A colleague is making a change in his church staff position. He’s struggling with coming up with a new ministry job title. He says, “While I realize the main thing is how one functions, job titles are suggestive and important.”

He’s moving from a generalist position as Minister of Christian Formation, to a more focused ministry with adults. Here are some titles he’s considering.

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I discovered the book, Becoming A Community of Salt and Light, by Peggy Prevoznik Heins (Ava Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana) while I was researching our (Galindo and Canaday) soon-to-be-published book, Organizing for Christian Education Formation: A Faith Community Approach. The author makes the point that leadership is an issue of skill development, and that leaders not only need to be able to address the functions they are called to, but must possess certain leadership qualities. She calls attention to eleven leadership qualities in a chart in her book. These eleven qualities are listed with slight modification below.

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I recently heard a speaker say that “…everything and everywhere is a classroom and therefore an educational setting….” While the hyperbole makes its point, the use of the term “classroom” posits a danger for misunderstanding. My concern is that, while I agree with the sentiment, there is risk in using a classroom as a metaphor for anything other than . . . well, a classroom.

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Over the past several months I’ve talked with various church staff about some money issues. One interesting aspect of these conversations is how they parallel. All of them involved a variation on: (1) a church member wanting to give money to, or fund, the staff person’s ministry area, (2) the offer of a personal gift of money to the staff member in appreciation, and (3) observations or questions about how different staff persons in the same church handle these situations.

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There has been a resurgence in clergy peer learning groups of late. A significant contribution to this has been the funding from the Lilly Foundation that has challenged and enabled denominations to bring about external impetus to the creation of clergy support groups. I’ve been a member of a peer learning support group for fifteen years. In fact, this GRACE (Greater Richmond Area Christian Educators) blog is one dimension of it.

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I recently read a post at Learnings at Leadership Network, by Warren Bird, Ph.D., Research Director at Leadership Network, and co-author of 19 books on various aspects of church health and innovation. This was posted on May 16, 2008 in Church Visits.

Warren wrote, “Unfortunately, too many churches exist where the senior pastor is a tremendous leader but an even bigger bottleneck. In such churches nothing of importance can happen unless the senior pastor is at the hub of it. Neither long-term volunteers, nor senior staff, feel empowered to take initiative on anything major. They feel underutilized – and they are.

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I’ve been working with a couple of organizations that are “stuck” but motivated enough to get moving toward becoming “healthier.” As I witness the process of working with the leaders and employees of both organizations I’m reminded of some fundamental truths about systems. First, while motivation is a necessary component for bringing about change, it’s not sufficient. For example, if the motivation is to simply ease acute anxiety or pain a system will settle on pragmatic “instant” solutions that will ease the symptoms.

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Emily Kittle Morrison presents a concise, yet comprehensive resource on the subject of leading a volunteer organization in her book Leadership Skills: Developing Volunteers for Organizational Success (Fisher Books, 1994). Morrison provides helpful instructions, practical tips, and valuable resources on fifteen different foci of volunteer leadership from time management and listening to conflict management and board skills. The book, more of a resource manual with pithy points and assessment tools, has an easy to read and approachable layout that will serve well its purpose. The book easily lends itself to a field resource guide and would likely work as a supplement to many areas of leadership and volunteer training. Morrison covers quite a bit of ground in Leadership Skills making this book a valuable asset for anyone associated with a volunteer organization.

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Leaders often get caught by surprise by reactivity. That’s no surprise given that reactivity often feels like a dose of intense raw emotion. That kind of energy goes right to the amygdala triggering reactivity on the part of the recipient that results in a “fight or flight” impulse. A sudden assault of intense reactivity can turn off our brain, leaving us with an inability to tap into the resource of cognition—thinking through the problem

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Roy Phillip’s Letting Go (Herndon, Virginia: The Alban Institute, 1999) starts with the assertion that ministers need to “let go” of their need to control every aspect of their congregation, and to let the members take charge. Phillips talks about how bringing people into congregations can be seen as a five-step process: inviting people, welcoming them, orienting them, helping them join, and then assimilating them into the congregation. He says that this last step is where most congregations fail. In order for congregations to become transformed for ministry, Phillips proposes four major changes, each to which he dedicates a chapter.

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