Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 4, 1995                   TAG: 9511060020
SECTION: RELIGION                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID BRIGGS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`BORING' ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS TAKE UP MUCH OF A MINISTER'S DAY

Once they get out in local churches, however, clergy quickly find their days taken over by a series of constant interruptions, ranging from people calling for service times to vendors selling supplies.

A new study in which researchers observed ministers at work for a full week found a third or more of their time was spent on administrative duties. Take away Sunday, and that percentage rises to close to 50 percent, said the Rev. Gary William Kuhne, an assistant professor of adult education at Pennsylvania State University.

``You have all the frustrations a manager would have, plus the frustrations a professional would have, and they're all melded into the same role,'' Kuhne said.

Kuhne and Joe Donaldson, associate professor of higher education at the University of Missouri at Columbia, published their findings in the December issue of the Review of Religious Research.

The researchers observed five conservative Protestant pastors ranging in age from 36 to 46 for five days each, or a total of more than 250 hours.

Past research has tended to rely on the opinions of experts or perceptions recorded on surveys. Kuhne said researchers thought clergy may underestimate the actual time spent on administrative duties, however, since they are not tasks they enjoy doing and are not seen as important parts of ministry.

In a 1985 survey of pastors conducted by Bethel Theological Seminary, ministers estimated they spent 20 percent of their time in an administrative role, nearly double their preference.

In observing what ministers actually do in a work week, Kuhne and Donaldson found that nearly half their time was spent in scheduled meetings, a category that included worship services. About a quarter was spent on desk work, half of that involving preparing sermons.

Twelve percent of their time was spent traveling, 8 percent in unscheduled meetings, 6 percent on the telephone and 5 percent touring the building, inspecting the facilities and informally talking with other staff.

``Overall, it can be said with some certainty that the amount of time really spent on administrative tasks is close to 30, 40 percent,'' Kuhne said.

Donaldson said the duo's research should promote a recognition of the administrative duties of clergy.

``The managerial dimension of clergy's work is perhaps greater than has been demonstrated,'' he said.

Edward Buchanan, professor of Christian Education at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and the director of the Bethel study, said he had reservations about the small size of the sample, but that it supplements other research showing pastors spend a significant amount of time in administrative roles.

Kuhne and Donaldson said churches also should be asking more basic questions about having their pastors taking on roles such as purchasing agents and chief administrators.

``There's really a high level of frustration existing about the level of administrative responsibility ... and the resulting question is: Is this really the way it has to be?'' Kuhne said.

Some solutions, Kuhne said, might be to enlist greater involvement of congregation members in running the church or hiring someone else to do the administrative tasks.

Kuhne, who also pastors a small church in Erie, Pa., said that by delegating responsibilities and increasing the involvement of laypersons, he has cut the amount of time he spends on administrative tasks to less than 10 percent.

Buchanan said seminaries can help pastors by offering continuing education classes to help with administrative work.

Though prospective clergy in seminaries can be warned about their administrative roles, the message apparently rarely gets through. In the seminary survey, pastors responded, ``If we had told them about administrative tasks, they wouldn't have listened anyway.''

It is not until they get out in the field, Buchanan said, that they ``discover they're not going to study the Bible all day.''