Podcast Episode #119
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Staff unity is a critical component of church unity. A healthy staff usually serves a healthy church. So today on the podcast, we discuss 10 keys to building a healthy staff.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- There are a number of church staffs who, for some reason, do not pray together.
- When there is an issue with a church staff member, talk TO them not ABOUT them.
- The healthiest mentoring takes place informally.
- Comparing individual ministries in a church to one another can be demoralizing to a minister and fracturing to the church.
- Just as one member of the Body is as important as the next, so one ministry of the church is as important as the next.
The 10 keys we cover in this podcast are:
- Pray as a staff
- Brag to the congregation about the staff
- Don’t complain to church members about other staff
- Meet one-on-one at least a few times a year
- View the staff as a team instead of as individuals
- Get together outside of work hours
- Don’t compare ministry growth
- Be willing to pitch in when needed—don’t make other staff ask for help
- Don’t treat one ministry as more important than others
- Realize each ministry is component of the entire ministry of the church
Episode Sponsor
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. They’ve helped hundreds of churches just like yours find their church staff and are uniquely geared to help you discern who God is calling to lead your church. Find out more about Vanderbloemen Search Group by visiting WeStaffTheChurch.com.
Feedback
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It was so amazing. I was sending a church wide leadership invitation to a cookout right when I received this post. I told my leadership team:
“All of us get to spend a lot of time with the ministries God has called us to lead and with the people God has called us to serve with. The women’s ministry goes to women’s conferences and have fellowship events, the youth go to youth conferences and have fellowship events, the small groups have fellowship gatherings, but my wife and I never get to spend anytime with the leadership team that God has blessed us to serve along side . Sure, we get to have meetings and discuss church business and your ministries, but we don’t get the time to know each of you.
So what we have decided to do; is start scheduling time together with you. ”
Your 10 keys are so correct.
The only thing I would change in your title is it would say: 10 Keys To Developing A Healthy Church Team, because not all leadership in churches are staff.
Excellent 10 points though. Love your blogs.
I worked for a time as support staff for a church, and I always appreciated when the minister I directly supported would take time to pray before our weekly planning session. It was also practically a good way to have some personal chitchat at the beginning but then have a definite transition to our planning agenda. The church also had occasional all-staff meetings that would be opened in prayer by a minister but ended in paired prayer–always pairing support staff with ministers. I think this was meant to encourage interaction between people that did not normally interact, but the exercise in practice felt uncomfortable and forced. Perhaps meant to be unifying, pairing that way only emphasized the existing division between ministers and support staff, as if the staff could not pray without a minister’s help. It made us feel like children rather than co-laborers.
I fully believe the point that you should talk TO someone about a problem instead of ABOUT them. But what do you do when the one you need to talk TO is the problem and they are the primary leader? It’s especially difficult to build a healthy team when the one leading said team refuses to have staff meetings.