I’m New to Pastoral Productivity. Can You Help Me?

Three Principles for Pastoral Productivity

I enjoyed listening to an interview with my friend Reagan Rose and The Focused Pastor on time management for busy pastors. In the interview, Rose gives three principles for pastoral productivity:

1. Get clear.
2. Get organized.
3. Get consistent.

These three principles are a good place to start if you're new to pastoral productivity. Each one builds on the next. If you’re struggling with focused effectiveness in ministry, one of the three might be missing. Allow me to build upon the three principles for pastoral productivity.

Three Principles for Pastoral Productivity

1. Get clear: Identify your priorities.

Every pastor should clearly understand what he is called to do. The narrowest description of pastoral ministry comes from Acts 6:4: ”But we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.” Ministry is simple, but not easy. Prayer and study of Scripture are not the only two things you should do, but it is indefensible for these two things to be absent from your schedule.

The more I think about pastoral productivity, the more I’m inclined to give this advice:

1. Identify your main pastoral priorities, and give your best energy to accomplish them.
2. Gently delegate tasks that don’t align with your main pastoral priorities but still need to be done.
3. Say “no” to everything else.

The point is this: get clear on what you should be doing with your time. You can’t be effective in pastoral ministry if you’re not clear on what you’re supposed to be doing, and what success looks like in your role. This is where a season of seminary, church internships, and observing effective pastors is beneficial.

While every pastor has to prioritize the ministry of the Word and prayer, not every pastor’s schedule will look identical. This might change slightly depending on your title. Church planters, for example, will spend their time differently than a church revitalizer and a church revitalizer will spend his time differently than a Lead Pastor of a megachurch, and so on. Church planting pastors may need to spend an inordinate amount of time raising money and developing leaders, whereas a Lead Pastor of a large church already often has plenty of funds to work with and has equipped others to develop leaders. There is room for flexibility based on your church setting and cultural circumstances.

For more on priorities, see my article Pastoring, Productivity, and Priorities.

2. Get organized: Develop your systems.

In his book, Christ-Centered Preaching, Bryan Chapell states being labeled as “unorganized” in your sermon delivery is a deadly assessment. I agree.

Imagine that. Here you are a lover of Jesus, having spent much time in the Word, waking up on Sunday morning ready to serve God’s people, and your listeners view your sermon as ineffective because you were unorganized. That stings. But it’s true. Thank God he can use pathetic sermons to accomplish his will, but that doesn’t mean we should presume on God’s kindness and cut corners in sermon preparation. To be unorganized in your sermon delivery will undermine your effectiveness.

Something similar could be said about the organization for your day-to-day activities. Some pastors make pastoring harder than it needs to be. Don’t get me wrong: it’s already hard. But being unorganized makes it harder. What does being unorganized look like? Constantly procrastinating. Flying by the seat of your pants. Not following up on what you said you’d do. Waiting until the last second to do everything. If you live and work like this, you’re unintentionally shooting yourself in the foot.

If that’s what it looks like to be unorganized, what does it mean to be an organized pastor? It means having developed and proven systems and structures in your ministry that empower you to be effective in your main pastoral priorities. But that’s a mouthful. So let’s get more practical. Practically, being organized could look like: working ahead from a clean desk, using technology to store and organize information, gathering all resources needed ahead of time to write your sermon, being aware of all moving parts in your ministry, and so on. Getting organized doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. You can tweak it based on your personality and church context. But disorganization will make your job harder.

3. Get consistent: Do the work.

James Clear, author of the modern-day classic, Atomic Habits, gives this insight: “Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.”

Others in the personal development world have chimed in and referred to the “two-day rule” which encourages its adherents not to miss an important task twice. If you miss one day of exercise, that’s fine. You’re human. But don’t miss two times in a row. If you do, you’ve started a new habit. This underlines the importance of consistency. Many of the most productive people I know do the right thing even when they don’t feel like it. Determining every decision you make by how you feel is a recipe for pastoral ineffectiveness.

Many older pastors don’t know a thing about Todoist or Notion, but they show up and do the work. Seen this way, there’s a danger of over-complicating productivity. Many people first look for the perfect apps and tools before getting started. But true pastoral productivity is rooted in character. This takes the form of discipline, self-control, perseverance, and plain ole grit. On the opposite side, it must be said that a lack of consistency often stems from a character shortfall. So much of being a productive person for God’s glory is less from downloading the right apps and more from being the right person.

Being clear about your priorities and being organized with your systems won’t matter much if you can’t be consistent.

If you want to be a productive pastor, you need to get clear, get organized, and get consistent. Getting clear means identifying your priorities. Getting organized means developing your systems. And getting consistent means showing up and doing the work. All three are interconnected and empower you to do the right things for God’s glory.