One of the hardest shifts that a pastor will make is going from carrying all ministry load to leading a group of people primarily carrying the ministry load. Most bible colleges and seminaries don’t train pastors on leading a church staff. So, the pastor goes into the ministry with an untrained area of responsibility. Secondly, the pastor usually has the mindset of a “doer.” They do not want to disappoint people and act as the congregation’s primary problem solver and caregiver.
When the church grows, and the pastor has to manage staff, the problems can be multi-dimensional instead of one dimension. If the pastor has not changed from a “worker” to a “leader”, it may be a growth lid that the pastor cannot overcome. A worker is good at each job and prides themselves on getting it done. However, a leader can work through others by empowering them to become the best version they can be in ministry. What ends up happening is there is a pastor with a “worker” mindset that then multiplies the worker mindset into staff. And when this happens, there is a hardworking staff, but ministry is not delegated to the congregation. Instead of equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry, the team just does the job themselves.
Pastors must make the shift to lead staff effectively, or their churches will not only plateau, but the staff will have higher turnover than usual. They must change their time and energy management to lead through staff and train the team to lead through volunteer leaders. This is a seismic shift from what they are used to in pastoral ministry. They are used to personally responding to issues, solving problems, being the creative voice, and having the strongest relationship with the members. When a pastor has to start leading a staff, they have to delegate this to staff.
And leading a church staff is different than just leading a congregation. They have the same but also different needs from the pastor. Staff will have to be led and managed. There needs to be development to help them grow. So, here are 5 tips for pastors when leading staff.
1. Celebrate their Wins (tie it into mission and vision)
Take time to hear their wins and celebrate them privately and publicly. This can happen in a staff meeting. Try asking each staff member to briefly share one big win this month they have encountered in their department. Private praise is also precious. When the pastor sees or hears of a staff person getting a win in their department, they must congratulate and celebrate them. It has been said many times, “What behavior you celebrate will be the behavior that is repeated.” Leading a church staff is about celebrating more than anything else!
Also, this is a teachable moment for the whole staff if the pastor will tie the win into the mission and vision. This will help the staff see a win through the lens of the overall mission and vision of the church. For instance, if Johnny shares that a guy got saved and committed to serve on a team, it is a golden opportunity for the pastor to tie it into the mission of the church. “Johnny, this is awesome. This is our mission lived out. We want to help people become fully devoted followers of Christ. You have helped this guy take the first of many steps in his devotion to Christ.” Then the pastor can ask the rest of the staff to celebrate.
For more ideas, read this.
2. Manage Meetings
Sounds simple, but it may be the hardest of the five tips. Pastors are not equipped to lead effective staff meetings. They have very long meetings that are ineffective and end up destroying morale. Most pastors don’t realize that they usually create inside of meetings. After the meeting, the staff have to execute. For example, if the pastor says, “We need to get these invite cards ready on the 20th,” then a staff member has to create graphics, create the card and order the card. One sentence from a pastor can be one hour of work for a staff member.
How should a pastor manage meetings? There should be a time limit on the meeting. The pastor should start by letting everyone know what time they will end. A word of advice is that the meeting should be set for the shortest time possible to ensure the team works to accomplish everything efficiently. Having time constraints helps tableside conversations or allow staff to meet separately outside of the meeting time. This also shows that the pastor respects the time of the staff.
Secondly, when leading a church staff meeting, there should be a plan of what you want to accomplish. Meetings don’t need to happen to just share updates or information. This can be done on other platforms and over lunch so “execution” time is not diminished.
Thirdly, there needs to be a finality to the meeting by having accountability for the work to be done. It’s called, “Who does what by when?” The task and execution date are set and agreed upon. For those who aren’t tech savvy, a whiteboard will suffice with names and dates. For those who are tech savvy, there are plenty of good apps like “Asana.”
3. Pastor them Well
The pastor usually sees staff as employees and workers. Yes, they are employees, but they need a pastor. Staff needs someone to care for them and their family. They don’t need just performance check-ups but soul check-ins. Staff needs to know they have support and someone loves them beyond their ability to perform or produce. This is a hard shift for the pastor because the pastor usually gets lost pastoring all the people and doesn’t have the time or energy to pastor the staff.
Most pastors do not make this shift due to the personal heartache of disappointing people. People who used to come to the pastor for anything and everything will now go to staff. This is a hard shift on the people and the pastor too. Congregants get disappointed, which has the side effect of disappointing the pastor. But this is a big shift to grow the church and empower staff. The pastor has to be willing to disappoint some congregants because they are shifting their pastoral care focus to the staff. This doesn’t mean the pastor doesn’t do any more pastoral care. It just means that there has to be a change in how much time they pastor the congregants and the staff.
4. Help them Learn how to Solve their Problems
The pastor is the primary problem solver in a small church with no staff. And when a pastor is first building a staff team, the pastor will still be a problem solver. The staff will bring issues to the pastor. The goal for the pastor is to help the staff move towards solving their own problems. This is a process, though. Each problem becomes a teachable moment for the pastor to help the staff member work through the problem-solving processes. Again, the staff’s goal is to make sure the pastor is not the one who has to solve every problem and respond to every situation.
Staff help spread the duties of problem solvers, first responders, leadership development, and pastoral care. And when it comes to problems, the ultimate goal is for the pastor to hear later about the solution without the pastor being involved. But, this only happens when the staff has this skill developed.
5. Get and Give Consistent Feedback
Staff wants to know if they are doing well and what they are doing well. They yearn for feedback. Feedback isn’t just critiquing them, but it is also praising them. The worst thing to do is wait until an evaluation or problem gives feedback. Regular conversations should be on “what is going right, what is going wrong, what is missing and what is confusing?” This is an essential part of leading a church staff.
Staff also want to give feedback to the pastor about the church. As a matter of fact, in the first 90 days, they will have fresh eyes and ears. Everything is new to them, and they will give the best feedback then. They also need to be able to give feedback to the pastor on their relationship can flourish. When a pastor is humble enough to receive feedback, it creates trust in the whole organization.
Leading a congregation is a challenge, but leading a staff is a bigger challenge. It requires a pastor to change from just doing the work of the ministry to lead others who will lead others. It is scaling. One of the reasons most churches in America are, on average 75 people is because it is just enough for a pastor to manage personally without a staff. So, developing the skill of leading a church staff must be a priority for a pastor.
