Some people in our church judge our pastor exclusively by how well he visits the hospital. Shouldn’t the criteria for evaluating a pastor’s effectiveness be broader?
Evaluating anyone on one factor rarely is an appropriate response. Unless the only requirement in your pastor’s job description is visiting the hospital, then, yes, the criteria for evaluating his effectiveness should be broader. This brings up an important point. Does your church have a job description for the pastor? One that details the scope of the position is essential in helping all parties understand expectations placed on the pastor. Sometimes a church just assumes everyone agrees on what a pastor is supposed to do, which never is the case.
The pastor’s job description should reflect the needs of the church. In a single-staff position, the pastor may have a great many responsibilities. The pastor may be expected to preach on Sunday, present a Bible study on Wednesday, visit the sick and membership, officiate weddings and funerals, mow the grass, light the heaters, fill the baptistry and drive the bus! In larger, multiple-staff churches, the pastor’s job may require more administrative duties or be reduced simply to delivering the messages. Each church needs to determine what it expects the pastor to do and delineate those expectations clearly, both to the pastor and to the congregation.
The pastor can be evaluated on how well these duties are performed. Ideally, a personnel committee meets with the pastor and provides an objective evaluation based on the job description.
Congregations should realize no pastor will fulfill every role to perfection. Each pastor has different strengths and weaknesses that naturally result in some aspects of the job exceeding others. Thus, singling out any one duty will provide a distorted view of the pastor’s performance.
Distortion can work both ways. If a pastor excels at one part of the job, perhaps sermon delivery, then someone whose only relationship with the pastor is listening to the sermon may believe this is the best pastor in the world. Likewise, if a family’s only reference is that the pastor did not visit them in the hospital, then they may believe the same pastor is the worst in the world. Neither reflects an adequate evaluation of the pastor’s total job performance.
Last, it seems important to notice the use of the term “judge” in your question. Discernment and evaluation are vital elements in a good relationship between pastor and congregation. “Judging” the pastor however, never will lead to a successful relationship, and it even violates the command of Christ. Congregations should realize no pastor can ever meet all the expectations of every person in the church. Judging the pastor for falling short of perceived perfection rejects the gospel at several points. Evaluate, but avoid judging, and seek the ministry relationship God desires for your church.
Van Christian, pastor
First Baptist Church, Comanche
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