If you are a leader, one of the things you must always think about is culture. The culture of your church or business. The culture of your staff and team.
The problem with culture, though, is that it isn’t always written on the wall. As one author put it, What You Do Is Who You Are. Which means you are continually building culture.
You are creating it through your interactions, personally and in meetings. You are creating it through how you spend your money and time. You are creating it through how people work in meetings. You are building it through how you handle your own emotions. You are creating it through whether or not you burn out or if you are healthy.
While culture is a squishy thing, a leader must pay attention to it because if you aren’t, your culture will get away from you.
The reason is: Whatever culture you create at work, people will emulate.
If you look around and see dishonest, burned out, or backstabbing people. That’s the leadership and culture.
If they’re honest, balanced, and humble, that’s leadership and culture.
If the marriages in your church are falling apart, that’s leadership and culture.
Those closest to the leader emulate the leader and his or her life and pass those things on. Yes, people make decisions along the way, and a leader isn’t responsible for everyone’s personal choices, but the reality is that a leader shows what makes someone successful or what is allowed.
For example, very quickly in a new job, you learn what it means to be successful somewhere. Can you be late on things? Who holds the real power at a church (hint: it isn’t always the person with the title)? How do thingsget done?
All of this goes back to culture.
That’s why Henry Cloud famously said: “A leader gets what he or she created or allows.”
Culture will end up determining if you are successful in reaching your goals. But it will also determine where you end up as a leader or a church.
And this is the most important reason to pay attention to it. Because you may not like where you end up, you may not like the church you become.
The unique challenges of the Covid pandemic highlighted how churches must reallocate personnel dollars in the future. As more ministry shifts online, churches will need to beef-up their digital ministry staffing. Additionally, volunteers saw unprecedented expectations placed on their shoulders during the pandemic.
These changes have left many church leaders wondering–what should be a paid position and what should be a volunteer position?
Truthfully, this is a timeless question that churches should have been thinking about more critically for years. Large churches or churches with significant incomes tend to hire out every position they can. It is not uncommon for churches of 1000 in average weekly attendance to pay all of their musicians! By contrast, smaller churches or churches with fewer means tend to wait as long as possible to hire a position, often burning out the same handful of volunteers who do most of the work.
The right balance is in-between these extremes. Rather than make a comprehensive list of which positions should be paid and which should be a volunteer (which could vary from church to church), use these three guiding principles to help you know when to hire.
Principle 1: The position involves shaping strategy.
Our Leadership Pipeline Design process emphasizes that volunteers are capable of higher-level leadership skills than most churches assume. Volunteers can coach, manage the schedules for other volunteers, and delegate tasks to frontline volunteers. We call these “L3 Leaders” or volunteers at the Coach Level.
Churches often think that staff should do 100% of the coaching, scheduling, and delegating. But even in a midsize church, this expectation is unrealistic. Consider that a Children’s Pastor in a mid-size church could have hundreds of volunteers. How is he or she supposed to manage the schedules or coach that many people? Hint: it’s not possible.
Any paid staff person should be at a position that requires strategy development, not just management and task execution. A focus on strategy does not mean that staff sit in their offices all day and don’t manage people (they do!) or don’t execute tasks (they do, but should focus on fewer tasks). However, healthy churches understand that ministry staff positions primarily exist to bring strategic thinking and leadership leverage to a specific ministry.
If a position does not require translating church-wide vision into ministry-specific strategy, only volunteer management or task execution, it is not worth hiring out. Volunteers can do it.
As a church gets larger and complexity increases, the need for strategy development increases. It’s reasonable for a large church to have staff in production or marketing. But the same principle applies–don’t hire people to run the camera or press next on ProPresenter. Hire the people who are shaping your digital production strategy, and leverage volunteers for the rest.
Principle 2: The position requires safeguarding theology.
This principle can be tricky. Even your children’s ministry volunteers that work in the preschool classroom, to some extent, are safeguarding theology. Indeed, small group leaders and Sunday school teachers are defending theology.
However, this principle’s intention is not just teaching proper theology, but making high-level theological decisions. For example, children’s ministry volunteers should not choose the curriculum–someone at the staff level should. Small group leaders should not select their content–a staff leader should.
Many churches are failing in this area. Too many churches are giving up this responsibility! They let small group leaders hop on to Right Now Media and select their group’s content without much oversight. This abdication is dangerous.
I worked with a church that touted its commitment to Biblical teaching as one of its highest values. When I visited a Sunday School class, I heard one of the worst theological breakdowns of Genesis 3. Afterward, I confronted the elders who confirmed that Sunday School teachers were “on their own” for writing content.
When ministry staff are too busy executing tasks, they abdicate their responsibility to safeguard the theology taught by the volunteers beneath them. If a role requires ensuring that theology taught downline is proper and Biblical, it is likely to require a staff member.
Principle 3: The position manages significant financial obligations.
It is common for lay leaders to spend budgetary funds. A youth volunteer might need to pick up snacks, or a production volunteer might have to grab a cable from an electronics store. But if a non-board level position requires the development of a budget and its day-to-day management, this is likely a staff position.
Volunteers should not manage budgets because it is impossible to hold them accountable the same way a staff member can. If a volunteer mismanages a budget, you can remove them from the position, but they might remain at the church. They might complain to others or mobilize the congregation to antagonize leadership. Staff members have a higher degree of oversight through meetings, and more importantly, you can fire staff for gross misconduct.
Major ministry budgets should be managed by staff, not volunteers.
What about administrative positions?
As a general rule, I consider administrative positions as extensions of ministry staff. A senior pastor’s assistant is an extension of the senior pastor’s role, in that he or she handles tasks that otherwise only the pastor could do. For example, an assistant may manage the pastor’s schedule, filter email, and perform initial sermon research.
A ministry assistant in a smaller church, likewise, may take on some tasks that are difficult to outsource or delegate to a volunteer. For example, he or she may take deposits to the bank or post office. These tasks might require a higher degree of accountability than could be expected of a volunteer, but would overburden ministry staff.
Bonus note: what to do about the gray.
Your church may have needs that don’t fit into clean categories, or your church might lack volunteers with the necessary skills to execute needed tasks.
For example, many churches realized through the pandemic that they simply didn’t have the social media or marketing tools necessary to be successful. The knee-jerk reaction is to hire a staff person in instances where there is a gap between the skills you have on-staff or in volunteers and what you need.
However, two options may be better suited to meet the need:
1. Outsource the job.
When it comes to certain ministry needs, if your church doesn’t have the existing skillset available through volunteers, consider outsourcing. Companies like Church Media Squad, among others, handle graphic design needs. You can outsource custom video editing. If your church needs help improving record-keeping, look into virtual assistant services from a group like Belay that has a track record of working with churches successfully.
Outsourcing is often cheaper than hiring on-site, gives you the flexibility to terminate a contract without the relational headache, eliminates overhead in taxes and benefits, and usually gives you access to talent above what you find on your own. Bottom line: if you cannot delegate critical, specialized tasks to qualified volunteers, consider outsourcing before hiring staff.
2. Put it off for now.
Ministry envy is real. It’s easy to look at the “cool” church down the street or online and think that you must be able to execute at the same level. You don’t. Do a few things and do them with excellence. Don’t worry about being on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and whatever social media company launches before I finish typing this sentence.
Pick one and do it well. Leverage the assets you do have to execute well on a few things. As you get more qualified volunteers or financial resources to outsource, take your ministry to the next level. But don’t feel pressured to take on more than you can do well at this moment. There is no shame in that!
To hire or not to hire?
Leverage the three principles outlined above to determine if a role is better suited for a volunteer or a staff position. Your church has limited resources, and every staff member you hire adds an exponential layer of complexity to your organization.
Be sure to pause, consider, and plan before taking action in growing your staff.
Written By Scott Ball, Vice President and a Lead Guide with The Malphurs Group.
Article taken from here.
There’s been a lot written about the “3 Cs” of effective hiring – character, competence, and chemistry. While these may be a good check-list, among other best practices for hiring, I believe one of these three can be misconstrued if we’re not keenly aware of the influences that affect its misinterpretation.
I couldn’t agree more about the priority of character in the hiring process. Whether it’s in a church setting or in a secular setting, character counts. No doubt, this is perhaps the most important trait to assess when considering a candidate for a position.
I also agree with the importance of competence. A candidate must have the necessary education, experience, and skills to do the job well. Many believe this is the least important of the three, because many jobs include skills that can be learned over time. Some, of course, require a deeper level of experience and skill and must be present from the beginning.
It’s “chemistry” that I believe is often misinterpreted in some ways. The misinterpretation comes when “chemistry” is used to define how well the pastor or the top leader “likes” the person. Do they have similar personalities, similar interests, or similar hobbies? I’ll call this “personal chemistry.” I think this is where the chemistry criteria gets off track.
Sure, it might be nice if two leaders who work closely together can play golf or go fishing together on the weekends. Or they can start every meeting talking about all the games from the previous weekend and the performance of their favorite athlete. But I don’t believe this kind of “personal chemistry” is necessary for there to be a good organizational fit.
Many organizations do reflect the personality of its leader, but most organizations should be more sophisticated than to only hire staff with whom the top leader can have a “high five” relationship. When a leader expects his closest team members to be too much like him, he misses an opportunity for some valuable diversity.
Perhaps the best interpretation of “chemistry” in the 3 Cs is when it’s used to refer to the candidate’s fit in the culture of the organization. Let’s call this “cultural chemistry.” Cultural factors in an organization can allow some leaders to flourish and others, while equally competent, to struggle or fail. We should closely assess whether the candidate’s values and their vision line up with those of the organization. We should determine if there are factors that would create a significant misalignment with the team with whom they’ll be working. We should focus more on the candidate’s identity and less on his persona.
God made us with different personalities, passions, and interests for a reason. That kind of diversity can be very healthy for an organization. Those diffeences can complement the others on the leadership team. They can provide balance, perspective, and accountability. If we’re all essentially the same, even in our “personal chemistry,” some valuable contribution to the team is likely to be missing.
Written By Steve Smith, Executive Pastor at First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
Article taken from here.
How to Have Better Conversations With Your Senior Leader
If you are a children’s pastor, youth director, or next-gen leader, chances are you have asked yourself some version of the following questions.
How do I help my senior leader understand my vision?
Is there a way to get my senior leader to agree with me on this decision?
How do I get my senior leader to see things my way?
Part of leading a next-gen ministry is leading up to your senior leadership, so how do you have better conversations with your senior leader?
1) Think about the bigger picture.
Just like there are elements or dynamics of your job that your senior leadership may not fully understand, there are also elements of your pastor’s job that you may not be aware of or fully understand. It’s easy to look at your pastor and wonder why they made a particular decision. But other dynamics may be playing into that decision. Your senior pastor may be managing board dynamics, staffing issues, or budget restrictions. By understanding that they have to see the whole picture while you carry your ministry’s vision, you’ll be able to build a bridge and have better conversations.
Before presenting a new idea, try asking yourself these questions.
If I were in their shoes and position, what dynamics would play into this decision?
What information will they need to know?
How does this decision affect the church as a whole?
You will earn points with your leader when you show that you have thought beyond just your ministry.
2) Ask, don’t demand.
When you present new ideas, try posing them as questions. Use phrases like, “Would it be possible to” or “Would you be open to.” By asking questions instead of making demands, you start the conversation with less tension and leave more room to discuss the idea.
3) Try it as an experiment.
If you are making a significant change, ask for a trial period. Offer to try it for a few months and then re-evaluate if it doesn’t work. Not only does this demonstrate flexibility, but it also makes the decision less overwhelming.
4) Give your leader time.
Remember, there may be other dynamics that affect this decision. Your pastor may even have to run the decision by a board, elders, or other staff. By giving them time to think about it, they can make better decisions and will most likely feel more positive about the conversation in general.
Written By Carey Nieuwhof
Article taken from here.
Looking for a new worship pastor position at a new church? Things to consider:
In early 2014, I was working at a university and received an invitation to bring a team of students to a church in Colorado Springs. The trip went well. Eventually it led to my wife and I flying out to this church once a month. Every trip we would do training and lead worship on Sunday morning; which ended up lasting fifteen months. About halfway through our “consultation” period we began to sense that this church could very well be our next home. Sure enough, in the spring of 2015 we committed and moved that fall.
We had an ideal situation for choosing a next ministry destination:
(1) plenty of hours spent on the ground, (2) over a long period of time, (3) while engaging with congregants, staff, and the senior pastor. All of these factors gave us the opportunity to discern what it might be like to live, work, and worship with those people.
I doubt the slow process like this will ever happen like that again, but I’m grateful for it. Typically the timeline of “trying out” is more compressed, which on top of asking all the questions, makes it difficult to really grasp the culture of a church.
There are three groups of people that are important to engage with while auditioning for a new position.
Here I’ll share who they are and what kinds of things I’d be asking and listening for in times of engagement.
Senior Pastor / Senior Leadership
In most Evangelical or charismatic churches, the senior pastor is the key culture setter and decision maker. The first two questions I’d ask is: Who will your direct report be? And how directly involved will the senior pastor be in your department?
Obviously, the senior leader casts the overall vision, but some senior pastors have very generic, basic wishes for their worship leader and will be relatively uninvolved in your day-to-day operations. Other times – particularly if they are former worship leaders themselves – the senior leader will have very specific expectations down to weekly involvement in song selection, style, service flow, etc.
Some people work better with regular specific guidance. Others will hate it and feel micromanaged.
Let me be clear: neither is inherently right or wrong. You just don’t want to be three months in and have this blindside you.
Don’t be afraid to ask specific questions.
Are you being hired to be the primary worship or to build a great team?
Or are you being hired to be a production manager / creative director with the title “Worship Pastor”?
If it seems like there’s a lack of clarity from the senior leader, get more specific.
Ask things like:
How do you envision me spending the bulk of my time? Songwriting? Meeting with team members and volunteers? Praying and preparing solely for Sunday morning?
You need to know the Senior Pastor’s vision for you position & all of these questions will help you draw it out – despite what’s posted in the job description.
At the end of the day, if you feel like you can align with the vision that the senior leader casts for your position there’s a good chance you’ll be able to thrive. If not, you probably shouldn’t take the position even if the benefit package is fantastic.
Current Staff Members (Colleagues)
One of the greatest things the pastor did when we were auditioning was setting up time with other staff members, where he wasn’t there, with explicit permission to ask them anything we wanted. It revealed his security as a leader to trust employees to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the organization and not feel threatened by it. If you request this and it’s either denied or evaded then that might be a sign that the culture isn’t open and honest.
If you are able to get time with future colleagues, ask them what it’s really like to work there.
Is it common for things to change at the last minute with no rhyme or reason given?
Difficult to get vacations approved or what typically happens when personal requests are made?
Flexibility with office hours or is it more of a “clock in, clock out” environment?
When you’re asking these questions, do you sense fear or dishonestly in their answers?
Candidly, do they seem scared for their jobs? Or do they seem to have healthy relationships with their direct reports?
Lastly, inquire about the workplace expectations.
Does every little thing require approval?
Is there space to have open conversations and share disagreements with superiors?
This group can be the most tricky to get direct answers from, but if you ask good questions and pay attention you can learn a lot about how the organization really works.
The Volunteers in Your Area
Volunteers are choosing to attend and serve in this ministry; which is where you should expect to learn the best things about the church. They have nothing to lose! Weaknesses in the ministry are easiest to find out about from volunteers.
With volunteers I would ask questions like:
What drew you to this church and what has kept you here (you’d be surprised how often they’re not the same)?
Which areas of the church have you participated in and which areas seem to be the most healthy and life-giving?
Then I would ask them pointed questions about the worship ministry.
Do you feel like your voice is honored when you share thoughts, opinions, or suggestions?
How have you been treated when you’ve needed to take time off or request off for sickness?
Try and get a sense of any unspoken frustrations. Maybe there aren’t any – fantastic! That also speaks to the culture.
The most crucial thing to remember…
There are no perfect churches and we all know that. But there are churches who are honest with their imperfections and are pursuing Christlikeness together – then there are others who aren’t.
Ultimately, you want to be where God wants you to be. But, unless you sense a strong call from God, you don’t want to be in an unhealthy, stifling environment where fear and control pervade the culture. Engaging with these three groups of people can help you discern if this is that kind of place or not.
Cost of Living Differences Matter in Salary Negotiations!
If you find yourself looking for a new position in a higher or lower cost of living location, you want to make sure you come with the right tools when it comes to salary negotiations. Now more than ever, candidates hold what seems to be the majority of the cards during these negotiations, but you still need facts to back you up! As a Co-Founder of Froot Group Staffing, a church staffing company, I have been involved in many salary negotiations and I want to share with you a few things that may help you if you find yourself in this situation in the near future.
Know Your Worth
This is the first measure you need to identify before factoring in the cost of living differences. In my opinion, your worth is not based on how much debt you have, whether or not your spouse works, or how many kids you have. Your worth is based solely on what YOU can bring to the table. Sure those other factors may cause you to make different decisions when it comes to finding the right job, but having more responsibility on your plate means you need to bring more to the table if you want to be worth more to an organization that is willing to hire you.
Education, years of experience, the quality of experience you have had in the past, staff you have overseen, ability to relate and connect with people, and other competencies are all factors that organizations will look at when factoring your worth. Knowing the results of some of these factors will help you (and the organization) determine what you are worth paying.
Moving Up
I always receive questions from candidates I speak to about whether it is alright to move up in salary when transitioning from one place to the next. We always need to check our heart on this before diving into justifying it to ourselves, but in short I believe the answer is yes. Many organizations are not actively keeping up with inflation year to year in giving their employees raises, so use this transition as an opportunity to correct your worth with how inflation has grown.
Our number one ministry we are called to take care of is our families, so as long as our increase is in line with what we believe our worth is and how inflation has affected that worth, then I believe our hearts are in the right place when asking for this increase. Remember, 1 Timothy 6:10 says “For the LOVE of money is a root of all kinds of evil…”, not money in itself.
Cost of Living Differences
Finally, this is the final factor in determining what salary number to present to the organization you are applying for. There are typically two different scenarios you will find yourself in. One, you are moving from a higher cost of living area to a lower cost of living area, or vice versa. Both can be difficult pills to swallow!
Housing costs are the largest factor in the cost differences, which often is driven by…you guessed it…location location location! If you are moving from Elkhart, IN to Miami, FL where the cost of living difference is around 53%, you can’t always expect a 53% increase in salary, because part of what you are “paying for” is the benefit of the location. Now you might look at that difference and say a 30% increase in salary is more reasonable, but maybe you’d need to find a house 20 minutes from your organization instead of 5 to expand your housing search.
I believe that the hardest move to make is from a higher cost of living area to a lower area. Making $80k in a city like Houston and a similar position in Canton, OH is going to equate to around $62k for a lateral move. However the same $400k house in Houston may translate to $250k in Canton, which is a HUGE difference and may actually give you more room in your budget after paying your mortgage. These are all factors to consider!
Calculating Tools
The best tools I use to come up with some of these calculations are very simple to use. The first place I like to go to is bestplaces.net to give me a general idea of the cost of living differences. The site allows you to put in your current city, future city, and current salary to give you a rough estimate of what your current salary should laterally translate to in your future city.
Zillow is the next place I go to. I always try to cross reference what bestplaces.net is telling me the median home cost is with the actual types of homes I would consider purchasing through Zillow. Make sure those numbers align and adjust your cost of living differences as needed, though make sure your calculations are all lateral! Again, you’re not worth more because you want a larger house!
ChurchSalary.com is the final resource I typically use. This is one of the most robust tools because it calculates many factors, including the church specific position you are applying for. It does require a subscription, but many churches subscribe to this resource as well as search firms. If you become a Froot Group candidate, I would be more than happy to run a free report through ChurchSalary.com for you!
Written by: Alex Purtell
Alex is a co-founder of Froot Group, a church staffing company, and a worship pastor at Lifepoint Church in Lewis Center, OH.
As I ended my first discussion on “The Right Way to Leave” I said, “Ministry transitions can be filled with grace for everyone involved when handled with care and prayer.” In the course of writing that former post, it became clear that I had more to say on how not to leave your pastorate.
If you are not involved in pastoral ministry or have never been really close to a pastoral transition, this might not seem important to you. You could ponder, “what’s the big deal about how the pastor leaves? Does it matter as long as we get the right God-called pastor to come in?”
Yes. It does matter and here’s why. If the outgoing pastor does not leave well, there can be so much damage caused that the congregation is disjointed for a decade or two. I have seen it done wrong and I have listened as many have shared painful accounts.
Pastor, most of this has to do with timing.
The right time to leave is according to God’s perfect timing. However, you have the ability to misunderstand God’s timing. Let me tell you straightly though, God does not change His mind (will) as often as we do.
Pastor, it’s best that you not resign in the midst of conflict (tweet this). These are usually emotionally driven decisions and not in the will of God. One bad business meeting or leadership failure does not require a resignation. God has called you to grow through those seasons and become better.
As well, you should not leave just because another congregation has expressed interest in you. Just because another church has a pastoral vacancy does not mean that God is through with you on your current assignment. Unless God has clearly moved in your heart and you KNOW the proposed assignment is His will for you, stay put!
Can you stay too long? The easy and obvious answer is yes. However, that is ultimately a decision that has to be made between you, your spouse, and God. Read this next line carefully. Never resign unless you are sure enough to load the moving truck today (click to tweet). Having a change of heart after having made a public resignation is almost always an impending disaster. You would be better off staying a little too long than resigning too soon and trying to rescind it.
Let’s assume though, that you have come to the leaving conclusion. You know that you have completed God’s will and it is time to move forward in life and ministry. Then, my friend, you should leave properly and totally.
What do I mean? Once your farewell sermon has been delivered and your last Sunday has been served, you should leave altogether. Leave and quickly set up some healthy boundaries with the people.
What does such a departure look like? It means that you should be moved out of the parsonage as soon as possible. During the week following your last Sunday, return every single key. If you drive a church-owned vehicle, give it back as soon as possible.
This next line is going to be hard.
This also means you should remove yourself from the congregation. I know you think you will be the exception to this rule, but keep reading. The retired or former pastor staying in the congregation as an attending member is almost always a bad idea. The new pastor, regardless of how seasoned and secure, will have difficulty with you still being in the mix of the congregation. Even if the new pastor gives you the blessings to do so, leave anyway. The staff members and lay leaders will maintain their loyalty to the former pastor and be torn in their hearts as to who they should follow. Your continued presence will only cause division even with your best intentions.
Pastor, I will caution you again. If you leave without actually leaving, but stay in the mix as advisor emeritus, you will leave wrongly.
When you have publicly resigned as their shepherd, the sheep will go through a wide range of emotions in the ensuing weeks.
Some will be mad, some will be glad, and some will be sad. If you have served them well, more will be sad than glad. They will miss you and it will take them some time to process how God is working. Be aware though, even the kindest of sheep can turn and bite the shepherd during this transitional time. Forgive and forget the offense. These sheep are simply grieving and looking for answers.
Lastly, let me state the obvious. Leaving is a time of great sensitivity. You need to be Spirit-led during this transition. As graciously as you possibly can, leave well. Leave well, my pastor friend. Leave well.
Written by William Strickland. Pastor of Harvest Christian Center in Cantonment, FL. Husband to Lisa and father to three kids. To read more of Williams’s work, take a look at his blog and be sure to follow him on social media.
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The culture of your local church is the greatest predictor of potential growth. Culture is sometimes a hard and abstract-like concept. I’ll try to explain it.
Culture is a general noun that we often use to describe the thought patterns and accompanying behaviors of humanity. It broadly includes their attitudes, beliefs, and values within a certain region and time. Culture is fluid in that it is often changing
Simply put, an unhealthy culture will keep a local church in a rut with only occasional positive movement. Tweet
Even worse, some congregations have developed a toxic culture. When that is the situation, it will take an abrupt and abrasive set of changes to bring life back into the cultural DNA of that local church.
I want to share 5 marks of culture that I see in growing congregations.
1. Regular invitations are normal.
Healthy churches have members with an intentional habit of looking for people to invite. They regularly extend invitations to friends, relatives, associates from work and school, and neighbors to “come to service with me this Sunday.” They understand the evangelistic power of an invitation.
That invitation often leads to a spiritual conversation which becomes a positive witness. That is actually an invitation for the unchurched person to come to Christ. In growing churches the pastoral staff keeps plenty of reasons in front of the members for them to want to invite others in. Once in a worship service, the pastor of a growing church will extend the invitation for a commitment to Christ.
2. Relative change is acceptable.
You should use the word change sparingly. But you know very well that growing organisms are consistently changing. Even if it’s slight changes that aren’t quickly perceived, change is constant and necessary for growth. The same is true for your local church.
Observe any growing congregation in your town, and ask an insider about them. You’ll soon learn that there is a steady flux of change which brings more people in to hear the Gospel. Those who are against any and all change must remember that Christ is always changing His Church. Christianity is all about change!
3. Real fun is okay.
All fun is not sinful. Healthy churches look for reasons to celebrate the goodness of God. They’re okay with an occasional clean joke from the pulpit. Smiles and laughter abound. Their joy-filled lives make them fun to be around.
Lost and backslidden people are not attracted to a joyless version of Christianity that looks like anything but fun. There is no biblical mandate that says Christians or their worship services have to be boring, stale, or lifeless. You can be holy and fun to be around. If real fun is okay in your church, there is potential for growth.
4. Reaching children is a priority.
Jesus loves children. Any church that loves Jesus should also love children. If children’s ministry is a priority, it will be reflected in the staff and financial reports of your church. When this priority is practiced, children will be brought to Jesus, and your church will have the favor of God.
I know there are some exceptions, but any church where children are not a priority has a limited shelf life. Personally, I don’t want to be a part of a local congregation with no little ones running around, making smudges where they shouldn’t, and dropping crumbs in the floors. Give me those good problems, and I’ll show you a church with a bright future.
5. Racial diversity is celebrated.
In most growing churches, diversity is celebrated. The blood of Christ knows no color lines! The love of God has no boundaries!
Diversity must take place naturally and cannot be contrived. So, whether or not a congregation is an exact reflection of its community is not my point. My opinion is that each race in your community should know that your church loves them, and they are welcome in your services.
When I see various shades of pigmentation in the pews and padded seats, I’m positive that these are my people. It’s a true reflection of the Body of Christ. In eternity, we will see that God has redeemed people of all nations, tribes, and tongues. We love people of all different colors in His Church.
This is list could be expanded. But, at least I’ve got you thinking about the culture your local church.
Even with all of the above and more positive characteristics in your local church, growth is not automatic. But if these are in place, it can take place with a lot less effort than if they are missing.
Why do I believe this? These cultural marks make for a healthy church and a healthy church is more likely to reach more people and assimilate them than an unhealthy church.
Written by William Strickland. Pastor of Harvest Christian Center in Cantonment, FL. Husband to Lisa and father to three kids. To read more of Williams’s work, take a look at his blog and be sure to follow him on social media.
Looking for a new position? Stop by MinistryJobs.com and have a look at the jobs that are available! Ministry jobs are hard to come by and job hunting is no fun. We help ministry job seekers find their ideal role in their next ministry – for free! More than 6 million search for a job every day. Be found! Looking to list a job or an open position? We help churches and organizations get job openings in front of potential candidates. We have several plans and packages available. Today is the day!
There is a right way for you to do it. There are also several wrong ways to go about it.
Few people address this topic publically. Yet, we need to apply some wisdom to this necessary occurrence.
Pastor, you don’t want to handle this wrong. It doesn’t matter whether you are a paid or a volunteer staff member; leaving wrongly will jeopardize your future opportunities.
There is a right way and a wrong way to leave the pastorate (tweet this). Too often I learn of tendered resignations that are not grace-filled departures.
If you give me the opportunity to help before the resignation, you’ll think I’m trying to talk you out of it. Why? Because you might be trying to leave without going through the painful conversations that lead to a right decision.
What is the wrong way to leave your pastorate?
If you think it doesn’t matter how you leave your pastorate, perhaps you lacked the spiritual maturity to serve in the first place.
You are forced to leave because of unrepentant sin, you will leave wrongly.
If you simply leave without praying about the matter over the course of several weeks, you will leave wrongly.
You make the decision to leave without discussing the matter with your spouse, you will leave wrongly.
If you leave without discussing the matter with the advice of peers that know you well and the wisdom of those who are over you in the Lord, you will leave wrongly.
You think that the decision to leave is solely your decision and that it does not matter what others think, you will leave wrongly.
If you leave without actually leaving, but stay in the mix as advisor emeritus, you will leave wrongly.
My big point is this: In spite of how discouraged you are, how poorly you might have been treated, or how irreplaceable you think you are, you are accountable to God and others for how you leave.
What is the right way to leave your pastorate?
The right way is to leave voluntarily because you sense that God’s perfect will for you is changing. He has a slow and steady way of making it crystal clear when He has a new assignment for you.
I pray you are not forced to leave because of the habitual practice of willful sin. However, if you are asked to leave, for this reason, do so in confession, repentance, and with the assurance that you are doing the right thing.
You should be prayerfully assured that it is God’s will for you to move on. This process should rest in Scripture and supplication.
Discuss it with your spouse and come to an agreement. Your ministry is not entirely dependent upon you since the marriage covenant means that two become one.
Acquire the godly counsel of those who can testify that they have been there and done that. You can learn from their mistakes and from their successful departures.
You need to talk with those who are over you in the Lord. Their discernment can help you know whether or not you should leave and help you make a wise transition.
For ministers who are members of my tribe within the Kingdom of God, let me speak frankly.
Pastor, please do not officially resign your pastorate until after consultation with your district (conference) superintendent. God places authority over you to help protect you. When you submit to God-ordained oversight, He empowers you to do more for Him.
Pastor, please understand that the authority to shut down your local church belongs to your district presbytery (conference council) and that can only be done with their approval, even if you founded the church from scratch. Member congregations within our organization are under the responsible oversight of these godly people who want to help you do the right thing for the Kingdom of God at large.
As a credentialed minister, you are accountable to your overseers. They don’t seek to hold you back. They want to help you fulfill your ministry.
Know this: seeking wisdom and counsel from others does not deny your competency as a leader. Instead, it causes you to grow and enhances your reputation as a person of wisdom.
Leaving well qualifies you as a person of good character to continue serving the Kingdom of God (Click to Tweet). If you’ve been looking for a sign to tell you how to leave well, this article could be it.
Ministry transitions can be filled with grace for everyone involved when handled with care and prayer. What would you describe as the right way to leave?
More on “How Not to Leave Your Pastorate” can be found here. Click over and keep reading. Join the discussion, leave a comment, and pray for pastors and churches in transition. If you are in the process of leaving, leave well my pastor friend. Leave well.
Written by William Strickland. Pastor of Harvest Christian Center in Cantonment, FL. Husband to Lisa and father to three kids. To read more of Williams’s work, take a look at his blog and be sure to follow him on social media.
Looking for a new position? Stop by MinistryJobs.com and have a look at the jobs that are available! Ministry jobs are hard to come by and job hunting is no fun. We help ministry job seekers find their ideal role in their next ministry – for free! More than 6 million search for a job every day. Be found! Looking to list a job or an open position? We help churches and organizations get job openings in front of potential candidates. We have several plans and packages available. Today is the day!
3 Thoughts on What Christian Leadership Should Look Like
Christian leadership should stand in contrast to the secular world’s understanding of what it means to be successful. Alas, I think too much of the American church at large is not concerned with the New Testament pattern of leadership and success.
What should Christian leadership look like? Here are three brief thoughts on what Christian leadership should look like, according to my scripturally biased opinion.
Primarily, I have a hard time getting away from the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:11-12. According to Jesus, Christian leadership looks like servanthood.
Interestingly, J.B. Phillips provided a challenging translation of Matthew 23:10-12. “And you must not let people call you ‘leaders’—you have only one leader, Christ! The only ‘superior’ among you is the one who serves the others. For every man who promotes himself will be humbled, and every man who learns to be humble will find promotion.”
So then, Christian leadership is about following Christ, serving others along the way, and learning to be content with obscurity.
Secondarily, Christian leadership does not look like prosperity or the lack thereof. It’s not about stuff, it’s about following Christ and serving those whom He loves. The admonition of Hebrews 13:5 is clear. Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” His presence matters more than your stuff.
Please understand that as a Christian leader, you might never have a luxurious office, a large expense account, or a lofty title. And that’s okay. If your mode of leadership servanthood never measures up to this world’s definition of success, you are in really great company with a host of people whose names fill the New Testament. I’ll refrain from making a list and encourage you to be a student of the Book.
Thirdly, Christian leaders should not act as though because they are graced with ministry gifts that they have no need of working with others. The practice of continually isolating yourself from others is what our adversary (the devil) likes to see. He can wreak havoc through that practice.
What am I talking about with this third point? God has not called the Body of Christ to independence. But rather, He has called us to the blessedness of interdependence. That’s the whole point of 1 Corinthians 12:21-26.
What this really means is that to best fulfill the New Testament pattern of servanthood leadership, you need me. And I need you, more than you could possibly understand. Besides the ample evidence of Scripture, I’m not really smart enough to do this without your help. The best ideas and ministry are often generated from those without any official ministry title.
We can wrap this up in summary style. What does Christian leadership look like? Christian leadership looks like serving others and being okay with only God knowing your name and what you have done. This New Testament servanthood model is more possessed with the presence of Christ than the things of this world and with that, you can be content. And in this neighborhood, joint servanthood is the only model that works.
Finally, I ran across this quote from Pastor Benny Tate and it will serve as a thought-provoking conclusion. “You haven’t served God until God gets the glory and someone else gets the credit.”
Written by William Strickland. Pastor of Harvest Christian Center in Cantonment, FL. Husband to Lisa and father to three kids. To read more of Williams’s work, take a look at his blog and be sure to follow him on social media.
Looking for a new position? Stop by MinistryJobs.com and have a look at the jobs that are available! Ministry jobs are hard to come by and job hunting is no fun. We help ministry job seekers find their ideal role in their next ministry – for free! More than 6 million search for a job every day. Be found! Looking to list a job or an open position? We help churches and organizations get job openings in front of potential candidates. We have several plans and packages available. Today is the day!
