| Things Senior Pastors Wish Their Staffs Knew |
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| FaithLeader | |||
| Written by David Adams | |||
| Monday, 08 June 2009 00:00 | |||
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- Pastors are seen by the church at large as the "person in charge," and that means that they often have to hear about every little problem and field every single complaint that comes their way, whether it is really their fault or not. When “bad things” happen to the pastor, they tend to happen to the entire staff. - They have a life outside the church. Pastors shouldn't be expected to live at the church any more than you are. Moreover, they should be given the chance to take off the “pastor hat” when not in the office. If you cannot see your pastor as a friend, nor have any interests in common outside of the church, chances are that you do not have a healthy relationship with them. - Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Being in charge can, at times, be very isolating. It can be very difficult for a pastor to be his or her self and relate to others in an authentic way. Add to that the struggles that come with always feeling pressured to be “the example” for everyone, and they have a very tough job. - Trust is a 2-way street. Everyone else on staff may have times when they complain that the senior pastor does not trust them or is otherwise inhibiting their ministry, but they need to understand that whatever trust they received needs to be earned. Pastors are not commonly in a position where they can make a lot of mistakes and keep their job, which means that everything that they trust to their staff depends upon the trustworthiness of that staff. Likewise, staff members have got to give trust to get it. If either side is incapable of that transaction, you are on the wrong staff, but not for long. - There are often times when the pastor or staff may feel under assault by the church, or at least its loudest members. At those times, it is vital for all concerned to be a part of a team that demonstrates unity under fire, no matter what you might actually feel about another staff person's decisions. Obviously, egregious behaviors cannot be tolerated, but short of those anomalies, a church staff needs to hang together or hang separately. - Not everything is that important. Associate staff persons and volunteers bring a wonderful energy and excitement to ministry. They allow a church to reach out in ways that it cannot do when it depends solely on the senior pastor for everything. Senior pastors have to look at the entire picture and strive to help the congregation create balance, even though that sometimes means saying that something that another staff person has really invested in is not a priority at the moment. The really good ones can do so in such a way as to let the person know that they are valued, as well as their passion and ideas, but that they have to make a temporary sacrifice for the greater good. Unfortunately, not everyone is that good all the time, so pastors sometimes have to hurt feelings for the good of all. Staff members really need to understand and respect this. - They deserve respect. Just as in a household where children set their parents at odds with one another to get their way, so too do congregations set one staff person against another. It is easy to get caught up in that and adopt a posture that disrespects and even openly challenges the pastor. Don't. - They need ministry, too. When you are the minister to everyone else, who ministers to you? It takes a special bond between staff members in order for them to truly become ministers to each other, but it is worth the effort. The most important ministries for every church staff is to each other and their families. Fail at those things and you cannot succeed at any of the others. That's it for now. Feel free to disagree and argue with me. Comments (1)
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One of he things that I most like about teaching seminary courses are those times when I set aside the “normal” course material and level with my class about what life might really be like in churches. Sometimes, it's even more fun to bring in some people from local churches and see how they react. The looks on people's faces when I start the lecture titled “Protecting Your Assets” can be priceless, if the class is not ready for it. Since I just finished a bit of a tutorial on Leadership, I'd like to share some of that here. This is by no means a complete list, and, as usual, this is supposed to be something controversial that just starts a discussion, but we all had fun, so here's a partial list of things senior pastors wish their leadership teammates knew:
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Maybe I should have majored in business administration instead of religion and seminary so I would know what to do in "church" ...