Personal Hobbies & Interests for Pastors

Passion and drive for ministry is one characteristic of a successful church leader. You’ve seen it as you’ve connected with other leaders. And the more leaders that you connect with, the more you sense that there is a correlation. Leaders of growing churches and organizations share an unmistakable passion for their calling. You can hear it in their voice. You can see it in their interactions with people. It is contagious. But it is reasonable to believe that the passion is so sustainable that they do not spend any time with other personal interests?

In this session, we discuss the nuances of the church leader making time for personal hobbies and interests. We begin by expressing the benefits gained from allowing yourself to enjoy hobbies or personal interests outside of ministry. We show why it may actually make you a better pastor. Recreational interests have also been shown to be beneficial to your physical health, emotional well-being, social awareness, and personal growth.

When balancing ministry, family, and personal life, we have previously discussed the tensions of time constriction when managing and merging all of these elements. In this discussion, we examine how you can be faithful to your commitments and still make time for personal hobbies and interests. We also explain the optimal amount of time to devote to personal interests and even what you should do when a hobby or activity begins to consume you.

Every church leader needs a little regular personal time away to enjoy something other than work. Your day off may always be devoted to taking care of things at home. But if you are a church leader that insists you can never find time in your schedule to break away from ministry and the necessities of life to enjoy an outside activity or personal interest, we invite you to contemplate the six conclusions reached in our examination of personal interests and hobbies presented in this video.