My friend Steve Kneale writes here about why pastors should have a burner phone. I want to endorse his recommendation with two tweaks. First, there is a simple solution to his concerns about how he might be perceived (I note he didn’t include ‘double agent’ as one of his possible professions), instead of talking about burner phones with all the associations with Line of Duty, why don’t we talk about “work phones” and “personal phones”? Secondly, I don’t know who pays for Steve’s phones but I would want to make it explicitly clear that the local church should be responsible for providing their pastor/staff with work mobiles and then paying the bill.
In fact, I would have thought that this was a no-brainer. When I was called to serve at a local church, they certainly provided me with a mobile phone and laptop as though it was a no brainer to be provided with such equipment. It wasn’t even debated. Indeed, I’m fairly certain that the idea of a second phone predates the mobile age with many vicars/manses equipped with a second landline. It’s normally, though not always, a no-brainer in the secular world too. You get provided with a work phone and computer. That might be a desk extension or it might be a mobile if your work takes you out and about.
However, it seems that the idea isn’t as obvious as I thought it would be. Indeed, even Steve’s modest proposal has got some pushback. It’s the nature of that pushback that has convinced me all the more that we shouldn’t just be saying to pastors “Hey have you thought about getting yourself an extra phone” but be saying to churches “make sure you provide your pastor with a work phone.” Alongside that, we should be saying to churches that they need to be clear with church family about the hours that their pastor works and who to contact when he isn’t on duty.
You see, one response has been to the effect that pastors shouldn’t think of what they are doing as work, distinct from their own time and family time. Instead, they should see the relationship as more porous and they should be available to the church family just as they are available to their biological family.
Now, this fits with this article in Evangelicals Now. I’m going to say more about this article in another post. There’s much I agree with in it. However, again, as with Steve’s article I’d make a couple of tweaks which I’ll explain in more detail in the other article. However, the crucial points I want to make here are as follows.
First, yes, church is family, and we are called to our role as elders vocationally. This means that we are should be available to that church family. However, even when it comes to our biological families, there are differences in how we relate to one another in the family. There is an exclusivity that follows leaving and cleaving which means we protect time and we relate distinctly to our spouses. There is also something special and unique about parents giving time to their children and that should be protected too.
Secondly, being a pastor is much more than “work”. However, it still is work, paid work, and that’s a good thing. You see, work itself is a good thing, a gift from God. So, it is right that pastors value work, that they see it as a good gift and take delight in hard work too.
The benefit for the church family is that we help model a healthy attitude to work and to family. We want church members to see that work matters and that we haven’t ducked out of it for a reading hobby. This enables us to model a healthy relationship to work where it does not become all consuming. You don’t want your church family to think that they have got to be available to colleagues, bosses, employees or clients 24/7. That’s true even if those people get on really well as friends and even if the job is in a caring profession.
We can also model how to be both exclusive to our family and available to our church in a healthy way and this should encourage members how to think about and act towards their family and their church. We want our wives and children to know the commitment we have to them. When the church recognises this and provides for it by small things like a clearly communicated day off and by other ways of both supporting the pastor in hos work and protecting his time, it also sends a message to the family as well.
Thirdly, when a pastor protects time off with his family and switches his work phone off, he is sending a message that he cares about and values the rest of the team, whether staff or unpaid leaders.
Fourthly, it sends a signal that we have confidence in God to do his work and bring fruit in people’s lives. Guess what will happen in most circumstances if the pastor doesn’t pic up his phone on holiday or his day off? The answer is in many cases that the person calling will have to resolve the matter for themselves and that will mean that they will need to take it to the Lord.
In other words, by blessing your pastor with a work phone and a clearly communicated day off, you don’t just bless him. You bless his family and you bless the whole church family.
Faithroots 