Easter, Christmas, Halloween, council meetings, membership meetings, weddings, funerals, special event days, volunteer appreciation days, the beginning of the new year with its requirements for tax information.... These times all have something in common: They tend to be additional work above the regular schedule of preaching and studying for 2 or 3 messages a week, organizing the music for worship, counseling, visiting the sick, helping the needy, following up visitors and new converts, calling on the discouraged and distressed, preparing bulletin and newsletter information, taking care of financial records, paying the bills, maintaining the facility.... Oh yeah, and prayer. I knew I forgot something.

In the large church, these things can all be handled by a team of paid staff. In the smaller church, there probably isn't a team of paid staff, if anyone is being paid at all. There may not even be much of a team of voluntary workers, and the pastor may handle the greatest load of these "ministry activities" himself.

Oh, the load of expectations! Most of us are ready for a vacation just by reading about this pile of duties. How on earth are the small church leaders supposed to keep up with all these things that a church is "required" to do?

My answer is this: Don't.

Don't try to do everything the large churches do. Graded Sunday school classes for the kids, adult Sunday school times, 12 step meetings, new believers classes, concerts for the youth, "name" speakers, radio broadcasts, expensive advertising, food pantries, Bible institute classes, choir, Easter and Christmas productions, Sunday morning dramas....

If I tried to keep up with all of these things, I'd kill myself with stress, or I'd get a job juggling for the circus.

In the small church, this maxim holds true, and is a good general principle to follow: Do a few things well. If you can maintain this mentality, you may be able to avoid the maintenance mentality.

Don't make a building the focus of your ministerial attention. Who's going to vacuum the sanctuary, wipe the children's fingerprints off the glass doors, scrape the play dough out of the carpets in the children's classrooms, scrub the grape juice stains out the sanctuary carpets after communion Sunday, keep the landscaping looking nice, do the necessary repairs, and clean the toilets?

If I had to take care of all these items, I'd buy a truck and start a new company.

Long ago, I came to the conclusion that the ministry was all about people. If I spend most of my time serving a building, then it may not be ministry that I am doing.

Don't spend the bulk of your time on high need people. "Pastor, could you ___________?" You can fill in the blank with so many different requests: Help me with some money to pay my phone bill, set up a weekly counseling appointment, get together with us for dinner, answer my Bible questions, give me John's phone number (this one always comes during a late night phone call!), pray with me concerning my unrepentant husband....

If I wanted to handle every high need person's personal requests, I'd start a soup kitchen, or a dating service.

I keep reminding myself: My first job is to train them. My second job is to train them to train them. If I'm always at the beck and call of the neediest, I will never train, and I may never evangelize the lost either.

Don't try to keep up with everyone's expectations. Why don't you have a special youth night, a Sunday school class before the service, a choir, a potluck after the service each Sunday, a singles Bible study, a marriage retreat, a class on the book of Revelation, a shorter sermon, a longer time of worship...?

If I could meet everybody's expectations, I'd put in for God's job. Well, maybe not. I guess even He doesn't meet all our expectations.

There is One Person whose expectations I try to keep, and He's not as demanding as some of those who come through the doors of our gatherings. Hopefully, I can keep Him happy by avoiding being justified by the Maintenance Mentality.