How do you balance ministry and life?For example, how do you take care of your family while taking good care of your church, at the same time, you have to solve all kinds of relationship problems from the world.
in order to balance ministry and the life we need the help of the Holy Spirit, the first ministry a minister has to do is ministering to the Holy Spirit if we keep this then all the part of the life will be rightfully balanced
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It is true that the Bible does not have a formula for how to parse out our schedule between family and ministry. The Bible does, however, establish an order of importance in these two. 1 Timothy 3:4-5 says that the minister must, “Manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?”
The simple truth of this passage is that men are not allowed to care for God’s church until they have learned to care for their own home. There can be no success in caring for God’s church until there has been success in caring for your home. This means that men who are committed to having successful ministries must be committed to having well-ordered homes. You cannot have the former without the latter.
10 WAYS PASTORS BALANCE LIFE AND MINISTRY IN THEIR SCHEDULES
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A DAY OF REST
Without fail, ALL of the faithful pastors I’ve dialogued with intentionally disconnect for at least one full day each week. Many also regularly take an extra day or half-day, due to the fact that most weeks find ministry demands bleeding into long 15+ hours days. One day off is consistent across the board. Many ministry leaders do not take a day off, thinking this to be noble or admirable. It’s not. It’s dangerous, destructive, and a bad example to others, which will lead to burnout. -
A COUPLE FULL DAYS OF STUDY
While the placement of these days varies widely, I have yet to find a healthy church model where the pastor spends less than 15-20 hours each week studying and preparing. For many pastors, it’s more! Fruitful pastors take feeding the flock as their most serious responsibility, and their churches are typically thriving with health. They love the Word, engage their hearers, and do the hard work of delving into complex Biblical truth — creatively making it simple, applicable and actionable without dumbing it down or compromising its message. -
A FULL DAY (OR TWO) OF ADMINISTRATION AND APPOINTMENTS
Pastors balance life and ministry by maintaining a strategic role as both an engaged leader and an available shepherd. Regular staff meetings, responding to church family needs, and consistent attention to developing relationships happens on these days. Seasonally, this may increase or decrease, but it’s always held in check in order to avoid encroaching on the ministry of the Word. -
A HALF-DAY (OR MORE) OF OUTREACH
Fruitful pastors never get too far from “the last time they shared the Gospel with someone.” While the times and ways of doing this vary from church to church, region to region, season to season—all of them do it intentionally. They engage people, build relationships, set appointments, and share Jesus. To these pastors, sharing the Gospel personally with others is not merely the fulfillment of a church program or a Christian duty, it’s the heart-beat of their lives and the central focus of their ministry. -
A FULL DAY OF WORSHIP AND MINISTRY ON SUNDAY
Pastors should deliberately make Sunday as effective and encouraging as they possibly can. They are Biblicists and optimists! They see the gospel and God’s Word as truly GOOD NEWS! They anticipate and love expending themselves for the encouragement of God’s people. They want church to be refreshing — not discouraging or exhausting. They labor so that God’s people might leave Sunday edified and equipped. -
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT THAT NO WEEK IS THE SAME
This is universally consistent—no week is like the last. This is the reason the days above total more than seven days. Some weeks are study heavy. Others are administration heavy. Yet others are emergency heavy. No two weeks are the same. The ideal week exists in the mind more than reality, but having a target serves as an “anchor point” for remaining in balance. Planning for the unknown helps pastors balance life and ministry. -
DELIBERATE SOLITUDE AND BALANCE
Every wise pastor I’ve spoken with emphasizes the importance of soul health—personal solitude with God and flexibility to avoid burnout. They all emphasize the values of family time, marriage time, and personal rest—frankly because many of them have been to the edge and back. They’ve learned to avoid the “red zone” of personal exhaustion and spiritual depletion. They’ve learned “the hard way” and don’t want history to repeat itself. -
DELIBERATE SEASONS OF EXTENDED STUDY, PRAYER, PLANNING, AND VISION DEVELOPMENT
Without fail, every one of these pastors can point to annual places on their calendar when they pull away from the fray for a season. It may be five days, a couple weeks, or a longer sabbatical. It may be annual or longer every few years. It may be a day a month for focused prayer. The spouse usually participates, as well.
Every one of these pastors encourages planned “working withdrawal”—not vacation or time off, but time invested into long-range leadership, preparation and study. Often these pastors have other leaders in their lives, like deacons, elders, or a leadership coach, who ask the hard questions and support this kind of restoration.
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REGULAR FAMILY VACATIONS
Sustainable ministry models always include a pastor that gets away with his family for two or three weeks (or more) annually. A lot of pastors struggle with this for fear of criticism. If I wasn’t a pastor, I would more likely be bothered if my pastor DID NOT do this. “Not taking family vacation time” is unhealthy. It’s a bad example for other families. Put family vacation on the calendar—take it, enjoy it, talk about it and encourage others to do the same! You won’t regret it after the kids are grown! -
REGULAR MARITAL REFRESH
Healthy pastors maintain happy marriages. A man who works too much is not a godly man. He’s a neglectful man. Wise pastors have always encouraged me to plan a couple of times during the year to get away for a night or two with my wife. Having just marked our 25th anniversary, I can testify that this is the best marriage advice I’ve been given.
While every week is different, and every pastor is different—the fruitful and healthy pastors I talk to urge me to pursue building a weekly schedule that maintains healthy balance in life and ministry, while keeping a sustainable pace in leadership.
Personally, I struggle with the balance between moving forward in God’s will without driving forward in my own! I want to do more in my own strength. I tend to overestimate my ability to output. I fight the temporal enjoyment and illegitimate identity that can be found in “over-achieving.” But I’ve also experienced the emptiness and futility of “life in the red-zone.” In recent years, God has given me some pretty clear “health indicators” that warn me to make adjustments, and He’s given me a godly wife that looks for those warning signs and encourages me to trust God and live with balance.
One pastor said to me, “Cary, if you study some of the great pastors in history, you will find that every single one of them had different schedules and different approaches to personal balance. Find what works for you, and do it faithfully.”
A loyal friend in my church family often sets me in my place with this question: ”Pastor, are you staying healthy?” As I assure him I am, he says something that always convicts me: “Good… because you’re no good to ANY of us if not!”
Healthy leaders are useful to God and others. They bless, encourage, edify, and serve. But, in the words of my friend, a burnt-out, self-destructive leader is “no good to any of us!”
Ministry is the by-product of relationship with the Lord
I also have this kind of hard time. To overcome it, first I realized that I must keep close to the words of God. A Christian can’t live without prayer, words of God. We are like jars, if we put sometime good first, bad think can not come in. So in the morning we must take time to pray, read bible, and listen message. I also have baby, I must get up earlier to do it. Then even among daytime, I could have strength to deal with other things.
Second, need to make a list for the things need to do within the day. “Google keep” this app helped me a lot.
Third, say no to something unnecessary .
yes, it is very hard. i make a achedule. when i do mission, i just think about mission. After i return home, i just enjoy my free time. But sometimes, some people still try to find you. it is very hard to balance
Thank you for sharing such details
It is not easy to balance. I am still learning and practising to balance; and I trust that the Holy Spirit will help me to balance, and I will pray.
When work, work whole heart and whole mind and whole strength
After work, study whole heart and whole mind and relax whole body
Separate time
I will separate morning time just for study and reading Bible, reflection and praying
Daytime concentrate on ministry
Night time is like trash time for me. I just read some books about marriage or watch kids program and half way fell asleep too tired
Train my body to get up early. Morning time is the most precious time