(I purposely did not ask two people very important to me for input into this.  Our daughter-in-law Julie is the outstanding administrative assistant to our terrific pastor and friend, Dr. Mike Miller.  To solicit their input might put them on the spot.  So, the first time they see this will be when we post it.)

Originally, we called them secretaries.  I’ve often wondered if it was because they were “keepers of the secrets.”

Then, seeking to magnify their work in their own eyes as well as to impress upon the church members their importance, we began calling them administrative assistants.  Some call them “ministry assistants.”  All of these are good.

They’re almost always women.

I used to be a secretary. For two years after college, I worked in the production office of a cast iron pipe plant doing everything that secretaries do for the production manager.  I took dictation, typed his letters, ran the teletype, typed up production work orders from the purchase orders, and emptied the spittoon.   Mr. Clyde Hooper, my boss, chewed cigars. He would cut one into three pieces and slip a section into his jaw.  That practice, he told me, resulted from the 1920s in a chemical plant where no one was allowed to smoke. At any rate, having grown up on a farm where I mucked out cattle stalls and hog pens, emptying that spittoon was nothing.

There’s possibly no better training for being a supervisor than having been a lowly employee.  In the church office, I never minded asking my “assistants” to fetch coffee in the morning, because at least they didn’t have to clean out my spittoon! (I clean it out myself.)

Well, on to the subject at hand. What a ministry assistant can do for a pastor….

1) She helps him: Whatever he needs at the moment.  No job description can cover every detail.

To borrow from the home buildings supply store, “Pastor, you can do it; we can help.” If he is computer savvy, a pastor may do his own letters or handle most correspondence via the internet. But, she is there to help in any way he requires help.

A poor administrative assistant will say “he has his work and I have mine.” She will resent his telling her what to do.  When that happens, she is redundant and should be replaced.

2) She reminds him of something important he may have forgotten: “Pastor, don’t forget you have that early morning breakfast with the mayor.”

And in order to do this, she a) keeps great records and b) she anticipates upcoming  events.  What’s going on, who’s doing it, where does the preacher need to be?

A poor assistant will say “they didn’t hire me for that” or “it’s not in my job description.” Such an attitude entitles one to unemployment pay as quickly as possible.  There is no place in the Kingdom of God–much less in the church office!–for such a self-centered attitude.

3) She protects him: “I’m sorry; the pastor is unavailable at the moment.”

–Sometimes she protects him from the sneaky troublemaker, and sometimes from well-meaning wonderful people who drop by when the pastor should not be interrupted. Note: Some pastors are such “people persons” that they cannot stand the thought of not being available for a drop-by visitor.  Not good. Perhaps the M.A. (ministry assistant) can help him with this.

–A certain woman with an appointment to see the pastor is wearing revealing clothing or has a reputation as a home-wrecker. The pastor’s assistant is wary of this appointment. This could be a wonderful counseling session or it could be a disaster in the making. What to do?  Answer: Work out with the boss ahead of time some way to protect him by interrupting him.  Should you burst into his office 15 minutes into the session with a written note that “just cannot wait”?  Buzz him on the intercom? He will tell you which he prefers.  Note: You cannot protect a pastor who refuses to be protected. If he willingly endangers himself–even after your discussions with him on the issue–do the best you can, then leave him with the Lord.

A poor administrative assistant will wonder what goes on behind the pastor’s door, but make no effort to help him. The poorest administrative assistant will gossip about what might be happening beyond the door.

The best time to have a pre-emptive conversation with the pastor is when nothing is going on and there are no issues on the table.  You’re simply being proactive.  Suggestion: Let him read this article, then arrange a time for the two of you to discuss it.  (If your office is large enough for several ministers and other office personnel, perhaps the pastor would be willing to broaden the scope of the discussion. Anything we can do to safeguard everyone’s integrity and enhance our ministries is good.)

Houston’s Dr. Ed Young told some of us pastors on one occasion why we should never counsel women in our office. “All that woman has to do is run out of your office accusing you, and your ministry is gone. It does not matter whether anything happened or she’s making it up. The risk you take is enormous.”

4)She keeps confidences.

She knows his secrets.  She knows who has been coming to see him for counsel, whose marriage is in trouble, and a hundred  other things she can’t even tell her husband.

A poor ministry assistant will spread the word. A good one will never mention anything to anyone, but will pray for everyone who comes through her office.

5) She’s always learning.

With the pastor’s support–and only with that!–she’s always open to new ways to do her work better and to increase her helpfulness to him.

Ministry assistants should attend training at least annually to enhance their skills and learn from others in the same line of work.

6) She keeps her eyes open and her pastor informed.

If someone on the staff is misbehaving in the pastor’s absence and she sees it, it’s her responsibility to inform the minister on his return.  She will feel badly about doing it, and this is not going to help her relationship with the one behaving badly, but the pastor needs to know.  Suggestion:  Ask him in advance when nothing is going on whether he would want to know, or under what circumstances he would.

7) She prays for him.

The shepherd of the Lord’s flock occupies the most critical position. If he does his work well, the church benefits, lives are reached for Christ, and the Lord’s name is honored. If he fails, nothing good comes from it.  So, just as we urge church members to constantly lift the pastor in prayer, let the office staff do this too.  You have a vested interest in praying for the minister, after all. He’s like what they say about “mama”–if she’s not happy, ain’t nobody happy.

Know your boss. Ask your boss.  Do not try to read his mind. Encourage your boss.

I suggest the assistant hold the pastor’s phone while he’s in deep study and take his calls.  If something is urgent, she can interrupt him.

A poor secretary will let him miss a meeting or disappoint someone because “he’s an adult; he should know.”

8) She represents him.

Yes, all the employees of the church are vital and no one should lord it over the others. However, by merit of her position as the pastor’s assistant, she is closest to him and thus will carry some of his authority in certain ways.

If they’ve worked together for years, she can predict what his reaction would be to various things and can give quick counsel to new staffers on whether they should do a thing.  But this can get murky quickly, especially if she begins to function as the authority in the office.

I’ll tell you a secret.  When I want to get a message to the pastor about something that’s going on, in most cases, I do not call him but simply leave word with his secretary.  If she is the capable person she should be, that’s better than a signed note stuck to his office door!

A good ministry assistant is a credit to the church and to her Lord. Her dress, her behavior, her demeanor, everything, reflects favorably on the Lord, the pastor, and the church itself. She is a classy lady. She brings dignity to the office.

The people in the church office represent the Lord Jesus Christ to many people calling or dropping in.

9) She is a faithful witness to the Lord.

No unsaved person should ever be turned away because the pastor was not in to witness to the person. She can do this, and should be trained and stay ready.

A poor assistant is no more than a temp sent out from the agency for typing and telephone duties.  She is a ministry assistant, with emphasis on the ministry.

10) Her attitude is “What can I do to help?”

There is nothing a great assistant can do that reflects better on the boss than displaying a servant spirit to everyone–those who work in the office and everyone who passes through.  That line–“what can I do to help?”–is the mantra of a servant.

God bless everyone who gets up in the morning and goes forth to serve other people. Particularly, those who do it in the name of the Lord.  Hebrews 6:10 has your name all over it.

A poor administrative assistant says,”I’m the secretary to the big man himself. Do not bother me with lesser things around this office.”

Well, these are just some of the things a faithful administrative assistant will do for her pastor. And just to make sure some know that I know it, yes, I am aware that some pastors are female and so readers might need to change the pronoun all the way through this. Thank you for doing that.