Stop Paying People to Do Ministry

Sunday, February 24, 2013

As they grow, many churches eagerly anticipate the moment when they’re finally big enough that they can afford to hire more staff and offer more ministry options for people. For example I’ve heard churches say they can’t wait to hire a Men’s Ministry Pastor. Nothing against Men’s Ministry per se, but that’s an expensive model. If you run it out to its logical end you’re going to have a lot of people on your payroll. Paying people to “do” ministry instead of “lead” ministry is an expensive mistake that many churches fall into. Here are 3 principles that will help you focus the Staffing & Volunteer philosophy at your church.

The Professionalism of Ministry has allowed the Church to Abdicate Responsibility

Just about every Pastor I’ve ever met generally agrees that their role is to, “equip the saints to do the work of the ministry.” After all it’s pretty tough to disagree with the Scriptures. But unless you’re hiring through this filter of “preparing God’s people for works of service,” (Ephesians 4:11-13) every time you make a hire you’re robbing the church of the opportunity to be the church, as well as the church staff member of their God ordained role. As a Church Staff Member no job should be beneath you, but at the same time a Church Staff Member shouldn’t do every job either. Just see the conversation Jethro had with his son-in-law Moses (Exodus 18:13-26).

Remember that Volunteering is Discipleship

I’ve discovered that many churches still view volunteering as roles that need to be filled instead of people that need to be developed. I think we forget how much spiritual growth takes place in someone’s life as a result of volunteering. Instead of viewing volunteering as filling roles to run a church, volunteering should be viewed as a part of the spiritual pathway of our churches. It’s a subtle yet significant shift that needs to be made in our thinking for the sake of the spiritual formation of the people that have been entrusted to us.

Pay People to be Volunteer Specialists

If you’re going to use volunteers heavily in your church this doesn’t mean you’re not going to pay some staff. But when you do, make sure you pay for administration, mobilization, and highly skilled specialized roles. I say administration because volunteers would rather give their time to ministry that touches people’s lives than pushing paper. Those who are great at mobilization will utilize volunteers well because they know how to drive the project management of a team and think people first and roles second. Finally there are just going to be some highly skilled roles you’re going to need to pay for like the primary communicator/teacher, I.T., and so on.

Posted in Volunteers

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“it’s my pleasure”

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to have a couple of Operators from Chic-fil-A spend a half day training the Staff from all three Sun Valley Campuses on what they’re best at, customer service. When it comes to great customer service there are a few companies that consistently come to mind Southwest Airlines, Disney, Nordstrom’s, and of course Chic-fil-A. While I’ve always thought the Church should be hitting it out of the park on this one (after all it sounds an awful lot like Philippians 2), until we do I’m content to learn from the best. So here are some of my notes and thoughts from my time with the guys at Chic-fil-A.

Posted in Leadership, Volunteers

6

Special Needs: is the church forgetting an entire segment of the population?

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Recently my wife and two daughters (8 and 7 years old respectively) began volunteering in the Special Needs Ministry at Sun Valley Community Church. Every week my girls come home beaming; excited to tell me stories about their “buddy” that they helped at church that week. They’re 8 and 7 so it’s pretty simple stuff to be honest with you. They help with crafts, with snack time, and for those who are able to they go with them to a large group worship time. Mostly they’re just spending time with these children, playing with them, and being a friend. At first I was proud of them for serving and learning to put others first.

But after hearing stories of families who were never able to come to church before due to the unique needs of their children, my heart has moved from feeling “nice” to feeling “right.” As I grow in my understanding of special needs children and their families I am increasingly proud that my daughters are unknowingly fighting against a great injustice in the world. Caring for the children and families from a segment of the population that the church has seemingly forgotten about. I can’t help but wonder how many families, aren’t exposed to the gospel, don’t come to church, and never benefit from being a part of a community of believers because churches simply aren’t thinking of them and preparing for them. I can’t help but wonder why so many churches seem to be content to sit back and do nothing to address the needs of these families. Am I the only one?

Posted in Spiritual Formation, Volunteers

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4 principles that should shape your volunteer philosophy

Monday, February 6, 2012

If you’re on staff at a church your job is essentially to be a volunteer specialist.

And while volumes have been written on building and leading volunteer organizations, below are four simple (while not easy) principles that should be at the foundation of your philosophy of volunteerism.

Posted in Volunteers

0

living in a van down by the river

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Okay, so I admit it. Put me in the camp of, “I’m still bummed that Chris Farley is no longer with us.” He was an incredible artist and comedian, and we’re worse for him not being here. Now, for those of you who are still reading this post and haven’t gone all “Pharisaical” on me, one of my favorite Chris Farley moments was the SNL skit where a suburban dad hires him as a motivational speaker to address the dangers of drugs and other at risk behavior with his children. If you haven’t seen it recently, click here it’s worth the smile:

Now that you’ve got that out of your system and you’ve sent it to all of your friends in the office, let me bluntly say that we’ve got a motivational problem in the church today. Talk to the average churchgoer who claims to be a Christ-Follower and they know what they should do…they just have a hard time doing it. You can bring up, parenting, money, volunteering, or a whole host of spiritual disciplines or issues and the problem is consistent across the board. The problem isn’t an information problem; it’s an obedience problem (some would call that a maturity issue by the way).

While it’s easy to point the finger at people and say it’s their own fault, church leadership has a heavy burden to shoulder in this conversation. And it centers on this issue of motivation. Primarily due to the fact that we’ve done a poor job as church leaders motivating people to put faith into action and follow Jesus due to our own misunderstanding of what it takes to motivate people. Take a look at the 6 basic levels of motivation below. Which ones do you and your church naturally drift towards?

Posted in Leadership, Volunteers