Office Administrator
Lack of Secretarial and Phone Availability in Local Congregations
Most congregations have reduced the working hours of their secretarial help over the last 20 or so years. Only the largest congregations have offices open 40 hours a week.
Some congregations make it easy to leave messages. But this week Bishop Briner and I talked about a congregation in San Antonio where it is almost impossible to find the pastor.
Some churches do not have an answering machine, some pastors do not check their messages, some will accept messages only over their favorite form of social media, etc.
Bishop Briner tries to make herself available in a number of ways as a means of encouraging pastors and congregations to communicate more. I have found her and her staff available also in the evenings and on weekends.
Please let me know how we can improve communication at First Lutheran.