The hardest job in the world

By Antonio M. Reyes

Iused to think that elementary public school teachers had the toughest job in the world. That was until I joined the United Church of Christ chapter in Maasin City.
For although primary school teachers handle six classes of 60 different students a day; or a total of 360 students, and perform ten non-academic chores as well - they have supervisors to help them and can get a few uninterrupted hours of sleep at night.
While pastors are on-call 24 hours a day, attending to their church member’s problems, which often require home visits and a lot of patience. And of course they also have to prepare and deliver their weekly sermons, which itself, is a horrendous undertaking.
The main problem of most pastors in the country is that they lack the authority to perform their job effectively. This is so because they have a church council whose job was (originally) to make sure the pastors were following the tenants of the church. But over time, many have assumed the role of Chief Executive Officers, who pastors have to answer to for even the most routine administrative matters.
Although it’s not entirely the council’s fault since most are merely following the management practice of their predecessors. I have long felt it should delegate the church’s day-to-day management to its pastors so it could focus more on its original role as guardians of the Church’s mission goals.
I believe our church leaders and school teachers are the true heroes of our country. For they help instill in our people the time-tested Christian values of honesty, hard work, and love of country. Unfortunately, most people disagree, for they are still the most underpaid, overworked, and unappreciated work horses of our society. Think about this when you bring your child to school and go to church on Sundays.

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