Aunty, must church workers work themselves half to death just because they’re doing God’s work?
6 January 2025 |
Dear Aunt Sevvy,
I just heard someone using the example of Jesus and His long days of ministry to justify my school’s expectation that we work evenings and weekends for free. To me, that’s taking following Jesus’ example wildly out of context to justify a toxic work environment. What do you think, Aunty?
Signed, Fed Up
Dear Fed Up,
Being a church worker can be lovely, if you’ve got nice people to work with and a supportive leader. But that’s not always the case.
Most of us are willing to work our allotted time frame, and even beyond, especially if we’re appreciated. But Aunty has seen church school teachers criticized because they didn’t keep working every weekend and all summer! You are correct that this is abusive. Jesus told his disciples to “Come apart and rest awhile,” and, “A worker deserves his wage.”
This may be small comfort, but Aunty should tell you that it is far better than it used to be. As little as half a century ago, Adventist employees were expected to work for sacrificial wages and be on call 24/7. If you were a woman, you worked harder than the men for a fraction of what men received.
It will correct only when people say, “No more.” There are already fewer young women and young men matriculating with the expectation of going into church school teaching and ministry. It isn’t unknown now for conferences in North America to have to search overseas for candidates for these jobs, and they don’t always get quality people.
In the meantime, you have two choices. You can learn assertiveness (which is different from petulant anger). And if that doesn’t work, there are lots of other schools in the world to teach in besides Adventist ones. Though, of course, there is no perfect place to work.
Aunt Sevvy
Aunt Sevvy has collected her answers into a book! You can get it from Amazon by clicking here.
You can write to Aunt Sevvy at DearAuntSevvy@gmail.com. Your real identity will never be revealed.
