In an ideal world, we’d leave work behind after 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. We’d work heartily as unto the Lord during designated work hours and then be fully present for our friends, family, and church with the moments in between.
Of course, this fallen world and our sinful hearts are far from ideal. We answer emails at 11:00 p.m., check Slack on Saturday mornings, or tell ourselves we’re “just getting a head start on the week” when we tackle a task on the Sabbath.
For the church employee, there’s an added weight to this balance of work, life, and worship. As someone who worked exclusively in church settings for the past six years, I know well the reality of working where I worship and worshiping where I work.
My boss has been my pastor. My pastor has been my boss. My coworkers have administered the Lord’s Supper to me. I’ve prayed, sung, and experienced intimacy with the Lord in the same building where I’ve had meetings and balanced the budget spreadsheet.
While it’s a unique privilege to care for God’s people in God’s church, it can be a unique challenge when it comes to Sunday mornings. We come to church eager to worship and receive from the Lord, but it can be difficult to separate the workplace from the sanctity of God’s house.
To better navigate work, life, and worship, here are two suggestions for church employees and one suggestion for people who love someone on staff.
Remember Who You Came to Hear
The pastor of the church I attended in college would often say, “If you came to hear from me today, you came to the wrong place.” His intention was to remind us we were gathered together to hear from God—not from the preacher—in and through his Word.
For the church employee, this is crucial to remember. The individual who approaches the pulpit on Sundays might be your boss or coworker. But in that moment, you’re not there to hear from him. You’re there to hear God himself speak to you through his Word (1 Thess. 2:13).
If your pastor’s words are biblically faithful, you can seek to receive them as true and trustworthy, rather than as words warped by any bias— positive or negative—you feel toward your coworker.
Earlier that week, your boss may have frustrated you. Or maybe he gave you a raise. You could feel burdened by his unrealistic expectations of you. Or perhaps he’s your closest confidant on staff. No matter the case, ask the Holy Spirit to unstop your ears and open the eyes of your heart so you may hear from God, not your coworker.
Ask the Holy Spirt to unstop your ears and to open the eyes of your heart so that you may hear from God, not your coworker.
This also means church employees should be cautious about how they speak about their coworkers around other church members. While it can be tempting to vent to a close friend about how your boss runs a meeting or to consistently remark about how much you admire how he handles conflict, these comments can unintentionally color how others receive the Word.
Just like you, your friends are in church to hear from God—not from your coworker whom they know too much about.
Refresh Your Soul Aside from Sunday
For the church employee, Sunday is rarely restful. Church staff arrive early, stay late, and are preoccupied with sermons, leading worship, or organizing Sunday school. Because of the hectic nature of Sundays, intimacy with the Lord or a quiet moment isn’t guaranteed.
To work where you worship requires a commitment to spiritually nurturing your soul outside the Sunday hustle and bustle. As a workday, Sundays cannot and should not also be the day you set aside to rest and refresh yourself in the Lord.
If you work on Sundays, you likely already have the gift of Fridays or Mondays off. Use them wisely! My former boss was adamant we reserve Monday mornings for “spiritual renewal.” We were instructed to “make a standing appointment with Jesus” that no appointment or work task was to take priority over.
These Monday mornings became a sustaining grace for me during my years in church ministry. While I was tempted to “get to work,” I needed the time to exercise, journal, read, or fold my laundry in prayerful silence—anything that refreshed my soul after a week of work.
You may have the gift of experiencing the Lord in worship on Sundays, even if your church is your office. But those who worship where they work must also be diligent in finding an alternative Sabbath time for the sake of maintaining an intimate and refreshing relationship with the Lord.
Recognize the Needs of Your Friends on Staff
Even if you aren’t employed by a church yourself, if you care about someone who works on a church staff, you can help them to worship well.
If you have a “normal” nine-to-five, you can help love and serve church employees simply by remembering the abnormality of their jobs. What is a rest day for you is often the most hectic day of the week for them.
This can be as simple as scheduling social events on Friday nights, knowing your church-employee friend likely has an early wake-up call on Sunday. Consider praying for her on your car ride to church or sending her an encouraging text first thing Sunday morning.
To work where you worship requires a commitment to spiritually nurturing your soul outside of the Sunday hustle and bustle.
Remember those who work in churches need just as much grace and mercy as you do. They too are hungry for the Word and eager to meet God in worship. While they’re there on Sundays for work and service, they’re also hoping to receive from God.
Bear this in mind as you consider how you approach church employees on Sundays. Can that question wait until after the service or even until Monday? When was the last time you thanked your children’s pastor for his faithfulness to his Sunday morning task list or encouraged the youth minister who teaches your teenager every week?
Church employees will never hit the perfect blend of work, life, and worship. And yet we long to be faithful to the places where God has called us. As we seek to honor God in both work and worship, we look forward to the final promised rest in the place where we’ll worship God forever and work without toil in the light of his glory.
The Gospel Coalition