Three Vital Questions For Church Staffing

by Rev. Mark E. Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader

I hope you were able to take in my article on the Outsized Influence of Church Staff, (click HERE for a link to it). Working from the foundational recognition that changes at the top of a system (church community) are experienced as much larger changes lower in the system, one can see how church staff teams exert great influence, preferred or not. This recognition then means something for church leadership, raising other important questions for us. Perhaps now is a good time to personally and collectively engage them, positioning ourselves to choose well our course of action regarding our church staff teams.

Personnel Teams, here’s your question:

What weight will our church, through this Personnel Team, give to staff persons and team development?

You might begin forming your answer through looking at what you are currently doing. For example, does your church budget include funding for continuing education? How much? When was this increased? How is it used? Does your church provide funding for at least one staff team retreat each year? Does your Personnel Committee give its blessing to the staff team to periodically pull away from day to day ministry in order to learn together? Do you include leadership coaching in the compensation packages? Gaining a baseline understanding of your church’s current approach to strengthening staff persons and the staff team is a starting point. Beyond that, how do you know or assess the effectiveness of team-working in your staff? How might you encourage this?

Some Personnel Teams are only active when there’s a problem or when a new hire is needed. We might suggest they can be far more proactive than this, strengthening their church through strengthening staff person and team development. Sure there are barriers to functioning this way. Just as surely we can find ways around or through barriers when our priorities guide us there.

Lead and Executive Pastors, here’s your question:

What’s my role in developing staff persons and our staff team?

As you can see, this question presupposes these pastors recognize the outsized influence of staff teams. Then, these pastors often recognize they are the ones in the church system to pursue and implement some form of development. Even as I write this, I’m highly aware of my vocational growth process wherein I had to struggle around with this dynamic. How much did I believe investing in others, bringing out the best in them, was worthy ministry, compared to simply doing it myself? Lead Pastors and Executive Pastors must gain clarity here. If not, they will overtly and/or covertly undermine the staff development efforts of their church. Most of the time this looks like benign neglect; simply not tending to this dynamic. This can work fine… for a while, until the cracks widen and the you know what starts hitting the fan.

One other insight for Lead and Executive Pastors… you may not have the gifts, training, nor interest in developing the staff team. That’s OK. We’d rather you recognize and affirm this than to pretend it’s not so. But you still have work to do – to make sure staff persons and teaming IS tended to in your church. You may not be the coach or team developer, yet you must make sure there are people functioning in these roles. You will appreciate the payoff from your efforts in the short and long run.

Staff Teams, here’s your question:

What does my personal and vocational development plan look like, and what does our team development plan look like?

For this year, what are your personal and vocational growth goals? How have you designed your learning this year? What’s the anticipated outcome for you and for your church?

Developing these kinds of plans requires pastors and staff persons to know where their church is headed. The best learning plans are not based on whatever that person is interested in at the time. Instead, they are built on the initiatives the church is pursuing at this time, focused on the skills and competencies this leader needs in order to help the church move toward its aspirations. Sure there is room for personal choice as well, yet when this plan is aligned with the church’s aspirations, everyone gains and moves forward together.

Leading a team… developing a team… this requires a plan also, simple though it may be. We at Pinnacle periodically help staff teams articulate their development plans, providing support and accountability toward implementation. Beyond that, there are several articles to be written about staff team-working (a huge and powerful dynamic).

For now, may we use what we know to live into our best selves, serving ever more effectively in God’s good vineyard.