We continue the “Ten Best Ways to Ruin Your Church Staff” to avoid for those pastoral leaders who want to keep and develop quality staff ministry colleagues, (For those pastors who want to get rid of troubling church staff, then this is the way to do it!). Today, no. 4: Neglect a Theology of Calling.
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We continue the “Ten Best Ways to Ruin Your Church Staff” to avoid for those pastoral leaders who want to keep and develop quality staff ministry colleagues, (For those pastors who want to get rid of troubling church staff, then this is the way to do it!). Today, no. 3: Divide and Conquer.
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We continue the “Ten Best Ways to Ruin Your Church Staff” to avoid for those pastoral leaders who want to keep and develop quality staff ministry colleagues, (For those pastors who want to get rid of troubling church staff, then this is the way to do it!). Today, no. 2: Micromanage and Overfunction.
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For those pastoral leaders who want to keep and develop quality staff ministry colleagues, here are the ten most common ways that pastors ruin church staff—and how to avoid them. (For those pastors who want to get rid of troubling church staff, then this is the way to do it!). Today, no. 1: Demand perfection and conformity.
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As I consult with leaders of organizations, including churches, in these anxious times, I’ve noticed something new. The new is a shift in focus on the part of leaders from personal to team. Leadership, by its nature, is an isolating enterprise. Leaders need to stand apart, sometimes they stand alone, and often leadership is a lonely state of being.
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Pastoral transitions can be anxiety-ridden times for congregations. Congregations that go through an interim period without pastoral leadership need to navigate transition without an organization’s chief resource: its leader. That transition involves many challenges, including, disruption of homeostasis, a shift to inward-focused tasks, and a leadership vacuum.
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I’ve been observing several persons in the process of making decisions. Some of the decisions are personal in nature (quitting one job to take another, ending or starting a relationship, going back to school, moving). Others pertain to leaders making organizational or institutional decisions (dealing with employees, closing a program, dealing with a crisis). In only a few of those instances have I observed persons making quick and decisive choices from several options and then moving toward a new direction. Most people struggle through a long winding, angst-filled process of uncertainty and indecision before achieving resolution and finding direction. Most can’t identify their options, much less come up with new ones.
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These past few weeks I’ve had ocassion to be reminded of what my friend Margaret says about bringing about change in congregations, which is, ”Everything takes five years.” While that’s a bit tounge-in-cheek, it’s not far from the truth. Over the past four weeks I’ve had casual conversations with as many church leaders related to how long it takes to get things done in congregations. Each highlighted a different aspect of the dynamic.
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Bringing about organizational change isn’t rocket science, but it’s not easy either. Those who step into a leadership position that requires engaging in institutional and organizational development in effect and by default will need to bring about changes on several levels: administrative, cultural, organizational, relational, and in processes and structures. In other words, institutional development is systemic. It requires addressing change in everything all together at the same time.
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I recently heard a seminary alumnus say that one thing he regretted about his seminary experience is not taking Christian education courses. He suggested the reason for that was he “Didn’t really understand what Christian education was about.” I suspect that for this former student, Christian education was, in his mind, equivalent to and not much more than “Sunday School.”
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