Pastors Poll: Church Office, Home Office, and/or Both

[Wilson Deaton]

Pastors, just wondering where you do the work you do in an office...

In the church office, in an office at your home, or do you do split at both?

If you split it, please share your general plan? (For instance: admin at church, sermon prep at home, ...)

Same question concerning your library? Is it at church or at home or both? If both, what is your logic for which books are where?

Wilson

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

For me it's been all about local circumstances.

During my time in Louisiana we had 12 grades of school taking up about all the space. Also, had I tried to work at the church my door would have been a revolving door. Meanwhile I lived in a beautiful, spacious, 4 bedroom house. I made one of the bedrooms into a very nice study.

In another place, I owned a computer and the church didn't. I kept the very nice church office quite tidy and used it about every day (across the street). However, I did all my study work in the office I had a home so I could work with the computer.

Earlier in my ministry I had a nice quiet church office that I enjoyed. Usually I was the only one in the building.

These days, I keep a church office but do almost all my work in my home office.

A couple of things come to mind:
1. We have a nice call forwarding scheme. If a person calls the church number it forwards to me after about 3 rings. However, we have a second number on our home phone service. When the church forwards, it forwards to that number, which is two rings rather than one. That way I always know that the person is calling the church and I answer accordingly. Many of our church folks know how it works, so if they are calling someone they know is at the church, they hang up before the 4th ring so they won't get me instead. Another perk is that many robocalls hang up after 4 rings, so they hang up before I can answer at home.

2. Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but I've avoided using church offices if it's going to be just me and a secretary at the church building for extended periods. I don't like the look of her car and mine parked in front of the church day after day.

[Jim Abrams]

Our church is currently experiencing spacial issues. Our administrative assistant runs the church office and my study is in the basement of our home. Our meetings get done where there is space. We also have a Sunday School Class that meats in each of our two parsonages.

Note: For me there is a BIG difference between the Pastor's STUDY and the Church OFFICE.

[Dennis M. Scott]

Home office. For several years, we had church in my home, too.

[Mike Schutz]

Note: For me there is a BIG difference between the Pastor's STUDY and the Church OFFICE.

For me as well.
The church office is off of the front lobby.

My study is located behind the platform. It is small, too small to meet with folks, but it is great as a study as it has an outside window with a lovely view. It also has an anteroom with a door that leads outside. I use that room for small meetings and counseling.
It is where I do most of my writing and all of my meetings.

I split my library between my church study and home because my church study is not large enough. The books that are at home tend to be either duplicates - for example a few commentaries that might be helpful, while most are in my office, or the more devotional books that my wife might also need.

[Hans Deventer]

2. Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but I've avoided using church offices if it's going to be just me and a secretary at the church building for extended periods. I don't like the look of her car and mine parked in front of the church day after day.

Just adding that I do not think it is overly sensitive at all. Just very wise.

[Melissa DeBono]

I am an associate Pastor, and my office at church is the most lovely little cubby hole. I keep all of my professional library at the church. I often meet with one on one with folks in my office for pastoral care.

At home we have a desk and our personal libraries in our guest room. I often work there if I am working on projects or writing late at night. If I have to work from home at any other time, particularly if school is cancelled or someone is home sick, I will usually work from the kitchen or dining room table.

As a mother of three young children, I really try to divide my work/ home time very strictly. I hate "working from home," I never feel that I am giving either my best. If I am trying to work on Church organization, the chaos of the dishes or the laundry makes it impossible to concentrate, and it is awfully hard to NOT accidentally bake bread if I am trying to write a sermon. It's just too much for me. I like to do my church work at church and be really and truely present at home when I am home. I fail at this often.

[Shea Zellweger]

I kept my study at home, but kept some church papers/board files in the church office, and tried to keep that office neat in case somebody wanted to meet with me.

[Jon Bemis]

I have a very nice office at the church which I seldom use except for counseling. I usually do my study, etc. at my home office.

[Jon Bemis]

Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but I've avoided using church offices if it's going to be just me and a secretary at the church building for extended periods. I don't like the look of her car and mine parked in front of the church day after day.

That's not overly sensitive - just smart. I won't work at the church if I would be there alone with another woman.

[David Graham]

I have three offices; my "official" office is at the main Church building at Crow's Nest, and here I do much of my administration and counselling. I use this office for those purposes because I have access to photo-copying equipment as well as the church computer and printer. So for administration purposes I can get quite a lot done in a relatively short amount of time using the churches paper and ink toner:tongue:.

It is also convenient for counselling, because people have to make an appointment to see me (because they never really know when I'm there and therefore I can arrange for someone else to be around if I am counselling a younger woman.

My next "office" is my home study, where I do my research for sermons and my general education etc. Here I have access to the internet also, and in the few spare moments I have, connect to Naznet and read the discussions.

My other "office" is the front seat of my car. Since I work in a rural parish where I have three other churches each about 30 minutes driving time from the central church (at highway speed) then in getting around the parish I spend a lot of time on the road. Also since my furtherest parishoner is about an hour's drive (again at highway speed) north of the central church, I spend a lot of time travelling when making my pastoral visits...... and with regard to these, I make for all purposes over a thousand calls each year. So consequently, when I stop on the side of the road for lunch or a break, I often pray or do parts of my sermon preparation during those times....... it's also helpful to speak out loud what I would like to say (in my sermons) when there is no one around for kilometres. I also draw a lot of inspiration from nature, so this is helpful in my sermon preparation and devotional times also.

People can contact me via my mobile phone (unless I'm in a "balck spot" where there is no coverage). Also the main phone line is automatically defaulted to my mobile phone so in a sense I can be contacted (in theory) 24 hours a day anywhere.

[David Gerber]

Starbucks, until they closed it. Now Tim Horton's and home. I have an office at church, I just get kind of looney when I'm in my office for long periods of time.

[Greg Farra]

Home for me. I'm an Associate who has his own business, so I'm usually at the church one day a week. My son moved out, so his room is now my office, study, and guest room.

[David Pettigrew]

I love my office at church. In my opinion, it's one of the most relaxing places on the planet. I keep my door shut, but put a sign on the door that lets everyone know I'm in, and they can simply knock if they need me. We have caller ID, and if I don't recognize the number, I don't answer. All my books are there. All my coffee makers are there. It even has a private restroom! It really is the one space on earth that I can call my own.

I miss my office. Currently we have two foster babies - nine months and 6 weeks. My wife is a preschool teacher at our daughter's preschool, and works until noon. So, I'm sitting on the couch right now in between nanny duties, typing this out on my laptop. I'll go to my happy place this afternoon, and try to get a full day's ministry done in half a day.

Oh, sometimes when I want to be in a crowd, I office at my other space - Panera Bread.

[Susan Unger]

I love my office at church. In my opinion, it's one of the most relaxing places on the planet. I keep my door shut, but put a sign on the door that lets everyone know I'm in, and they can simply knock if they need me. We have caller ID, and if I don't recognize the number, I don't answer. All my books are there. All my coffee makers are there. It even has a private restroom! It really is the one space on earth that I can call my own.

I miss my office. Currently we have two foster babies - nine months and 6 weeks. My wife is a preschool teacher at our daughter's preschool, and works until noon. So, I'm sitting on the couch right now in between nanny duties, typing this out on my laptop. I'll go to my happy place this afternoon, and try to get a full day's ministry done in half a day.

Oh, sometimes when I want to be in a crowd, I office at my other space - Panera Bread.

coffee makers?

[David Pettigrew]

coffee makers?

I have about five.

[Charlene Clevenger]

As the church secretary, I feel free to answer for the pastor. He has an office at the church, but their home office is for his wife. Before we remodeled several years ago we had his office and my office with a ministries office in between for the mailboxes, copier, etc. When we remodeled the middle office became his office for meeting people in and his old office became his study, where he has his computer and he can spread out books and leave them out if he wants to.

[Susan Unger]

I have about five.

Gracious...I thought my dad was bad with his coffee consumption. So, is it like a flavor per pot?

[Jon Bemis]

I have about five.

A man after my own heart.

[John Kennedy]

My Dad always maintained he knew he could stop drinking coffee - he'd done it at least once a year for the last 20 years.

[Greg Farra]

I'm jealous of David's private restroom. You can always buy coffemakers, but your very own throne?

[Ken Osso]

I have a very nice office at the church, and I also have an office at home. I split my time--generally try to keep office hours during the bulk of the day (while putting in some more time at home after picking kids up from school). Thursday afternoons and Fridays are usually my time for sermon prep, and I prefer to work on that at home. It's not a hard and fast system, but that's the general picture. Honestly, I like both areas...sometimes it's nice to work from home without interruption, and sometimes I prefer the time in the office at the church. Most of my books remain in my church office, but I usually have about 3-6 books with me. Currently have a couple small group books and a couple Romans commentaries on hand.

[David Pettigrew]

Gracious...I thought my dad was bad with his coffee consumption. So, is it like a flavor per pot?

No, I just switch out which one I use. I don't make five pots at once!

[Susan Unger]

No, I just switch out which one I use. I don't make five pots at once!ok....wasn't sure.:coffe:

[David Troxler]

Starbucks, until they closed it. Now Tim Horton's and home. I have an office at church, I just get kind of looney when I'm in my office for long periods of time.

What's your excuse the rest of the time? :smilies0262:
(You knew I would ask.)

[Mark Bolerjack]

I call Panera Bread my home office away from home

[Mike Schutz]

I call Panera Bread my home office away from home

Sorry that I didn't give you a heads up, but I am using your "home office away from home" this morning. And, in looking around, I see that four or five other pastors are doing so as well.

[Dennis M. Scott]

I'm jealous of David's private restroom. You can always buy coffemakers, but your very own throne?

Two of my former associates have had trouble on their thrones. One had a severe cerebral hemorage (sp) from which he has only mostly recovered (PTL) and another had a heart attack and died. I have since had church offices with a restroom, but I tend to use them more for storage than anything else.

[Jim Abrams]

Two of my former associates have had trouble on their thrones. One had a severe cerebral hemorage (sp) from which he has only mostly recovered (PTL) and another had a heart attack and died. I have since had church offices with a restroom, but I tend to use them more for storage than anything else.

What?!?!?!?

[David Pettigrew]

Two of my former associates have had trouble on their thrones. One had a severe cerebral hemorage (sp) from which he has only mostly recovered (PTL) and another had a heart attack and died. I have since had church offices with a restroom, but I tend to use them more for storage than anything else.

I've heard of deathbed victory, but never deathtoilet.

[Dennis M. Scott]

What?!?!?!?

Neither were on staff with me at the time. The one that died had retired, and the other was a fluke. It just makes me always think twice: I'm weird like that.

[Cam Pence]

my church is very small and all the available rooms are used for sunday school (good problem to have) so i work from my office at home. that is where my library is as well.

[Pete Vecchi]

Wilson,

I used to do most of my pastoral office work in the church building's office until a couple of years ago, but since then I've been doing most of it at home. At first, the reasons for the change were several, including the higher price of gasoline making me realize that I could do most of my office work from home and save the 12-mile round trip. In addition, the building for our congregation is old and is set up in such a way that it is not energy efficient when one person (me) is working in one room (my office). There is one odd-sized window in my office (on the 2nd floor of a 2-story educational wing) that there has never been a screen for since before I became the congregation's pastor over 6 years ago. Therefore the only climate control I have in the summer is to have a fan running in the office, unless I want to turn on the A/C for the entire educational wing (however, this is not economically feasible). In the winter, I can use the baseboard heat that was set up in that office (again, well before I became the pastor), but the rest of the building is really cold. In the end, it just makes more econimic sense to not run the climate control in the building for one person to work there.

The upside to working from home is less travel time (round trip is about 20 minutes, but hey--20 minutes is 20 minutes). At the same time, I do seem to get less distracted when working from the office in the church building.

[John Kennedy]

I've heard of deathbed victory, but never deathtoilet.

I was going to write something clever about 'dying declarations' but decided to forbear (there, got THAT ouf of the way for the week).