missional office?

It is often not a difficult question for a pastor, “Where do I have my office?” Quite often an office is provided within the church building for him to use. This place is usually lined with books, rather poorly furnished, and somewhat clinical; humming with bright fluorescent lights.

This question has been somewhat of a concern of mine for the past few years. Since I have been studying and working as an intern I have never really had a place set up permanently as an office. More often than not I had a small corner of a rather dark and dreary basement where I was supposed to dream of the glory of God’s grace (not an easy task).

So, now that I am moving on to my first permanent charge I have been confronted with the question, “Where do I keep my office?” There is a place in the church, though it is already being used on a part-time basis. The building is somewhat small on space anyway, so making another one does not seem practical. So I figured I would work from home.

However, I have recently been blessed with the birth of my second child, the oldest is 2, and am finding it more and more difficult to have uninterrupted work time. I wonder, though, if that is such a bad thing. Is it better to live and work in the messiness of life, or to provide a clean, clinical space to work from? How can a pastor stay in touch with the messiness of life when he excludes himself from it for so much of his time?

There was a great post over at Church Planting Novice that was really interesting. He mentions a similar struggle to what I am going through (though in a different context) and comes down reasoning that it is better to have your office at home.

As a pastor, many of my meetings are people-focused, not task-focused. Many of them are interested in discipleship. At various levels, they want to share life and truth with me, and I certainly want to share it with them. If that’s the case, then why isolate them from my life, my family, and my home, only to be invited in when it is convenient, when we can roll out a meal and impress them with a clean house? Why relegate counseling to the sterile confines of a church office, when the grittiness of life can be shared within the warm, earthiness of a home?

Since I find it so valuable to be able to share my whole life with others, following the example and instruction of Jesus, I find it important to have my office at home. While there may be more distractions it is very important to remember that our first priority in life is not how much work we can get done, but how many lives can we impact. How we treat our families is the biggest barometer on our relationship with God. If we can put them first in our lives, being their servant and putting their needs first, then we are showing that we are not centered on ourselves and our own needs and wants.

Following Jesus is about much more than simply being able to say the right things and present the right ‘front’ to people. Following Jesus is about being willing to involve every aspect of our lives with others. When we become Christians we enter a community, a body, not a building.

We are to ‘live church’, not just ‘do church’.