MOST clergy will recognise the feeling of being swamped by the burden of administration. It is easy to feel paralysed by an ever-increasing “to do” list, and an inbox that feels like a sinking vessel, as messages come in faster than replies can be sent.
As if this weren’t bad enough, the despair can easily turn to guilt, as one thinks of the things that one should be doing instead of sitting in front of a computer. It is tempting, as the admin tsunami swells, to throw one’s hands in the air towards the God who, presumably, has never logged into the Church of England’s “People System” or prepared for an Archdeacon’s Visitation and cry: “I wasn’t ordained for this!”
The guilt is often exacerbated by comparing oneself to seemingly more virtuous clergy who appear to be in a constant state of adoration, or who spend every available moment assiduously visiting the faithful. When did somebody last glory on Instagram over a completed rota?
While I would not argue that admin should be prioritised over saying our prayers or visiting the sick, I wonder whether the clergy need to form a better relationship with a task that is as important as it is inevitable. Rather than view admin as a necessary evil — or an unnecessary evil — to be endured, might it be a legitimate part of priestly life to be celebrated?
We need to stop seeing admin as the enemy. While it may not be in the Ordinal, admin is essential to allowing the work of God to happen. Time spent in admin is not necessarily time taken away from explicitly priestly ministry. Instead, used well, it is time that allows that ministry to flourish.
THE beautifully crafted liturgy, the fruitful stewardship campaign, or the successful parish mission are all examples of activities that benefit from time spent diligently at the desk. Even the arguably more tedious tasks — completing the annual returns or a faculty application — can be viewed differently through the lens of the Church’s mission. Those statistics might help us to discern where best to invest our energy. The faculty to make a building more flexible or accessible or less carbon-reliant — or, indeed, more beautiful — will have a direct impact on a church’s ability to welcome more people, or to care for creation, or to worship God in the beauty of holiness.
As with any task that can threaten to overwhelm us, we should guard against an unhealthy relationship with admin. I suspect the reason that most clergy loathe admin is because, in a world of instant digital communication, they have become in some way enslaved to it. Healthy boundaries are important. For example, it can be helpful to limit admin to the parish office or the study, and not let it spill into other parts of the home. Removing my parish email account from my personal mobile phone was one of the most liberating things I have ever done.
It can also be beneficial to ring-fence certain times of the day and week and — perhaps crucially — not to allow the day off to become a day for catching up on emails. I heard once of a priest, aware of his own lack of discipline, who would lock the door to his study on the evening before his day off, and entrust the key to his wife, not to be relinquished until he was back on duty.
Clergy can also fall into the trap of thinking that admin is something that they must do on their own. Another important element of establishing a good relationship with admin is to find ways of sharing it with others.
Many parishes are blessed with paid administrators. A generation or two ago, only the very largest of parishes generally had paid staff in a parish office. Now, parish administrators are common even in small parishes. I suspect that some parish administrators are not as effective as they might be, either because their work is not defined clearly enough, or because clergy have not discerned how best to use or manage them. Clear job descriptions are vital, as well as realistic expectations.
In parishes with limited financial resources, clergy may find volunteer help with admin. Tasks that some of us find mind-numbingly boring — such as copying and stapling orders of service — can provide an hour of delightfully monotonous peace for others. I have known a person with very complex mental-health needs find therapy in using a paper shredder. And, in all this, it must not be forgotten that, in many parishes — particularly those that share a priest with others across a benefice — it is churchwardens and other PCC officers who bear the lion’s share of admin. The laity, too, should not find themselves so overwhelmed with admin that they are shackled to it.
IN NONE of this am I advocating that the clergy should spend more time on admin; nor am I oblivious of processes that would benefit from reform to make them simpler. But I do wonder whether, by reconciling ourselves to “the trivial round, the common task”, we might just find ourselves doing admin more efficiently, and therefore spending less time on it.
Maybe we could even find ourselves rejoicing over this aspect of priestly ministry. Cardinal Manning, in The Eternal Priesthood, writes, “Holiness consists not in doing uncommon things, but in doing all common things with an uncommon fervour.” Seen in this light, the desk becomes not a distraction from the life and work of a priest, but one of the many altars of our lives on which we make an offering, confident that God will sanctify it.
The Revd Daniel Sandham is the Vicar of St Paul’s, Winchmore Hill, in the diocese of London. He reviews 100 Ways to Get Your Church Noticed here.
