The Paper Trail

Do I really want to take on extra paperwork?

As a retired pastor serving a pair of churches, I am aware of parts of my job that are tedious. Specifically, each church annually puts together a group of reports that details the ‘state of the church.’ This is a denomination-wide requirement. This can run anywhere from ten to twenty or more reports, done by or at the request of the pastor.

Isn’t this one of those jobs I was glad to escape when I first retired?

Looking over the work of my pastor predecessors, I see very few reports I can just redo by a little editing. Oh, well, I’ll just roll up my sleeves and get to work.

I know that when this ‘state of the church’ chore is done, I’ll know my two churches better than I have before. There will also be a valuable historical record created for where we stood in 2020, “the year of the virus.” The pastor who replaces me a few years from now will see how we coped.

Maybe somebody ought to force us all to take an annual detailed look at ‘the state of me.’ How is my health? How are my finances? What have I done for others in the past year? How is my relationship with God? What are the areas I need to improve on in the next year? It could change your life!

Imagine your children or grandchildren looking back at such a record when you are long gone. What a legacy!