the work of the Lord. Ministry
to your family comes before your ministry in the church or to
anyone else. Pleasing God is more important that saying ‘yes’
to all the demands of others.
3. Know your life-goals,
your gifts and your limits:
write them down, in three lists. As you grow, they’ll change.
What are your spiritual desires, your personal values? For example,
your ultimate goal is to grow into union with Christ. Next, you
will desire to become a godly community member, husband/wife,
parent, son/daughter. As a Christian, you will want to reproduce
your life-in-Christ in another by discipling him/her in the faith.
(What would you like to be said about you in your obituary?).
write them down, in three lists. As you grow, they’ll change.
What are your spiritual desires, your personal values? For example,
your ultimate goal is to grow into union with Christ. Next, you
will desire to become a godly community member, husband/wife,
parent, son/daughter. As a Christian, you will want to reproduce
your life-in-Christ in another by discipling him/her in the faith.
(What would you like to be said about you in your obituary?).
4. Begin each day with a
quiet, uninterrupted hour
for spiritual reading and prayer. Do this in a special place -
other than where you work or study.
for spiritual reading and prayer. Do this in a special place -
other than where you work or study.
5. Set goals: (every day
you’re doing this anyway).
Good goals, whether daily, weekly, or longer term, are specific,
achievable, measurable, and relate to one’s lifetime aims. What
is your main goal for this year?
Good goals, whether daily, weekly, or longer term, are specific,
achievable, measurable, and relate to one’s lifetime aims. What
is your main goal for this year?
6. List priorities: what is
important, and/or urgent?
The ‘urgent’ may not be ‘important’!
The ‘urgent’ may not be ‘important’!
7. Compile a daily ‘to do’
list: label each item,
say, A, B, C, etc. Be sure important as well as urgent things
are listed.
say, A, B, C, etc. Be sure important as well as urgent things
are listed.
8. Get started on A and
work down through the list.
Perhaps CZs can be deferred indefinitely!
Perhaps CZs can be deferred indefinitely!
9. Take breaks: do some
isometric exercises, or have
a rest. (Never think of resting as a poor use of time). Remember,
we get more and better work done in six hours than in seven, in
six days than in seven, and in six years than in seven.
a rest. (Never think of resting as a poor use of time). Remember,
we get more and better work done in six hours than in seven, in
six days than in seven, and in six years than in seven.
10. Plan: good planning
saves time. If you fail to
plan, you plan to fail. Planning is ‘thinking backwards’ from
your goal: what has to be done, by whom, with what resources,
by what dates, for the goal to be realized? ‘Planning is bringing
the future into the present so that you can do something about
it now’ (Lakein).
plan, you plan to fail. Planning is ‘thinking backwards’ from
your goal: what has to be done, by whom, with what resources,
by what dates, for the goal to be realized? ‘Planning is bringing
the future into the present so that you can do something about
it now’ (Lakein).
11. Learn to manage
interruptions: ‘You make your
plans, but God directs your acts’ (Proverbs 16:9). Some of those
interruptions are laden with golden opportunity. ‘Throughout Jesus’
life you will find that almost everything glorious came out of
an interruption’ (Stanley Jones).
plans, but God directs your acts’ (Proverbs 16:9). Some of those
interruptions are laden with golden opportunity. ‘Throughout Jesus’
life you will find that almost everything glorious came out of
an interruption’ (Stanley Jones).
12. Ask yourself: ‘What is
the best use of my time
right now?’ ‘What are my time-wasters?’
right now?’ ‘What are my time-wasters?’
13. Keep your desk tidy:
handle each piece of paper
only once. You should lose only one thing a year!
only once. You should lose only one thing a year!
14. Remember: * Who kills
time, murders opportunity
* You can’t kill time without injuring eternity * Those who make
the worst use of their time most complain of its shortness * ‘Dost
thou love life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff
life is made of" (Benjamin Franklin).
* You can’t kill time without injuring eternity * Those who make
the worst use of their time most complain of its shortness * ‘Dost
thou love life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff
life is made of" (Benjamin Franklin).
15. Hurry isn’t necessary:
‘Whoever makes haste with
their feet misses the way" (Proverbs 19:2). ‘I have no time
to be in a hurry’ (John Wesley).
their feet misses the way" (Proverbs 19:2). ‘I have no time
to be in a hurry’ (John Wesley).
16. Above all: be idle
sometimes, to the glory of
God. Pascal has said that most of the evils of life arise from
our ‘being unable to sit still in a room’. There is no fun in
having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and sometimes
not doing it.
God. Pascal has said that most of the evils of life arise from
our ‘being unable to sit still in a room’. There is no fun in
having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and sometimes
not doing it.
FINALLY
The best time-managers
never complain about lack
of time. Jesus and John Wesley had 24-hour days, as you do. Build
‘buffer-zones’ for meditation into your schedule: when you have
10 minutes to go somewhere make it 20; on an hour’s car-trip,
get there half-an-hour early. Sometimes take a walk with no place
to go.
of time. Jesus and John Wesley had 24-hour days, as you do. Build
‘buffer-zones’ for meditation into your schedule: when you have
10 minutes to go somewhere make it 20; on an hour’s car-trip,
get there half-an-hour early. Sometimes take a walk with no place
to go.
You have all the time in
the world to do what God
wants you to do.
wants you to do.
Bibliography
Robert Banks, The Tyranny
Of Time, Lancer, 1983.
Edwin C. Bliss, Getting
Things Done, Bantam, 1980.
Sheila Cassidy, Prayer For
Pilgrims, Collins, 1980.
Ed Dayton, Tools For Time
Management, Zondervan.
Richard Foster, Celebration
of Discipline, H &
S, 1980.
S, 1980.
Alan Lakein, How To Get
Control Of Your Time And
Your Life, New American Library, 1973.
Your Life, New American Library, 1973.
Michael LeBoeuf, Working
Smart, Warner, 1979.
Thomas J. Peters &
Robert H. Waterman, In Search
of Excellence, Harper & Row, 1982.
~~
http://michaelhyatt.com/about
~~
Once or twice in sermons I remember someone quoting
the words from the old clock in Chichester cathedral:
‘When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept.
When as a youth I dreamed and talked, time walked.
When I became a full-grown man, time ran. And later
as I older grew, time flew. Soon, I shall find while travelling
on, time gone!
Will Christ have saved my soul by then?’
Someone else calculated that we would answer to God
for every second of the 613,620 hours we were allotted in our
threescore and ten years, and we must make these seconds ‘count
for God’.
As a student-pastor in my first church (Narwee Baptist
in Sydney) I tried to fulfil this sort of calling. One November
I sat for thirteen 3-hour exams. There were two sermons most weeks,
Bible studies to be led, parishioners to be visited, new ministries
to develop (the missionary giving increased 2000%), two persons
were added to the church staff, I lectured at various times in
two Bible Colleges, drove a taxi once a week to pay university
fees, played sport every Saturday (and at other times) and led
beach missions in holidays. (And I was married with two small
children). Crazy!
In my first ‘full-time’(!) pastorate – Blackburn
Baptist Church, Victoria – we had, at one stage, 25 people drawing
salaries. In my first year there I finished off a Masters’ degree,
completed a B.D. after five years and said ‘yes’ to too many interesting
committees.
I enjoyed doing several things at once. Often on
long walks I listened to a ‘walkaround’ radio/cassette clipped
to my belt, carried a sheaf of letters and dictaphone, and had
a small book in my pocket. (I there learned the ‘art’ of reading
while walking).
Biblical scholar A.S. Peake used to like the story
of the American author who wrote one article with his right hand,
another with his left, dictated a third to his secretary, and
in order to lose no time, rocked the cradle with his foot. Peake
said his own life ‘is like that of an acrobat, who has always
one ball in his hand and five in the air’. He paid for his timeaholism
- when he was sixty he was an over-tired man.
The first step in my ‘cure’ came when our teenage
son complained that while I might be home more than some busy
fathers, my ‘head was mostly somewhere else’. He noted that when
the telephone rang, a parishioner’s demands overrode those of
the family and wondered why.
Then a difficult pastoral experience in Canada encouraged
a total overhaul of my priorities. I saw how my work-ethic had
spilt over into workaholism. My self-esteem had been too much
identified with what I was doing instead of how I was as a son
of the Father.
I dropped out and spent the most ‘productive’ year
of my life, reading some spiritual classics. I learned to read
Scripture with my heart, rather than just my head. The Cloud of
Unknowing – a chapter a day – nourished my spirit for many months.
I learned, existentially, what I had been preaching – that life
does not consist in the abundance of one’s achievements.
WHAT IS TIME?
Augustine said, ‘If nobody asks me what time is,
I know; if I want to explain it to anyone who asks me, I am at
a loss’.
The New Testament suggests three ways of understanding
time: ‘chronos’ (measurable, quantitative time), ‘kairos’ (‘timeliness’)
and ‘aion’ (time-limited and time-unlimited). None of these is
abstract: but though we are ‘exiles in time’ we also possess ‘eternal’
life here-and-now.
Unfortunately, we have done to time what we have
done to nature: obeyed only half the Creator’s injunctions. We
have tried to ‘subdue’ it (as in the time-management courses)
rather than be ‘replenished’ by it.
An adequate Christian understanding of time ought
to be redemptive rather than exploitative. Our lives ought not
to be measured by either their duration or accomplishments. The
Puritan ethic (‘work is good and pleasure is bad’) and hedonism
(‘pleasure is good, work is bad’) are both wrong.
‘Managerial’ approaches to time are espoused by institution-captives.
And most ‘mystical’ or contemplative understandings emanate from
institution-celibates. They may suffer either from unholy involvement,
or else other-worldly withdrawal.
BOTH-AND
How then can managers – out in the ‘real’ world -
and pastors, with the many competing demands on their time, work
both effectively and serenely?
I believe we need both managerial and mystical, hard
and soft, ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, Western and Eastern, approaches
to time usage. With God’s help, we can learn both to ‘master’
time and also ‘submit’ to it.
If ‘how-to-get-more-done-in-less-
concern, the clock will become a tyrannical master. Perhaps we
should learn to ‘waste’ time regularly as well as ‘spend’ it.
After all, when we are with a lover or close friend we may not
have a conscious agenda at all. Pastors and others in the helping
professions will ‘spend’ hours of their precious time with those
in need. We only deliberately ‘waste’ time with those we love:
it is the purest sign that we love someone if we choose to be
in their presence when we could be doing something more ‘constructive’.
(Maybe this is why pastors of growing churches or managers of
large corporations generally do not make good contemplatives,
and vice-versa). TIME-MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR PASTORS
Pastors have more ‘discretionary time’ than any other
group, but surveys show they have great hassles with time-management.
They spend too much time doing secondary things.
If a pastor or priest is committed to the idea of
the ministry of the whole church, they will need to educate their
people regarding biblical priorities for them and their flock.
For example, the only text in the New Testament about caring visitation
says all those whole religion is ‘pure and genuine’ should be
doing it (James 1:27). The pastor-teacher equips people for such
ministries, so he or she must be rigorous about training and delegation.
And briefly, some other ideas: * Multiply the effectiveness
of preaching/teaching by encouraging lay persons to read spiritual
books and articles. Overheat the photocopier! * Have people -
newly-arrived with older members of the congregation – to the
manse or rectory in groups. They will meet each other, and will
be gratified to be invited to your home. * Take Wednesday or Thursday
off, not Monday. Do light work on Mondays. And remember – you
are not called to work harder than your Creator! * Get a dictaphone
and a secretary (a volunteer if necessary). * Take lay leaders
with you as you visit and counsel some of your people (in non-confidential
situations). On-the-job training is not a high priority with many
pastors for some reason. * Put in a telephone-answering machine
for prayer, counselling and family-times. * Print out a sermon
each week or month: people will give these away to friends. *
Learn word-processing. * For intensive study of a chapter or articles,
photocopy and then mark it rather than taking summary-notes. *
Listen to cassettes of conferences you should say ‘no’ to attending.
* Use a month-at-a-glance diary to check that your program is
in balance. * Pray/counsel/encourage by phone, as well as face-to-face.
* Don’t be a victim of ‘in-basket time management’, simply doing
whatever comes along. You are called to ‘make it happen’. As a
pastor, you are the leader of those who are in a sense your ‘employers’
- both leader and servant. You will never escape that role-conflict.
TIME-MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR PASTORS
Pastors have more ‘discretionary time’ than any other
group, but surveys show they have great hassles with time-management.
They spend too much time doing secondary things.
If a pastor or priest is committed to the idea of
the ministry of the whole church, they will need to educate their
people regarding biblical priorities for them and their flock.
For example, the only text in the New Testament about caring visitation
says all those whole religion is ‘pure and genuine’ should be
doing it (James 1:27). The pastor-teacher equips people for such
ministries, so he or she must be rigorous about training and delegation.
And briefly, some other ideas: * Multiply the effectiveness
of preaching/teaching by encouraging lay persons to read spiritual
books and articles. Overheat the photocopier! * Have people -
newly-arrived with older members of the congregation – to the
manse or rectory in groups. They will meet each other, and will
be gratified to be invited to your home. * Take Wednesday or Thursday
off, not Monday. Do light work on Mondays. And remember – you
are not called to work harder than your Creator! * Get a dictaphone
and a secretary (a volunteer if necessary). * Take lay leaders
with you as you visit and counsel some of your people (in non-confidential
situations). On-the-job training is not a high priority with many
pastors for some reason. * Put in a telephone-answering machine
for prayer, counselling and family-times. * Print out a sermon
each week or month: people will give these away to friends. *
Learn word-processing. * For intensive study of a chapter or articles,
photocopy and then mark it rather than taking summary-notes. *
Listen to cassettes of conferences you should say ‘no’ to attending.
* Use a month-at-a-glance diary to check that your program is
in balance. * Pray/counsel/encourage by phone, as well as face-to-face.
* Don’t be a victim of ‘in-basket time management’, simply doing
whatever comes along. You are called to ‘make it happen’. As a
pastor, you are the leader of those who are in a sense your ‘employers’
- both leader and servant. You will never escape that role-conflict.
CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES OF TIME MANAGEMENT
1. Be positive: time is God’s gift, and you have
all the time you need to do his will for you. Jesus was busy,
but unhurried,and did what God had ordained for him to do. So
can we, if we are good stewards of our time. We can always make
time for things that are important to us.
2. Know what’s important: for example, loving the
Lord is more important that loving the work of the Lord. Ministry
to your family comes before your ministry in the church or to
anyone else. Pleasing God is more important that saying ‘yes’
to all the demands of others.
3. Know your life-goals, your gifts and your limits:
write them down, in three lists. As you grow, they’ll change.
What are your spiritual desires, your personal values? For example,
your ultimate goal is to grow into union with Christ. Next, you
will desire to become a godly community member, husband/wife,
parent, son/daughter. As a Christian, you will want to reproduce
your life-in-Christ in another by discipling him/her in the faith.
(What would you like to be said about you in your obituary?).
4. Begin each day with a quiet, uninterrupted hour
for spiritual reading and prayer. Do this in a special place -
other than where you work or study.
5. Set goals: (every day you’re doing this anyway).
Good goals, whether daily, weekly, or longer term, are specific,
achievable, measurable, and relate to one’s lifetime aims. What
is your main goal for this year?
6. List priorities: what is important, and/or urgent?
The ‘urgent’ may not be ‘important’!
7. Compile a daily ‘to do’ list: label each item,
say, A, B, C, etc. Be sure important as well as urgent things
are listed.
8. Get started on A and work down through the list.
Perhaps CZs can be deferred indefinitely!
9. Take breaks: do some isometric exercises, or have
a rest. (Never think of resting as a poor use of time). Remember,
we get more and better work done in six hours than in seven, in
six days than in seven, and in six years than in seven.
10. Plan: good planning saves time. If you fail to
plan, you plan to fail. Planning is ‘thinking backwards’ from
your goal: what has to be done, by whom, with what resources,
by what dates, for the goal to be realized? ‘Planning is bringing
the future into the present so that you can do something about
it now’ (Lakein).
11. Learn to manage interruptions: ‘You make your
plans, but God directs your acts’ (Proverbs 16:9). Some of those
interruptions are laden with golden opportunity. ‘Throughout Jesus’
life you will find that almost everything glorious came out of
an interruption’ (Stanley Jones).
12. Ask yourself: ‘What is the best use of my time
right now?’ ‘What are my time-wasters?’
13. Keep your desk tidy: handle each piece of paper
only once. You should lose only one thing a year!
14. Remember: * Who kills time, murders opportunity
* You can’t kill time without injuring eternity * Those who make
the worst use of their time most complain of its shortness * ‘Dost
thou love life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff
life is made of" (Benjamin Franklin).
15. Hurry isn’t necessary: ‘Whoever makes haste with
their feet misses the way" (Proverbs 19:2). ‘I have no time
to be in a hurry’ (John Wesley).
16. Above all: be idle sometimes, to the glory of
God. Pascal has said that most of the evils of life arise from
our ‘being unable to sit still in a room’. There is no fun in
having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and sometimes
not doing it.
FINALLY
The best time-managers never complain about lack
of time. Jesus and John Wesley had 24-hour days, as you do. Build
‘buffer-zones’ for meditation into your schedule: when you have
10 minutes to go somewhere make it 20; on an hour’s car-trip,
get there half-an-hour early. Sometimes take a walk with no place
to go.
You have all the time in the world to do what God
wants you to do.
Bibliography
Robert Banks, The Tyranny Of Time, Lancer, 1983.
Edwin C. Bliss, Getting Things Done, Bantam, 1980.
Sheila Cassidy, Prayer For Pilgrims, Collins, 1980.
Ed Dayton, Tools For Time Management, Zondervan.
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, H &
S, 1980.
Alan Lakein, How To Get Control Of Your Time And
Your Life, New American Library, 1973.
Michael LeBoeuf, Working Smart, Warner, 1979.
Thomas J. Peters & Robert H. Waterman, In Search
of Excellence, Harper & Row, 1982.
~~
I've hit the multitasking jackpot. But wait, I think I just booked a mammogram for my six-year-old and sent an email about my son's party to the Attorney-General.I started with an hour. I had sea legs when I got off, but it was liberating. To be moving while writing and reading felt so productive. I felt as though I had more energy, which gave me a psychological lift, too.
of Excellence, Harper & Row, 1982.
~~
http://michaelhyatt.com/about
~~
I was brought up by good Christian parents to believe
that work was good, laziness was bad, and that sanctity is measured
by omnipresence at church meetings.
that work was good, laziness was bad, and that sanctity is measured
by omnipresence at church meetings.
Once or twice in sermons I remember someone quoting
the words from the old clock in Chichester cathedral:
‘When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept.
When as a youth I dreamed and talked, time walked.
When I became a full-grown man, time ran. And later
as I older grew, time flew. Soon, I shall find while travelling
on, time gone!
Will Christ have saved my soul by then?’
Someone else calculated that we would answer to God
for every second of the 613,620 hours we were allotted in our
threescore and ten years, and we must make these seconds ‘count
for God’.
As a student-pastor in my first church (Narwee Baptist
in Sydney) I tried to fulfil this sort of calling. One November
I sat for thirteen 3-hour exams. There were two sermons most weeks,
Bible studies to be led, parishioners to be visited, new ministries
to develop (the missionary giving increased 2000%), two persons
were added to the church staff, I lectured at various times in
two Bible Colleges, drove a taxi once a week to pay university
fees, played sport every Saturday (and at other times) and led
beach missions in holidays. (And I was married with two small
children). Crazy!
In my first ‘full-time’(!) pastorate – Blackburn
Baptist Church, Victoria – we had, at one stage, 25 people drawing
salaries. In my first year there I finished off a Masters’ degree,
completed a B.D. after five years and said ‘yes’ to too many interesting
committees.
I enjoyed doing several things at once. Often on
long walks I listened to a ‘walkaround’ radio/cassette clipped
to my belt, carried a sheaf of letters and dictaphone, and had
a small book in my pocket. (I there learned the ‘art’ of reading
while walking).
Biblical scholar A.S. Peake used to like the story
of the American author who wrote one article with his right hand,
another with his left, dictated a third to his secretary, and
in order to lose no time, rocked the cradle with his foot. Peake
said his own life ‘is like that of an acrobat, who has always
one ball in his hand and five in the air’. He paid for his timeaholism
- when he was sixty he was an over-tired man.
The first step in my ‘cure’ came when our teenage
son complained that while I might be home more than some busy
fathers, my ‘head was mostly somewhere else’. He noted that when
the telephone rang, a parishioner’s demands overrode those of
the family and wondered why.
Then a difficult pastoral experience in Canada encouraged
a total overhaul of my priorities. I saw how my work-ethic had
spilt over into workaholism. My self-esteem had been too much
identified with what I was doing instead of how I was as a son
of the Father.
I dropped out and spent the most ‘productive’ year
of my life, reading some spiritual classics. I learned to read
Scripture with my heart, rather than just my head. The Cloud of
Unknowing – a chapter a day – nourished my spirit for many months.
I learned, existentially, what I had been preaching – that life
does not consist in the abundance of one’s achievements.
WHAT IS TIME?
Augustine said, ‘If nobody asks me what time is,
I know; if I want to explain it to anyone who asks me, I am at
a loss’.
The New Testament suggests three ways of understanding
time: ‘chronos’ (measurable, quantitative time), ‘kairos’ (‘timeliness’)
and ‘aion’ (time-limited and time-unlimited). None of these is
abstract: but though we are ‘exiles in time’ we also possess ‘eternal’
life here-and-now.
Unfortunately, we have done to time what we have
done to nature: obeyed only half the Creator’s injunctions. We
have tried to ‘subdue’ it (as in the time-management courses)
rather than be ‘replenished’ by it.
An adequate Christian understanding of time ought
to be redemptive rather than exploitative. Our lives ought not
to be measured by either their duration or accomplishments. The
Puritan ethic (‘work is good and pleasure is bad’) and hedonism
(‘pleasure is good, work is bad’) are both wrong.
‘Managerial’ approaches to time are espoused by institution-captives.
And most ‘mystical’ or contemplative understandings emanate from
institution-celibates. They may suffer either from unholy involvement,
or else other-worldly withdrawal.
BOTH-AND
How then can managers – out in the ‘real’ world -
and pastors, with the many competing demands on their time, work
both effectively and serenely?
I believe we need both managerial and mystical, hard
and soft, ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, Western and Eastern, approaches
to time usage. With God’s help, we can learn both to ‘master’
time and also ‘submit’ to it.
If ‘how-to-get-more-done-in-less-
concern, the clock will become a tyrannical master. Perhaps we
should learn to ‘waste’ time regularly as well as ‘spend’ it.
After all, when we are with a lover or close friend we may not
have a conscious agenda at all. Pastors and others in the helping
professions will ‘spend’ hours of their precious time with those
in need. We only deliberately ‘waste’ time with those we love:
it is the purest sign that we love someone if we choose to be
in their presence when we could be doing something more ‘constructive’.
(Maybe this is why pastors of growing churches or managers of
large corporations generally do not make good contemplatives,
and vice-versa). TIME-MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR PASTORS
Pastors have more ‘discretionary time’ than any other
group, but surveys show they have great hassles with time-management.
They spend too much time doing secondary things.
If a pastor or priest is committed to the idea of
the ministry of the whole church, they will need to educate their
people regarding biblical priorities for them and their flock.
For example, the only text in the New Testament about caring visitation
says all those whole religion is ‘pure and genuine’ should be
doing it (James 1:27). The pastor-teacher equips people for such
ministries, so he or she must be rigorous about training and delegation.
And briefly, some other ideas: * Multiply the effectiveness
of preaching/teaching by encouraging lay persons to read spiritual
books and articles. Overheat the photocopier! * Have people -
newly-arrived with older members of the congregation – to the
manse or rectory in groups. They will meet each other, and will
be gratified to be invited to your home. * Take Wednesday or Thursday
off, not Monday. Do light work on Mondays. And remember – you
are not called to work harder than your Creator! * Get a dictaphone
and a secretary (a volunteer if necessary). * Take lay leaders
with you as you visit and counsel some of your people (in non-confidential
situations). On-the-job training is not a high priority with many
pastors for some reason. * Put in a telephone-answering machine
for prayer, counselling and family-times. * Print out a sermon
each week or month: people will give these away to friends. *
Learn word-processing. * For intensive study of a chapter or articles,
photocopy and then mark it rather than taking summary-notes. *
Listen to cassettes of conferences you should say ‘no’ to attending.
* Use a month-at-a-glance diary to check that your program is
in balance. * Pray/counsel/encourage by phone, as well as face-to-face.
* Don’t be a victim of ‘in-basket time management’, simply doing
whatever comes along. You are called to ‘make it happen’. As a
pastor, you are the leader of those who are in a sense your ‘employers’
- both leader and servant. You will never escape that role-conflict.
TIME-MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR PASTORS
Pastors have more ‘discretionary time’ than any other
group, but surveys show they have great hassles with time-management.
They spend too much time doing secondary things.
If a pastor or priest is committed to the idea of
the ministry of the whole church, they will need to educate their
people regarding biblical priorities for them and their flock.
For example, the only text in the New Testament about caring visitation
says all those whole religion is ‘pure and genuine’ should be
doing it (James 1:27). The pastor-teacher equips people for such
ministries, so he or she must be rigorous about training and delegation.
And briefly, some other ideas: * Multiply the effectiveness
of preaching/teaching by encouraging lay persons to read spiritual
books and articles. Overheat the photocopier! * Have people -
newly-arrived with older members of the congregation – to the
manse or rectory in groups. They will meet each other, and will
be gratified to be invited to your home. * Take Wednesday or Thursday
off, not Monday. Do light work on Mondays. And remember – you
are not called to work harder than your Creator! * Get a dictaphone
and a secretary (a volunteer if necessary). * Take lay leaders
with you as you visit and counsel some of your people (in non-confidential
situations). On-the-job training is not a high priority with many
pastors for some reason. * Put in a telephone-answering machine
for prayer, counselling and family-times. * Print out a sermon
each week or month: people will give these away to friends. *
Learn word-processing. * For intensive study of a chapter or articles,
photocopy and then mark it rather than taking summary-notes. *
Listen to cassettes of conferences you should say ‘no’ to attending.
* Use a month-at-a-glance diary to check that your program is
in balance. * Pray/counsel/encourage by phone, as well as face-to-face.
* Don’t be a victim of ‘in-basket time management’, simply doing
whatever comes along. You are called to ‘make it happen’. As a
pastor, you are the leader of those who are in a sense your ‘employers’
- both leader and servant. You will never escape that role-conflict.
CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES OF TIME MANAGEMENT
1. Be positive: time is God’s gift, and you have
all the time you need to do his will for you. Jesus was busy,
but unhurried,and did what God had ordained for him to do. So
can we, if we are good stewards of our time. We can always make
time for things that are important to us.
2. Know what’s important: for example, loving the
Lord is more important that loving the work of the Lord. Ministry
to your family comes before your ministry in the church or to
anyone else. Pleasing God is more important that saying ‘yes’
to all the demands of others.
3. Know your life-goals, your gifts and your limits:
write them down, in three lists. As you grow, they’ll change.
What are your spiritual desires, your personal values? For example,
your ultimate goal is to grow into union with Christ. Next, you
will desire to become a godly community member, husband/wife,
parent, son/daughter. As a Christian, you will want to reproduce
your life-in-Christ in another by discipling him/her in the faith.
(What would you like to be said about you in your obituary?).
4. Begin each day with a quiet, uninterrupted hour
for spiritual reading and prayer. Do this in a special place -
other than where you work or study.
5. Set goals: (every day you’re doing this anyway).
Good goals, whether daily, weekly, or longer term, are specific,
achievable, measurable, and relate to one’s lifetime aims. What
is your main goal for this year?
6. List priorities: what is important, and/or urgent?
The ‘urgent’ may not be ‘important’!
7. Compile a daily ‘to do’ list: label each item,
say, A, B, C, etc. Be sure important as well as urgent things
are listed.
8. Get started on A and work down through the list.
Perhaps CZs can be deferred indefinitely!
9. Take breaks: do some isometric exercises, or have
a rest. (Never think of resting as a poor use of time). Remember,
we get more and better work done in six hours than in seven, in
six days than in seven, and in six years than in seven.
10. Plan: good planning saves time. If you fail to
plan, you plan to fail. Planning is ‘thinking backwards’ from
your goal: what has to be done, by whom, with what resources,
by what dates, for the goal to be realized? ‘Planning is bringing
the future into the present so that you can do something about
it now’ (Lakein).
11. Learn to manage interruptions: ‘You make your
plans, but God directs your acts’ (Proverbs 16:9). Some of those
interruptions are laden with golden opportunity. ‘Throughout Jesus’
life you will find that almost everything glorious came out of
an interruption’ (Stanley Jones).
12. Ask yourself: ‘What is the best use of my time
right now?’ ‘What are my time-wasters?’
13. Keep your desk tidy: handle each piece of paper
only once. You should lose only one thing a year!
14. Remember: * Who kills time, murders opportunity
* You can’t kill time without injuring eternity * Those who make
the worst use of their time most complain of its shortness * ‘Dost
thou love life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff
life is made of" (Benjamin Franklin).
15. Hurry isn’t necessary: ‘Whoever makes haste with
their feet misses the way" (Proverbs 19:2). ‘I have no time
to be in a hurry’ (John Wesley).
16. Above all: be idle sometimes, to the glory of
God. Pascal has said that most of the evils of life arise from
our ‘being unable to sit still in a room’. There is no fun in
having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and sometimes
not doing it.
FINALLY
The best time-managers never complain about lack
of time. Jesus and John Wesley had 24-hour days, as you do. Build
‘buffer-zones’ for meditation into your schedule: when you have
10 minutes to go somewhere make it 20; on an hour’s car-trip,
get there half-an-hour early. Sometimes take a walk with no place
to go.
You have all the time in the world to do what God
wants you to do.
Bibliography
Robert Banks, The Tyranny Of Time, Lancer, 1983.
Edwin C. Bliss, Getting Things Done, Bantam, 1980.
Sheila Cassidy, Prayer For Pilgrims, Collins, 1980.
Ed Dayton, Tools For Time Management, Zondervan.
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, H &
S, 1980.
Alan Lakein, How To Get Control Of Your Time And
Your Life, New American Library, 1973.
Michael LeBoeuf, Working Smart, Warner, 1979.
Thomas J. Peters & Robert H. Waterman, In Search
of Excellence, Harper & Row, 1982.
~~
90% - Proportion of leisure time the average Australian adult spends sitting down; average number of steps they take each day: 7400
3 - Minutes an average human can survive without air; days without water; weeks without food
1.9 - hours of sleep giraffes need each day; cats need 12
6 - weeks: Average life expectancy in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I; number of men worldwide who fought in the war: 65 million.
- 'Number Crunch', Ashleigh Bonner; The Age Good Weekend, January 25, 2014, p. 9
3 - Minutes an average human can survive without air; days without water; weeks without food
1.9 - hours of sleep giraffes need each day; cats need 12
6 - weeks: Average life expectancy in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I; number of men worldwide who fought in the war: 65 million.
- 'Number Crunch', Ashleigh Bonner; The Age Good Weekend, January 25, 2014, p. 9
~~
A jack of all tasks is a master of noneDate
- January 12, 2014
I'm working from home and am in multitasking nirvana. I'm checking emails, doing interviews, writing columns, paying bills and organising photos – all while walking. I'm having a little fling with a treadmill desk.
Unhealthy? Super healthy? Crazy? All, it turns out.
A spree of studies say sitting at your desk all day is as bad for you as smoking. I sit a lot, so when my neighbours started a treadmill desk company, I begged them to let me try one.
Designed to never go faster than about 3km/h, the treadmill fits neatly under a desk that you can raise and lower quickly.
I've hit the multitasking jackpot. But wait, I think I just booked a mammogram for my six-year-old and sent an email about my son's party to the Attorney-General.I started with an hour. I had sea legs when I got off, but it was liberating. To be moving while writing and reading felt so productive. I felt as though I had more energy, which gave me a psychological lift, too.
A growing body of research says multitasking is disastrous, and I think I just proved it.
Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King's College, London University, did a study that found brain function addles with multitasking.
The "multitasking myth" has become a darling of neuroscience, with doctors monitoring people to prove how poorly we perform when we do too many things at once.
Professors are becoming dismayed that their students are paying bills, booking dates and checking airfares on their smartphones during lectures.
Researchers at the University of Michigan found that constant switching between tasks can make us 40 per cent less productive at each of them because that switch time takes a good amount of energy and brain power.
But a funny thing that assistant professor in pharmacology at the University of Maryland, Brent Reed, found in his research was that people who say they're really good multitaskers are actually not. Learning when to focus and just do one thing for an hour has become a valuable part of Reed's life.
I learnt my lesson before I called him: I realised I cannot walk on the treadmill and simultaneously conduct an interview. My brain just can't type, talk and walk at once.
Another lesson saw me stray a little off path, hook my shoe on the side, and stumble off the back of the treadmill.
I still want to keep the treadmill desk, but can I have a personal assistant to go with it?
The Washington Post
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