I have long thought that pastoral care as a "calendared" part of the job description of a church musician or worship leader is what separates a part time position from a full time position. As Hugh Ballou points out here, pastoral care is an important part of what we do. Period. But generally the pastoral care portion of a music ministry position is not adequately compensated.
In my experience and observation, it seems that a "pastor" position has an expectation that a partition of time for pastoral care responsibilities is a given, and other duty assignments are adjusted accordingly. In music and worship ministry, you better get that music perfect. Oh, and you're the primary pastoral care provider for the largest ministry (by number of participants) in most churches.
It is particularly hard on those who provide part time ministry, because, as most of you reading this know, music and worship ministry volunteer participants carry...um...shall we say an interesting amount of baggage along with them into every rehearsal...
So as you prepare for your annual review this year, and you prepare your annual budget for next year, you may want to use the techniques in my 7 Steps to a Perfect Music Ministry Budget book to make the case for adequate compensation for your pastoral care responsibilities.
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