You know what is in the Bible? Sabbath. Rest. The priority of family. And so on.
Sabbath refers to resting in the light of honoring God and giving thanks and remembering Him who gave us all we have.
It doesn't refer to humans to be complacent, lazy, and enjoy a holiday. I do believe in rest as well. But again, I don't think you
understood what I described in our part-time pastor's description. He's not overworked to the point he can't even make an effort
to get to know his sheep. I am actually quite stunned that you as a minister think there is nothing wrong with a pastor who doesn't
want to care for his sheep for the sake of taking care of his own well-being. This is anti-biblical. The bible always teaches us to love others
first and ourselves second. To put others ahead of our own interests. Self-sacrifice just as Christ did.
Yes, there's a sacrificial aspect to ministry; that is real, and important, and not to be denied. But I'm telling you, as someone who lives this calling, you cannot do it if self-sacrifice is the only thing you pay attention to. Even Jesus went away to a quiet place to be by himself, rest and be with God on his own. That's not about "comfort," but it is about respecting our human limitations and needs.
Then your church needs to find the money to pay him for more days a week so he can cut back his other work. It's either pay him for more time, or adjust your expectations according to what is reasonable for his actual situation.
Yes, I agree. The church needs to find a way to hire a full-time pastor if the congregation is suffering.
I don't fully place the blame on him, although he is not exempt from responsibility. He DOES need to pastor his flock even if he is
only a part-time pastor. But the church itself is the ones who make the decision on how much money to spend and they ultimately
carry the responsibility.
Look, it does sound as if he's reserved, or introverted, and that he could at least come out of his shell a bit after services or whatever.
But I'd say you don't know that he gives zero attention to his flock. I have many conversations with people that other people in the church never know about. And there may be other factors too; how often does he take funerals, for example? Funerals are a lot of (often unrecognised) pastoral work.
I do know. I'm in this church lol. With all due respect, comparing me and you, I am an eyewitness and you are far-removed and detached witness of my testimony so there is no way you would know more than me about him. I've spoken to other members privately and they all confirmed the same thing. They told me they try to ask him question, try to meet with him, and he always replies the same, "why?" or "sorry I can't I'm busy".
Eyewitness accounts.
But I maintain that given that your church isn't even allowing for him to have one day off a week, you're in no position to expect anything more.
He only serves on Sundays. That means he has 6 days off from church. What he chooses to do in those 6 days is up to him and not part of his church duties. So in fact, you are wrong. The church doesn't make him work 7 days a week. Again, you are mistaken. I feel that you keep thinking he has so much work that he has no time for anything. I already said he works 40 hours a week like every other person on this planet who works full-time. Does that mean you don't have time for your children because you work 40 hours a week job? No. That would be negligence. You have to make time for your children and family. He's a single man with no children. He owns pets so clearly if he has more time to care for his pets than he does for his own people at church, there is an issue. I'm surprised you don't see this.
Plus spends Saturdays preparing for Sunday. Plus takes Sunday services. Plus has meetings, admin, and so forth. I'd guess that you're underestimating what he actually does. Church admin alone (responding to email, phone calls, dealing with communications, etc) typically takes me the equivalent of a working day a week. That's probably what he's doing after his day job. (If you can't afford to pay a full time pastor, I'm guessing you also don't have an office person handling a lot of that).
This is true. Saturdays he attends a 1.5 hour service and then after that he works on his sermon in the office. I know this because I am there lol.
I try to spend time with him either before or after but he shows no interest or will say he has to work on his sermon.
Of course, every staff member has to partake in staff meetings. If other part-timer pastors are able to tend to their flock, why can't he? There is no excuse. We're not saying he should devote 40 hours a week to individual attention to the members. We're asking can't he spare 1 hour or 2 hours a week? That's all. If he can't even spare that, then you know there is an issue. No excuses you make for him can justify his lack of offering even 1 or 2 hours a week total to his flock because right now he gives 0 minutes per week.
Not acceptable even for part-time.
This is true. I'm not defending his personal style. But I'm saying expecting hours of visiting or pastoral phone calls, in his situation, is simply not reaonable.
I still do! This guy doesn't get one day off a week! Do you allow him annual leave? Sick leave? Or is he expected to work without those things, either?
And people wonder why pastors are quitting in droves. Unrealistic, unreasonable, and unsustainable expectations from congregations are a significant factor.
You are describing a full-time pastor. Full-time pastors are overworked and overburdened. Part-time pastors are not. While their pay sucks, they also have the entire week to decide what to do with their time. It's not unrealistic. He's part-time lol. He has more time than anyone even the congregants themselves since they all have to work full-time jobs. He works his own full-time job + part-time as pastor so he's doubling his salary but not giving any effort to tend to the flock except just deliver a sermon and show up to mandatory staff meetings/events. That's a given...everyone has to do that, so you can't say he is overworked lol. If he is overworked, it is because of his own choosing and his own full-time weekday job, not the church as he is just part-time.
Everyone has 24 hours in a day. If he works 8 hours a day at his secular job, that means he has 8 hours left for sleep and 8 hours left for leisure. In that 8 hours of his leisure time each day, he can't find time to tend to his pastoral duties? Unacceptable.
Tell me what he is so busy doing in those 8 hours a day of leisure time he has? Watching netflix, playing videos games, and reading sci-fi?
Again, I say, if he has enough time and energy to take care of his pets, but not a single minute to give to his church members, then think about that. Think real hard about that.