What Is Your Role

Pastor Sam came to me because he was overloaded and was told that I do time management training.  I told him, “Sorry, only God has the power to manage time.  We only manage the roles we play in the time we are given.” So I asked, “What roles do you play in the church?”  He replied, “I’m the pastor.” I interjected, “Pastor is your title, but what are the most important roles you play?” At that, he replied with a long list of what he does and what he is responsible for.

Like most of us, Pastor Sam is a victim of “title imposed roles.”  Whether it is at home, work or ministry we are given titles. Within each title are many roles created by the needs, assumptions, and often unrealistic expectations of others.  Some of these roles are a good fit for your God-given talents and strengths but many are misfits thus causing stress and overloaded lives.

How do you define your roles?

Title imposed roles are a reality that we must acknowledge. So make a list of all the roles that are likely to be in each title you are given. Highlight the three roles that you are most interested in playing or where you believe you can provide the best investment of your passions and talents.

Follow the attached diagram answering a few questions to define each role.

  • Role name:What is the name that best describes this role? Give each role a name that reflects the highest value it brings.
  • Strengths:What are the best strengths that you bring to this role? While Strengths are a combination of natural talents, knowledge, skill, and experience the most important is talents which you can describe using adjectives.
  • Responsibility:What are the responsibilities of this role? Personal responsibilities are the space where the purpose and issues are listed, where needs and solutions are expressed, and where objectives and goals are stated. Be very careful of shared responsibilities. Responsibility assigned to many is seldom done by any.
  • Empowerment:How are you empowered to fulfill this role? List tangible or intangible resources needed to fulfill this role. Here we may indicate how this role collaborates with other roles. It is important to be realistic about the most important resource, TIME required to fulfill this role.
  • People:First you must list the important people who will partner with you, support you and hold you accountable. Second you need to clearly define the indeveduals, groups or communities that will benift from this role.

 What can you do?