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Rev. Adam J. Copeland
Rev. Adam J. Copeland

Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Hallock, Minnesota
FTE Ministry Fellow ('05)
FTE Undergraduate Fellow ('04)

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July 26, 2010

Chronos Management

I know I excel at some things, like sleeping. At others this, I know I struggle….like remembering names. Managing time, though, is beyond me. It’s not beyond me in that I know I can’t do it. In fact, I very well might be quite good at time management. It’s just hard to tell.

I had an interesting conversation with a pastor friend last week in which he said something like, “Everyone assumes I’m so busy, but I’m not. I have a lot of time to do anything I want. My congregation just runs itself.” I do know, for certain, I am not like this pastor. Yes, our congregation could function perfectly well without me, but I do feel really busy. And I’m pretty certain it’s more than just a feeling. I am busy.

So the question: how, if possible, might I improve my time management? What tips do you have for pastors so that they might use their time to God’s glory?

OK, so here’s the main tension I feel. The culture is all about time as a commodity, time as something to be managed, something to fight, something to beat. But the Christian take on time is different. First of all, time is a gift from God. It shouldn’t be something to wrestle, but something to embrace.

So in the New Testament, there are two words for time. “Chronos” is chronological time, sequential time as we usually think of it. “Kairos” is a more complicated term, a time more qualitative than quantitative. Kairos time is the moment when God deems something appropriate, the right moment almost regardless of the time on the clock.

The go to verse to show kairos is Mark 1:14-15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The TIME is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” That’s kairos time — a God moment.

So as a pastor, as a Christian, I am aware of the danger of being sucked into thinking time is something to fight against, something to be freed from. In fact, God might be using time to do God’s business. But, all that being true still  doesn’t necessarily mean I feel as if I use my time wisely, or that my time is best spent to serve, or even that the way I spend time is faithful at all.

Here’s a few things I’ve figured out re time and ministry, but I’d love to hear more from you all:

 

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Emails can wait. When getting to the office, reading for 20-30 minutes is a real handy way of scheduling study time.

 

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Saying “no” is a gift. Saying “no” is often a good idea.

 

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No matter how many hours I work in a week, it’ll always feel like there’s something more to do.

 

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Twitter and Facebook are really valuable ministry tools, but I needn’t use them constantly.

 

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Thinking of my day in blocks is helpful. If I have meetings at night, cutting afternoon work short is a good idea.

 

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Schedule time to study, don’t just say “I should read this week.” (Ok, I’m no good at this, but I’m aware at least.)

 

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Sometimes, often in fact, opportunities for real ministry are unscheduled — the conversation at the post office, the person who pops into the office unscheduled.

 

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Writing a sermon while at the office just doesn’t work. I need to start scheduling more time away from the office and not feel guilty about it.
 

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Visits — along with study — tend to be the first thing that get cut from a busy week. Some visits to those ill have to be done, the other visits get pushed off easily.

 

 

  

Ok, I’ll stop there. Often, when thinking about this stuff, I recall Eugene Peterson’s book “Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness ” He gets this stuff, but I also don’t quite think his experience is easily translatable to other contexts.

So this friend of mine who says he’s not busy, says what he primarily does is “Spend my days listening for God, and enabling my congregation to do the same.” Maybe that’s something else to keep in mind. May God’s time allow it.

 

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You can read more from Rev. Copeland on his website

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