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Job Description of the Pastor

© Susan Padezanin

Every pastor of every United Methodist church, large or small, has a job description spelled out in the Discipline. Under their general responsibility to supervise the work and program of the local church, pastors are required to give account of their ministry to the charge and annual conference, "according to the prescribed forms." This is one of those mundane responsibilities that pastors sometimes resent. But this reporting is simply a matter of communication on what is happening and the amount of statistical reporting required of a United Methodist clergyperson is minimal compared to the reporting requirements that laypersons hold. Clergy should be glad to do the reporting that is required of them. This same paragraph makes clear the pastor's responsibility to participate in denominational and conference programs and training opportunities; this too is part of the job of a pastor.

One of the pastoral duties of deacons and elders (and of local pastors where the law allows) is to perform the marriage ceremony, but the decision to perform it or not in any given case is the clergyperson's to make. He or she is admonished to provide due counsel to the parties and is given guidance on the matter of marriage of divorced persons. He or she is called upon to counsel parties under threat of marriage breakdown and bereaved persons, and to call in the homes of the parish and community.

Pastors have a specific responsibility to instruct candidates for church membership and to receive them into the church. They are also charged with the task of seeking out persons who may make decisions for Christian service and counseling them in this regard. Another responsibility is "to participate in community, ecumenical, and interreligious concerns and to lead the congregation to become so involved." This points to the need to give of themselves beyond the walls of their own local churches.

Although in other religions, local pastors are allowed to "contract out their responsibilities" (work with the needs of a congregation to accomplish only what is specifically needed by that church); this is not the case in United Methodism.

It can be said the pastor has one of the most exciting jobs there is. The variety and challenge of the job are always more than a match for anyone's power and energies. But it is a job that carries with it some of the highest vocational satisfactions that a person can know.