Randall Balmer, an Episcopal priest  and professor of American religious history at Barnard College in New York,  recently spent a year as a part-time clergy member. In an essay you can read here, he writes of how difficult it is to run a church and

Randall Balmer

 how hard it is to please members.

Here are highlights:

“Although the vast majority of churchgoers, in my experience, are decent and kind, parishioners less charitably disposed can find ingenious ways to make a minister’s life miserable: criticism of everything from comportment and grooming to sermons, salary and administrative style. If you’re decisive, you’re an autocrat; if you seek to build consensus, you’re a weak leader. Late in my father’s very successful ministerial career, the board of elders in a large and affluent congregation demanded that he personally reimburse the church for the photocopies he made for church business….

“Eventually, such sniping exacts a toll. I threw myself, heart and soul, into my parish, despite the fact that mine was carefully stipulated as a part-time appointment. No matter. The vestry (the governing body of the congregation) insisted on still more. Worse, by the actions of some in the congregation, I was asked, in effect, to choose between the parish and my marriage.

“I requested that my contract not be renewed for a second year.”

If you’ve had experience as a clergy member, I’d love to hear your take on what it’s like. Sometimes people think all a priest or minister does is write a sermon at his leisure to be read Sunday morning. But, according to Balmer, a church leader faces challenges and criticism at every turn.

I’m thinking of writing a story on this topic, so please comment below and if you’re willing to be interviews, you can e-mail me at mark.barna@gazette.com.

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