Working for your church

[SamineShaw]

Reposting from Employment topic:

Does anyone working for their church have issues with the line between work and serving blurred?

I feel like I'm constantly on duty 

It's a real problem for anyone who works for a church.

What kind of role are you in?

I'm Admin/finance/building manager

I don't know what you can do about it. I'm only the cleaner but I find myself in the role of hall keeper, gardener, fabric person and general skivvy all the time. I am always getting phone calls and visits about church stuff and people seem to think I am responsible for almost everything that goes on in the church. It's exhausting.

Yep I found it ruined my relationship with my church. We moved churches in the end. Constantly being on duty. People telling me things instead of the actual person responsible and then me having to chase down the actual person who needs to know. I found it hard to say no when I was the only person being paid in the meeting, even though I did way more than my hours. I really don't miss it. But I have seen some people do it well but you need firm boundaries and a stern voice/face when it comes to telling people you are off duty!

Do you have a clearly delineated day(s) off? Our administrator doesn't work on Sundays, so if you ask her something church related on a Sunday, she'll tell you that she's not working, so could you send an email/call during the week. As building manager, do you work on Sundays?

No I work Monday to Friday. The proverbial straw was last week, there was a 'loving the church' morning arranged for Saturday where the church members come in and do cleaning. I was talking to the minister on Friday about what needed doing and he said "you can tell them when you get here" I replied that I wasn't planning on being here as it's my day off, he said "I think you should, everyone else has worked all week and is still coming in, it's your service to the church!"

I said yes but people haven't worked HERE all week, if I come in tomorrow it WILL be working and I won't get a day off, I don't get a break. He said "that's why we give you Sundays" () what the heck! Incidentally I was down for Kids Church on Sunday so no I wouldn't get a break!

I was in tears when I went home, I didn't go in Saturday morning (I spoke to trustees to say I wouldn't be) and I swapped my kids church. After having all weekend to think about it, I'm of the opinion I need another job, I really don't want to leave church but that's the only other option

I can see your point, and this might be a good moment to get your own and the pastor's expectations of how your role works on an explicit footing.

It seems to me that on this occasion you were being asked to volunteer your time as a member of the church, not to work as an employee of the church. As the pastor said, everyone else would also have been working all week as well. On the other hand, if you were already taking on a role on Sunday as well I can see how that would have felt like you might as well sleep there!

There aren't any easy answers to this. Having good boundaries about the time that you spend at work, and being clear about what you are responsible for and what you are not - and passing on things you are not responsible for - is important. But it might also be helpful to recognise that your admin work is your service to the church (I'm guessing that it might well be possible to earn more from a similar role in a secular context), and you might think about saying that to the pastor. Do you have supervision meetings with him/her? That might be one place to clarify this. Pastors should be modelling how to keep a reasonable work-life balance and should support their staff in achieving this.

If he/she isn't receptive, then it might be time to look for another job.

Thanks Niminy that hasn't occurred to me. I've got a meeting with the pastor on Thursday so we'll see how it goes.

oh lovely. you were volunteering on Sunday and I bet you do many more Sundays than other people do work days on Saturday.

i used to house-sit for a minister when they were on summer holidays. there used to be phone calls where the person were incredulous that they had actually gone away. I used to want to reply, yes because people still keep ringing them up

It is always incredible difficult to keep work and personal life separate when you are part of a mainly volunteer community.

I think that the point here is not about whether or not you "should" be volunteering in this instance. It was the fact that you were expected to be there in order to direct the efforts of other volunteers. It was your day off, which means that it was your time to do with as you saw fit. You have other priorities, and equally it can't possibly be a 3 line whip for every church member. Few people would volunteer to serve in exactly the same role that they get paid for the rest of the week (in fact I've known a church come unstuck when they did employee a volunteer - they were paid for 5 hours and volunteered in exactly the same role for 5 hours and the church ended up having to pay the minimum wage for the full 10 hours).

Equally the pastor is right - the other people there on Saturday will be giving up their free time. But voluntarily, and not because they are obliged to do so as part of their paid job. The honourable thing would have been to ask you to supervise the Saturday, if necessary, but offering time off in lieu.

Is the chair of trustees someone you could talk this through with? It does seem to have come to a head somewhat suddenly by the sounds of it, and I agree that either leaving the job or the church seems drastic without exploring other means of resolution first.

You should have offered to go into one of their offices and cleaned up there for them, a change is as good as a rest.

Only being silly, in case you didn't realise.

Ha ha his office is the one place I refuse to clean and it is a complete tip! 😂

The Saturday thing was a small issue but it's been building for a while that I am taken very much for granted and projects that were supposed to be run by volunteers have eventually landed squarely in my lap 😕

I think for something like that my dh (vicar) would have suggested you swap your day off that week - that's what he tends to do for things like that. He sees a day off from it all as very important.

It is a hard balance. We basically live the job as we never get away from it in the vicarage - we try and go out on our day off and away in the holidays (yes at BES' experience of people being disgruntled when the vicar dares go on holiday!!)

It's definitely important to protect time off - but something like what you describe sounds pretty important to the church and your ministry. Could you get an extra day off next week? The pastor is being VU saying Sunday is your day off, are you sure he wasn't joking!!

Madhairday no he wasn't joking, I had asked not to be included on the Welcome Team rota and that is what he was referring to!

I work for the church and we have, currently, a good balance between my work and my giving as a member of the church. We see my time leading a Sunday school group, helping with youth club as giving.... I did it before my job and would continue after... the time I spend sorting out congregational issues after the service is "work". And they have added additional pay to my salary in acknowledgement that my role can't escape some working elements on a Sunday. There's a blur as I've taken on a children's work coordination role but there's an understanding that whilst it's not in my job description it's beyond what I would have taken on as a congregation member.
The church are respectful of my work-life balance, particularly as I am a single mum to a busy child with limited family support. They are very proactive in making sure I am juggling ok and whilst they are happy for me to respond to emails in times I'm not working, they also make sure things aren't too much when they see it happen a lot.
I personally felt aware when I took the job on that it was a position where things would crop up out of my working hours and where possible I will deal with that- though if it takes a lot of my out of work time, I will take back some time.
I'm very fortunate that I have leadership who are supportive of enabling me in my role for the church whilst also enabling me as a church member and a mother. I am so thankful for that. But I do very much empathise that it is a juggling act! Xx

I work for my church, but I only made it my church a couple of months after taking employment there. The other employed lay person goes to a different parish for her actual worship etc. It works well for both of us: she likes the clear delineation of what she does for her job and what she does for her parish (e.g. she teaches catechism in her own parish, not with us). I prefer to have everything all in one place and nobody (including me) knows what I'm doing for work and what as a volunteer but that suits me fine. They're very flexible with times, which suits me as a lone parent. I guess it's just about what works for you, and if the current setup isn't working then you need to address it.