{"id":921,"date":"2008-04-14T00:05:26","date_gmt":"2008-04-14T04:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/archives\/921"},"modified":"2008-04-07T20:34:35","modified_gmt":"2008-04-08T00:34:35","slug":"what-pastors-want-staff-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/archives\/921","title":{"rendered":"What pastors want staff to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m teaching a new course titled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How to Thrive and Succeed as a Congregational Ministry Associate.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The course features a narrative component that consists of visits from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153practitioners.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d These are ministry associates, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153second chair\u00e2\u20ac\u009d leaders, currently in congregations. The visitors were at several stages in the trajectory of professional ministry. Some were just starting their first or second years in ministry and some were seasoned veterans with many years of experience. Each was asked to share about their calling and to tell the story of their professional ministry experience.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Last week we offered \u00e2\u20ac\u0153equal time\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153first chair\u00e2\u20ac\u009d leader. A former pastor, who only recently changed his ministry context, I asked him to share as part of his presentation a list of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Five Things Pastors Want Staff to Understand.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Here is his list:<\/p>\n<p>1. <strong>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about you.<\/strong> It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about the congregation, the Church, and the call to ministry.<\/p>\n<p>2. <strong>Numbers matter. <\/strong>Numbers are not the measure of everything, but they are important to know. For example, numbers can reveal the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reach\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of your congregation.<\/p>\n<p>3. <strong>Clergy are called to embody the Gospel.<\/strong> This pastor cited tithing as an example, stressing why it is important for pastors and staff to practice tithing. His challenge: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stop your whining and pay your tithe.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>4. <strong>Fifty hours of work a week is the standard in ministry.<\/strong> Ministry is complex and demanding and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a nine to five job. <\/p>\n<p>5. <strong>Be ye doers of the word.<\/strong> It is not enough to organize others to do ministry, this pastor said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You have to do it yourself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ministry is about doing something for Jesus, not just getting others to do it, he said.<\/p>\n<p><img src='http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/galindobanner5.jpg' alt='galindobanner5.jpg' \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m teaching a new course titled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How to Thrive and Succeed as a Congregational Ministry Associate.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The course features a narrative component that consists of visits from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153practitioners.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d These are ministry associates, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153second chair\u00e2\u20ac\u009d leaders, currently in congregations. The visitors &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/archives\/921\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,11],"tags":[42,211,264,210],"class_list":["post-921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-second-chair","tag-israel-galindo","tag-pastors-and-staff","tag-second-chair","tag-staff"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}