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.
Each week, we feature a new church and introduce you to some of the new and exciting things that’s taking place within it’s doors and within their community. All of our churches have the same mission, however, and it’s to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. We’re all engaged in the same kind of work!
Let’s use this opportunity above all to encourage and pray for each other. If you would like your church to be featured and for us to pray for your church, please comment below with the name and location of the church.
Grace Bible Church has been on the lookout for a new senior pastor for quite some time now. God knows their needs! The church knows that God wants to guide them to the right person that He has already prepared for this position in the right time. Pray that their next pastor would have a strong commitment to Christ, and a definite sense of God’s calling to be a pastor. Pray that this person would be a person of integrity and that they would be honest.
Finally, pray that the pastor’s life would be marked by prayer, faith, compassion and love. That he would be a person of vision, as well, seeking to strengthen believers and reach the lost for Christ. Pray that their congregation will welcome and support and encourage their new pastor once they find him. It’s been 3 long years that they’ve been on this journey – pray that the right person would be found soon and that a hire could be made quickly.
“Churches Praying for Churches” is a blog series at MinistryJobs.com. Come along side of us to pray for these churches. Let us know that you’re praying with us by commenting below.
If you would like your church featured in the “Churches Praying for Churches” series, comment below with the churches name and location.
Each week, we feature a new church and introduce you to some of the new and exciting things that’s taking place within it’s doors and within their community. All of our churches have the same mission, however, and it’s to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. We’re all engaged in the same kind of work!
Let’s use this opportunity above all to encourage and pray for each other. If you would like your church to be featured and for us to pray for your church, please comment below with the name and location of the church.
Redemption Hill Church is ready for a full summer as they’re diving deep as they serve within their community. Pastor Turley leads Redemption Hill with his passion rooted in connecting people within the community and helping them discover God’s design for their lives. When you visit Redemption Hill, you can expect reverence and relevance. They exist to glorify God by living out His mission as a community transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pray for their summer outreach and service within their community. We ask that they would shine and be a light to the people they come in contact with. Pray that they would point people to Christ in all they do. Also, for new leaders that are coming on board to serve. Pray that the on-boarding and training up of these leaders is God ordained. We ask that God would increase their harvest season and that more people would come to Christ thru what is being taught within the walls of the church. Pray for the leaders and teachers that are training up and discipling these new believers.
May their words and actions be of God and that these new believers would want to know more about Christ because of what they’ve seen or heard.
“Churches Praying for Churches” is a blog series at MinistryJobs.com. Come along side of us to pray for these churches. Let us know that you’re praying with us by commenting below.
If you would like your church featured in the “Churches Praying for Churches” series, comment below with the churches name and location.
A positive team culture doesn’t just happen. If you want to have a good start, begin my implementing an easy (but often overlooked) practice with your team—honestly caring about one another.
For years, people have talked about the need to build a great team atmosphere, especially in the work place. When there is synergy in your teams, people work better together and goals get accomplished that wouldn’t otherwise. A positive team culture doesn’t just happen, though. People are different, and therefore creating the right team atmosphere is different for every church and ministry. In fact, creating a strong team culture always includes trial and error. But, if you want to have a good start, begin by implementing an easy (but often overlooked) practice with your team—honestly caring about one another.
An excellent example of this is a conversation two pastors recently had after attending a seminar on strengthening marriages. The sessions were challenging but one particular seminar struck a chord with the men. Later as they drove home, one turned and asked his friend, “What do you think I could do to make my wife feel more valued?”
His friend thought about it for a moment and replied, “Well, maybe if you started to value her more.” That was an almost shocking answer because the pastor and husband thought he was doing that already. On the surface, he often demonstrated his care for his wife but he had to admit that when it came to him valuing her, he came up short. At the end of a day, he would listen as she ran down the list of all she had done at her own job and then how she had dealt with their kids. He nodded and listened and even offered a smile of encouragement, but his value of her as a very important part of his life was shallow and he knew it.
You see, a person can be an effective leader but not know how to value his or her team members.
Some leaders feel so out of touch with those on their staff that they hope someone else will show up and do the hard work for them, but God doesn’t let us off the hook that easily.
We were created for relationships—first with Him and then with others. If you think about it, the very thing Jesus did the most was to value those who were on His team. He knew their flaws and shortcomings, but He stayed on track with them and provided the right leadership to build a cohesive team.
Don’t become so busy trying to grow your church that you forget to take time to develop those who are on the journey with you.
Jesus made an effort to know His disciples and followers on individual levels. He didn’t call them to follow Him and then go on vacation. He called them and He led them so they would become successful.
Many pastors and church leaders eagerly sign people up to work or volunteer only to leave them floundering on the sidelines. They think their job is done when, in actuality, it’s just started. Individuals who join a team should be brought into the group where they learn to work, play and win as one!
Here are seven crucial elements of building a strong team.
Value others
We all know the old adage that tells us to value others more than ourselves. If you want to build a team that is exciting and loves to come to work, practice valuing your team members over yourself. When you demonstrate sincere interest in their contributions to the task or the goal, you are teaching them how to be successful along with how to respect and value one another. The team that is based on mutual respect usually excels in many different areas.
Leaders can struggle at this point. The challenge is to be willing to be authentic in valuing others. Listen to what your team members are saying while understanding their desires, goals and dreams for the future.
Be a relational and not transactional leader
Bill Hybels observes, “It stands to reason that a leader sometimes seems to be three-fourths steamroller and one-fourth caring and compassionate colleague. When a leader walks into a meeting, he or she usually has only one thing on the brain: mission advancement.”
Every leader loves it when someone shows up with a smile and brings “fresh sight” to their ministry. They are usually welcomed with open arms. If you are a transactional leader, you look beyond the pretty smile and see what team members have to offer. You go straight for the bottom line.
A relational leader will consider this same thing but will see team members like a flock of sheep that need to be nurtured at times. The more the sheep feel like they count and have value, the more they will feel secure and will produce even more each year.
Listen with curiosity
Learn to be a listener and not just a talker! Learning to listen well is foundational to every relationship. Listening with a curious intent shows that you are engaged and interested in what the other person is saying. It also demonstrates that you are “tuned in” and genuinely want to know about the person who is working alongside you.
All of us have worked for leaders who call a meeting and then proceed to talk the entire time about themselves. We come away feeling frustrated and like our time was wasted. Listening is a cornerstone to communication. The person who listens and speaks sparingly ends up building a deeper and stronger rapport with co-workers and friends. That person conveys that he or she is caring, trust-worthy and a good communicator.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The only thing better than a good question is a good follow up question. The goal is to genuinely demonstrate you value the other person and you hear what they are saying. With each question you ask, you learn more about the person who is on your team.
Slow down
The pace of our world seems to be fast. We try to squeeze one more project, activity and challenge into our already “crammed to the max” days. At the core of this fast-pace lifestyle is the inability to focus on others and spend one-on-one time with them. People fall into bed at night and tell themselves that they are accomplishing great things for the Lord when that isn’t always the case, especially when the pace leads you away from spending time with Him.
One of the best parts of community at work is the time spent with others in collaboration. Make every effort to slow down, be still and listen. Having a team around you to do the work is one thing. Learning to value that team is the most important step in team leadership.
Don’t be distracted by technology
People know when you are distracted. It shows. You may think that you can hide your technology compulsions by saying things like “I’m listening; I’m just multi-tasking,” but your non-verbal message is clear. The team member or family member doesn’t have your attention, and they will feel the burn of being in second place. Put your smart devices away and refuse to be drawn away by them mentally.
Be engaged
Set a goal each day to check with a team member and spend a few minutes talking about life, work, and things that are important to them. The more engaged you are with your team, the stronger the bond will be. You’ll soon notice your team’s productivity increasing. Another very important thing happens: The team members begin to value one another. Tough challenges become solvable and even fun to achieve!
Show personal care
We live in a culture where verbal attacks and trash talking seem to be the order of the day. We have lost our sense of civility and no person or position is off limits.
When you hold up personal care against the backdrop of our culture, it is radically counter-cultural. Sadly, too often it is even counter to Christian culture. If you want to create an atmosphere where success and excitement thrive, learn to care for others. Deliver a cup of coffee to your co-worker’s desk.
Invite someone to have lunch with you and another team member and even pick up the tab. Take time to laugh with your staff, to talk with them, and learn how to compliment each person. Show you care and that you really mean it when you say that you value those who work with and for you.
The difference is yours to make and when you value others, it will be dramatic!
Article written for ChurchPlants by Joey Tindall. For other articles written by Joey, have a look here.
1. Pray that your teens will be saved (Rom. 10:1).
The deepest cry of your heart should be that God would save the unregenerate teens you know. Pray for authentic, total heart transformation. That teens will not trust in a memorized childhood prayer or an emotional experience, but will repent of their sins and trust in Christ alone.
2. Pray that your teens will love God’s Word (Psalm 119:9-10).
Pray that God would speak to teens through his Word and bless them with an arresting delight in it. That they would submit every question, decision, and desire to the Bible’s authority and gladly follow its counsel. Also, that they would get into Scripture daily, and that God would teach and strengthen them through it.
3. Pray that your teens will stay in church (Hebrews 10:25).
Pray that God would give them an abiding love for his people and a passion to participate in the community of the local church. That they would prioritize church over work and friends and a thousand other trivial and temporal things. Pray that God would use the local church to equip, encourage, and sanctify them for life.
4. Pray that your teens will have discernment (Rom. 12:2).
Pray that they will know the truth and resist false teaching. That they will be committed to remaining faithful to God’s Word. Pray that they will submit themselves to sound teachers and pastors who are grounded in Scripture.
5. Pray that your teens will follow wise guides (1 Cor. 11:1).
Pray that God would put strong and gracious counselors in their lives who will point them on the right path. That teens will have the humility to listen to their elders. Pray that God will protect them from poor decisions and naïve mistakes.
6. Pray that your teens will fight temptation (1 Cor. 10:13).
Pray that teens will not cave to culture or crushing peer pressure but will stand firm against the temptations they face – sexual temptation, social temptation, digital temptation. That the Holy Spirit would convict them of sin and lead them in righteousness. Pray that teens would joyfully welcome and even pursue accountability.
7. Pray that your teens will make godly friends (Prov. 18:24).
Pray that God would grant them flourishing friendships that will encourage them in the gospel and mature them in their faith. That they will spend time with those who are kind, humble, gracious, and wise. Pray that they will be influenced for lasting good by the people they spend time with.
8. Pray that your teens will pursue healthy relationships (2 Tim. 2:22).
Pray that they would chase and celebrate purity in all of their relationships. That God would grant them a godly spouse and protect them from sexual sin. But pray ultimately that they would love God more intimately and deeply than any boy or girl.
9. Pray that your teens will stand out from the world (Matt. 5:14-16).
Pray that teens will embrace their identity in Christ and wholeheartedly obey him even when it costs them. That they will not be blown by the winds of culture but will risk their reputations to publicly follow Christ. That they would rejoice in their freedom from sin and shine brightly in a dark world.
10. Pray that your teens will endure suffering well (2 Tim 4:5).
Pray that God would teach them trust in Him through their bitterest trials. That they would be sanctified through suffering. Pray that God would use their circumstances to make their faith stronger and happier and more resilient.
11. Pray that your teens will have wisdom (Prov. 3:4-5).
Pray that they will have guidance and direction in the midst of great uncertainty. That God would guard them from fear and anxiety and make them more reliant on him. Pray that whatever he has planned for their futures would bring him glory.
12. Pray that your teens will rise up and do great things for God (1 Tim. 4:12).
Pray that God uses this next generation to do far greater things for his kingdom than your generation. We ask that this next generation learns from both the wisdom and the errors of our elders and boldly rises up to the challenges we’ll face. Pray for this next generation–for we are your next missionaries, your pastors, your professors, your teachers, your politicians, your authors, your parents. And we’re your next church.
Article written for UnlockingTheBible.org by Jaquelle Crowe. Jaquelle a 19-year-old writer from eastern Canada. She’s a graduate of Thomas Edison State University and the editor-in-chief of TheRebelution.com. You can find more of her writing at jaquelle.ca.
