I recently had a conversation with a staff minister who shared his frustration that his staff team did not conduct staff meetings. The result, he said, was a lack of communication and collaboration. He continued with a comment that little sense of teamship existed within his staff team.
This conversation led me to think about the practices that are necessary for effective staff ministry. Take a look at these practices and share your thoughts about the significance of these six practices for effective staff ministry. What other practices would you add to the list?
The words in the left column represent six practices for effective staff ministry. The right column gives a brief description of the practice, why it is important, and an assessment question to use with your staff team to discuss these practices. This chart could be used as the agenda for a staff development meeting.
Respond to this post with examples of the ways that your staff team is addressing the above issues. Your practices may encourage other staff teams to consider ways to improve their staff practices.
Good piece, Marty, thanks. I was trying to think if there was an element I’d add to the practices column, but I can think of only one: mutual respect. But I think that’s a by-product that’s derivative of other things—perhaps the very things you’ve identified, including, as you note, the cultivation of friendship through “building relationships.”
I think it’s worth pointing out that for all of these good things to happen the key leader in the system (the pastor or senior pastor) needs to set the tone and the value. Without his or her invesment in helping to find the ways to make this happen it likely never will.