I would like to start this blog by saying, "Greetings!"
I decided to start a blog of the daily adventures of my job and life of being a church secretary. I am the Administrative Assistant/Office Manager at an ELCA Lutheran church in Indiana. I've been at this job for 12+ years and I love it! (most of the time...)
You might be wondering why my title is so long (Administrative Assistant/Office Manager)...well, funny story, the pastor, at the time, and parish administrator, at the time, could not decide which title to use so in a compromise they used both! I usually use Office Manager.
12 years is a long time in any position, if you are fortunate to get a job and keep it. And I naively thought that this position was an "ordinary" secretary job. Boy was I wrong! There is nothing "ordinary" about this position! The current pastor and I joke about going home to our spouses and having to answer the question, "What did you do today?" and having to think of everything we did that would be considered "normal" church office business and coming up with a million other things that on the outside doesn't seem very productive, but is an important part of our ministry.
Yes, I did say ministry. My job is so much more than typing up the weekly bulletin. I learned this within the first two weeks of my job. It was in September of 2002, I was typing up the weekly bulletin and in walks this lady, who was a member of the church. I had met her only one time prior to this visit. She asked to speak with the pastor and the pastor was not in. So she asked if she could visit with me for a minute and I invited her to sit down, thinking this would be a short pleasant get-to-know-you moment with a parishioner. It turned into an hour+ "session" of listening to her troubles with family. She just needed someone to talk to. At the end of our visit she made a comment about me not being paid enough, she said I should also get therapist pay. This is when I knew this job was so much more than secretarial work. These days I have chair in front of my desk which I jokingly refer to as the "confessional chair" and I kid about needing the "Lucy Can" (from the Peanuts comic strip) for donations.
I will write about things that have happened to me while working in the church office, but I am not using any names for confidentiality reasons. I do take my job seriously, but there are really some wonderful stories that happen that are to funny or heartwarming not to share. I ask you to share stories that you may have that are simular, but keep it clean and lets be civil with the comments.
Thanks for joining my blog and I hope that you enjoy the stories as they unfold...
Blessings!
