Stop Paying People to Do Ministry

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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

Why Nice People Kill Churches

Sunday, February 17, 2013

For the last 12 years I’ve had the incredible opportunity to serve on the Sr. Leadership Teams of some of the nations fastest growing and leading churches. Over that time I’ve observed time and time again one of the most destructive inclinations to church growth and the advancement of the Gospel is the simple fact that people on staff at most churches are simply too nice to each other.

5 Ways Nice People Hurt the Mission of the Church

1. Nice people have a tendency to hire people that they like rather than people who are going to advance the mission of the church. In other words it’s okay to lose as long as you’re losing with friends.

2. Nice people avoid conflict and by so doing don’t mine the best ideas out of their teams.

3. Nice people keep people on their teams well after the work has surpassed their capacity. This not only slows the mission but it exposes the weaknesses of and hurts the very person they’re trying to protect.

4. Nice people don’t confront the brutal facts and as a result “hallway conversations” take place and a lack of unity begins to undermine the mission.

5. Nice people sacrifice the flock for the sake of one sheep. This happens every time you let that one person sing who has no business singing (if you’ve been around church-world for any length of time you know exactly what I’m talking about).

Let me be clear, what I’m not saying is that the staff at your church shouldn’t be nice to each other. But when being nice begins to trump being honest because you don’t want to experience the discomfort of a difficult conversation, that’s not nice…that’s selfish. And when that begins to happen everybody loses.

In his new book “The Advantage” Patrick Lencioni says it this way, “Firing someone is not necessarily a sign of accountability, but is often the last act of cowardice for a leader who doesn’t know how or isn’t willing to hold people accountable.”

There’s a strong principle and clear message in there that many church leaders need to take some time and wrestle to the ground.

Posted in Leadership

Overcoming the Fear of a Personality Driven Ministry

Sunday, February 10, 2013

In church-world I frequently hear conversations surrounding the idea of “personality driven churches.” That is to say churches that are built around a dynamic communicator and leader. At best I’ll usually hear a criticism of its ineffectiveness and at worst statements about how shallow, wrong, and harmful it is to the church and the advancement of the Gospel.

But how do we get past the fact that Jesus was a huge personality…and a celebrity at that. Everywhere the Man went crowds of people followed Him and clamored for Him to heal them. Talk about a guy who had a hard time getting personal space and time. It could be easily argued that Jesus’s ministry was completely personality driven. In fact it wasn’t until he was killed that the rest of the guys stepped up into the void and really started leading (more personalities).

The New Testament teaches us that not everyone in the body has the same gifting or even the same level or measure of gifting. Instead it teaches us that we are a body and we all have a unique part to play.

4 Questions to ask about Personality Driven Ministry:

1. Could it be that the problem isn’t the dynamic personality isn’t playing their part in the body, but instead the rest of the people around them aren’t playing theirs?

2. If you’ve got the big personality in your local body, what if you just let them be who they are gifted to be?

3. What if you leveraged their gift while you’ve got it available in order to maximize the spread of the Gospel?

4. Could it be that you’ve neglected to put the correct structures and systems in place around the big personality to support and sustain the ministry impact of that person’s gifting?

Posted in Leadership

Catalyst One Day 2013

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

If you missed any of my notes from the 2013 Catalyst One Day with Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel no worries! Now you’ve got all the notes to every session right here at your fingertips for free! These guys did an incredible job of tackling what Patrick Lencioni has called, “The single greatest opportunity for improvement and competitive advantage” Building a healthy organizational culture. Truth is my notes can’t relay all the great stuff shared by these guys so I’d encourage you to check out the Catalyst One Day website and watch for a One Day coming soon to a city near you this year! Hope you enjoy!

1. Introduction by Andy Stanley

5 incredible insights about organizational culture and building a healthy culture on your team.

2. Session 1: Values by Craig Groeschel

A healthy organizational culture never happens on accident but by intentionally fleshing out clear values.

3. Session 2: Staffing by Andy Stanley

Driving this principle of mutual submission through your organization can make your church an extraordinary place to work. And you’ll have an extraordinary team because extraordinary people will want to work there.

4. Session 3: Creating a Culture of Self Awareness by Craig Groeschel

As leaders we have a limitless capacity for self deception. And to boot, the higher we rise in an organization the more difficult it is to get people to tell you the truth, because the more perceived power that you have the more people are going to tell you what they think you want to hear.

5. Session 4: Programming by Andy Stanley

Andy talked about creating a culture around and through your programming by unpacking 3 irreducible minimums for irresistible ministry environments.

6. Bonus Material: Andy Stanley interviews Judah Smith

Two pastors kids talking through ministry transitions and leading through change. Incredible stuff!

Posted in Leadership

Engaging the Givers in your Church Part-1

Sunday, January 13, 2013

When it comes to engaging major givers in the church a majority pastors feel uncomfortable at best. Many pastors don’t know how to approach the subject and are afraid of saying the wrong thing. While churches have often built elaborate strategies to help people take steps in their spiritual journey and grow in their relationship with Jesus; they usually resort to a “just preach the Word and hope things work out” approach to giving. The problem is hope isn’t a strategy. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Here are first 3 of 6 ideas and principles to keep in mind when engaging the givers in your church.

1. Keep Track of Givers

I’ve heard it said in churches that the pastor shouldn’t know who is giving what. After all, didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 6:3, “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Well yes He did…but it had more to do with the motive of the giver than anything else. What we have a tendency to forget is Jesus also clearly observed (along with everyone else), and went so far as to point out the actual dollar amount that a widow gave in Mark chapter 12. Now I’m not saying we should parade givers in front of the church to let everyone know what everyone else is giving but someone should know. After all if you don’t know who is giving, then it’s going to be pretty difficult to engage them at any level.

2. Say Thank You

You’d be surprised how far a simple thank you will get you, and sadly how few churches ever say it. A simple way for pastors to engage the givers in their church is to have a list of givers generated each week and write a hand written thank you note. The list can be of the top 10 or 20 givers that week, the top 20% each week, or simply set a dollar amount and each person who gives over that amount gets a note.

3. Give them Inside Information

Another simple way to engage givers at your church is to occasionally do small, intimate, invite only gatherings. Moments like this give you the opportunity to share wins and success stories (stories like this build culture by the way), have personal face-to-face conversations, share vision, and share inside information about steps that are being taken in the near future to accomplish the vision.

I’ll post the other 3 ideas tomorrow. In the meantime I’d love to hear your thoughts and experience with engaging the givers at your church. Leave a comment!

Posted in Leadership