After reading last week’s Rumblings on caring for the poor, a rural pastor emailed me, telling me that he had just gotten back in the office from his eighth benevolence ministry experience that week.
That started me thinking about the special burden carried by pastors of small churches that can’t afford a large staff. That’s not to say that pastors of multi-staffed churches don’t also personally work in hunger and benevolence ministries – they do, but, in small churches, that work is often the responsibility of the pastor alone. That pastor doesn’t have other staff members on whom he or she can call to share that work.
Take, for example, my rural pastor friend, a man with a great heart, deep faith in Christ, and deep compassion for people who hurt and the challenge that he faces.
Such a pastor has little time for sermon preparation. Caring for your church takes time – but even moreso when you don’t have other staff to share the burden. It may mean going to a football game nearly every Friday night in the fall, sometimes two basketball games per week in the winter, and on and on, staying close to your congregation and letting them know that their church cares about their lives.
A small-church pastor may have to travel a good distance to sit with a family during a time of crisis. When I pastored a rural church, people had surgery in San Angelo, Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Brady, Austin, and San Antonio. Of course, pastors care about their people – but pastors are only human; they need their rest like anyone else. But the pastor of a small church doesn’t get much rest. In my case, I went to sit with those families while their loved ones were in surgery; after all, our little church didn’t have another staff person to take my place, and those families needed someone to be with them.
I have no idea what pastor salaries are now, since I haven’t been a pastor in nearly 30 years, but I imagine a small-church pastor makes less than a schoolteacher in most places (and schoolteachers are shamefully underpaid for what they contribute to the lives of children, their families, and their communities).
If that small-church pastor has a parsonage to live in, which helps him or her survive, he or she retires with no home equity to use in buying one for retirement.
Through the years, we have held annual “young pastor retreats” as a part of our TBC ministry. Every year, I look in the faces of these young pastors and tell them straight up, “most of you will never ever pastor a church that runs over 200 in Sunday School. The odds are just against you, because there are not that many larger churches and, at some point in your ministry, you will have to come to a healthy acceptance that being a small-church pastor is a wonderful calling.”
Having said that, please let me pay a special tribute to three men:
- Billy Ray Parmer was pastor of FBC, Valley Mills for many years. He pastored the entire town, serving in the fire department and many other areas of the community. What he did was significant and magnificent.
- J. B. Bitner was long-time pastor of FBC, Big Lake. He gave his life to that community in ways that will never be fully appreciated. He had a high calling, and he served well in a community that nearly died when oil prices went down. This church gives remarkable gifts each year to the Texas Baptist World Hunger offering.
- Earl Dunn pastored a church in San Angelo on the side of town that has not had a new house built in 50 years. I’m not sure how long he served as pastor, but I’m pretty sure it was for over 25 years, and it was largely his leadership that kept that church running over 200 in Sunday School. Thirty years ago, his church sponsored the church that I now attend in the growing part of San Angelo. I consider Earl Dunn one of the most remarkable and successful pastors I have ever known.
And I could name 400 more such pastors, who gave their life to ministry with little financial reward but with incredible dedication.
Did any of these three pastors, all of whom I consider legends, have a church that grew significantly? No, their location and the economic environment of the area made it impossible for those churches to grow very much, but these pastors kept their churches focused on what it means to partner with Christ in ministry, both local and global.
I love and appreciate my friends who pastor multi-staffed churches. They host TBC meetings in their churches, and they sacrifice time to serve on key BGCT boards and institution boards, but they know, too, that their ministries are no more important than those of Billy Ray, J. B., or Earl. It’s just a matter of following God’s call to wherever He leads you.
If you attend a rural or small church, go tell your pastor this Sunday how much you appreciate his or her service to your church and community. If you can find a way, raise $500 and give your pastor and his or her family a weekend to get away and rest.
The BGCT is truly blessed by those who respond to the calling of Christ and use their gifts for his Kingdom – and we are all blessed to serve God wherever He leads us.