Do you want a job in the church?

Maybe preacher, teacher, worship leader, musician? As a pastor’s daughter and assistant pastor’s wife, I can tell you how to get the job in two words---------------------BE THERE.

If we can’t depend on you to be there the vast majority of the time it won’t do any good for us to give you the job. In fact, it would make our job harder because we would never know if we needed to be prepared to cover for you.

For example:

How our church picked our new Sound-Booth Technician out of a congregation of 53 people:

1. Everyone under 12- (24 people total) Eliminated.

2. A- Always Present. Computer literate. Already overloaded and can’t do his job and the computer. (Pastor, Preacher, MC, maintenance man, handy man, floor vacuumer, counselor, teacher) Eliminated.

3. B- Always Present. Computer literate. Already overloaded and can’t do her job and the computer. (Woman’s pastor, Pianist, Secretary, head cook, head gardener, counselor, cleaning lady, dish washer) Eliminated.

4. C (with 8dc)- Always Present. Computer literate. Already busy during service. Can’t spell worth a darn. (Preacher, maintenance assistant, business advisor, MC,) Eliminated.

5. D (with 8dc)- Always Present. Computer literate. Already busy during service. Not any better on the spelling. (Preparer of music, baker, assistant maid, children’s sermonizer, web master, yahoo group moderator, church store manager,) Eliminated.

6. E- Computer literate. Always Present. Already busy. Takes after her parents in spelling. (Music leader, kitchen helper, occasional vacuumer) Eliminated

7. F- Computer literate. Always Present. Doesn’t want the job. A bit young (13). Takes after his parents in spelling. Eliminated.

8. G- Very computer literate. Not reliably present due to health of elderly family members, own health, and work. Eliminated.

9. H- Not computer literate. Too elderly and feeble to do the job. Eliminated.

10. I- Not computer literate. Too elderly and feeble to do the job. Eliminated.

11. J- Present 7/8 of the time. Absences due to illness alone. (Assistant cook, preacher, PR manager) Potential

12. K- Very computer literate. Present 1/10 of the time. Eliminated.

13. L- Computer literate. Present 9/10 or better. (Dish washer, assistant cook) Potential

14. M (with 1dc)- Simi computer literate. Present 2/3, late 1/3. Less if midweek is figured. Eliminated.

15. N- Current computer person needing break. Present 9/10 or better. (Assistant cook, assistant secretary) Eliminated.

16. O (one child)- Computer literate. Overwhelmed with family. Present ½ the time; less if midweek is figured. Eliminated.

17. P (with 1dc)- Very computer literate. Overwhelmed with family. Present ½ the time; less if midweek is figured. Eliminated.

18. Q- Computer literate. Present less than 1/10. Eliminated.

19. R (with 9dc)- Very computer literate. Overwhelmed with family. Present ½ the time; less if midweek is figured. Eliminated.

20. S (with 9dc)- Computer literate. Overwhelmed with family. Present ½ the time; less if midweek is figured. Eliminated.

21. T- Not computer literate. Present ¾ the time; less if midweek figured. Eliminated.

22. U- Simi computer literate. Never present due to job. Eliminated.

23. V- Computer? Present ½ the time. Less if midweek is figured Eliminated.

24. W- Not computer literate. Present ¾ the time. Eliminated.

25. X- Computer? Present ¼ due to job. Less if midweek is figured Eliminated.

26. Y (with 2dc)- Computer? Present 1/4 the time. Eliminated.

27. Z (with 2dc)- Computer? Present ¼ the time. Eliminated.

28. AA- Not computer literate. Too elderly and feeble to do the job. Eliminated.

29. BB- Computer? Seldom here. Eliminated.

First we eliminated everyone who was there less than 4/5 of the time. Simple logic; if we can’t depend on you being there it won’t do us any good to give you the job. It doesn’t matter if your absences are due to illness or unreliable cars or work or what; if you aren’t here we can’t use you.

Second, we eliminated anyone who can’t physically do the job. (Not computer literate, Too elderly and feeble to do the job, Can’t spell worth a darn)

Third, we eliminated everyone who was already busy during the service.

This left two candidates. The one with the better attendance and who doesn’t ever preach (you can’t preach and run the booth at the same time) got the job.

You will notice we have a number that are sufficiently computer literate, some quite a bit more so than the one who got the job.

I have been a pastor’s daughter all my life. My father has pastored four churches, the third for 25 years and the fourth for 8 now. In all that time, every one who we gave a job to in order to make them feel more a part and attend more regularly quit our church (and usually all churches) within three months.

EVERY

ONE.

The only people who have continued to attend church after being given a job are those who were already there every time the doors were open; mid-week included.

If you want a job in the church, make it a priority to BE THERE every time the doors are open. It is that simple.

Even then, we will probably give you a simple job first. “He who is faithful in a few things will be faithful in much.” If you can, say, keep the toilets clean for six months (I don’t mean clean them twice in six months. I mean clean them every week or two at the most.) then we can see that we might could trust you with a more prominent job.

It’s not that we don’t want help. The average church in America is 60 members. I bet you in most churches with less than 200 people only five or ten people are doing all the work. We would love to spread the workload around. We don’t like being overworked. But it just makes more work for us to give someone a job and then have to do it ourselves; mostly because you won’t tell us until the last minute, if then, that you aren’t going to do it so we find ourselves constantly scrambling to cover you instead of planning ahead.

And…our first priority, as the ministry called by God, is for your soul. As I said above, when someone who is less than top-of-the-line faithful is given a job, they quit church all together. We can’t bear that responsibility. We won’t take a chance on causing you to fall in order to relieve us of a little work.

Conclusion……….BE THERE!