Richard J. Mouw on Pastors Understanding the Working Lives of their Congregations

There’s a short piece in ‘Faith & Leadership’ (here) by Richard J. Mouw on congregants longing for pastors to understand their work lives.

Mouw writes of speaking to a businessman who was asking for ‘more sensitivity to the kinds of complexities he faces on a daily basis’, and suggests that his pastor ‘could respond to this need in helpful ways without becoming an expert on corporate finance’.

Mouw recommends that a church leader could have lunch with someone to find out what they were facing that day, perhaps even visiting their place of work to get a sense of the environment, to experience something of their workaday world. He also mentions the significance of congregational prayers: ‘simply mentioning the fact that there are businesspeople who need prayer support for their complex challenges can be an encouraging gesture.’