Time Management

What I remember about my first few years in ministry is not being too busy; it’s not being busy enough. I had just come out of a highly-structured environment—seminary—and gone into a rural area to serve two small churches where the only regular structure of my week consisted of two worship services. I had to figure out how to plan my weeks, and I didn’t do a very good job of it. I did a lot of studying, because I enjoy it and it comes naturally to me (I know, I know), but I didn’t really know how to fill up the rest of the week with useful occupation that still gave me time for my family. So I read books on pastoral ministry, talked to other pastors, blundered around a lot, and finally settled into a pattern that worked pretty well for a long time.

Several years later I took a course in time management at a community college. The course was designed for business people but I got a lot of good information out of it, and learned some skills I’m still using. Perhaps the most important piece came on the last day, as the instructor intended that it would. “There’s really no such thing as time management,” he said, “because everyone has the same amount of time—168 hours a week. What we call ‘time management’ is really self management.”

The most important element in self management, at least in my experience, is prayer. My prayer life was spotty at best, even after graduating from a seminary that stressed the spiritual disciplines. It wasn’t until I found myself preaching on prayer that I realized that if I was going to tell the congregation to pray that I had better start doing it myself. Again, I read books, talked to other people, blundered around a lot, and finally found a way of praying that works for me.

Most of us in the ministry have to manage ourselves. We get the same number of hours as everyone else. I tend to see that as a constraint, but I’m trying to learn to see it as a gift. God didn’t need to give me anything, but God gave me 168 hours a week—time to eat, time to sleep, time to work and time to play. I can control about 80% of how that time is spent (another learning from the time management class); I try to see the other 20%, not as intrusion or interruption, but as opportunity for ministry. I admit that’s not always easy, but it seems to work, most of the time.

What works for you?