The Next Step: Staff

I am starting my fourth year as the pastor of Salem. In many ways it feels like a fresh start. We are past the chaos and destruction of the flood three years ago. We have landed in our new location. We have not only stabilized we are growing. We have a Study Committee doing the foundational research for a future building project. This is an exciting time. 

Over the last three years, we have moved forward simply by taking the next step. Now our next step is to form up the church staff. A church staff is a group of people working together to lead the congregation. Three places in the New Testament Paul refers to a “co-worker” in ministry (Romans 16:9; Philippians 2:25; 1 Thessalonians 3:2). The Greek word that’s used is “sunergos,” which means working together. This is where we get our English word, “synergy.” Synergy means the combined activities of a group is greater than the sum of the individual parts. As Ecclesiastes 4:9 says: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil” (NRSV). Of course, Jesus showed us the importance of working together by calling a team of disciples to follow him and sending them out in pairs. 

Before the flood, Salem had several staff persons. We have been operating the last three years, however, with minimal staff, and we have not been meeting together regularly. We have paid staff for the office (Administrative Assistant), for traditional music (Organist/Choir Director), and for our facility (Building Superintendent). 

We need staff persons overseeing ministry and people in other areas such as contemporary music, discipleship, care ministries, outreach, and witness. While our giving has increased and our finances have improved greatly, we do not yet have money to pay new staff. Therefore, at least to begin with, our new staff persons will be unpaid. 

It will take some time to hire staff in all these areas. I have spoken to a couple of people already. Still, it is important to hire the right people rather than simply fill a position. Bringing together an effective staff team will create synergy, helping Salem accomplish much more together than we could on our own. 

Direct Hit: Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission FieldSalem participates in the Healthy Church Initiative. In one of the books we are reading there is a good summary about the pastor, staff, and Staff-Parish Relations Committee/Leadership Board. The Leadership Board “no longer manages the ministries of the congregation or attempts to lead it. The board governs. The pastor is the leader who is responsible for the overall ministry and effectiveness of the congregation. The staff members, who are hired, terminated, and work for the pastor, manage their particular areas of ministry. And the people of God (laity) are equipped by the staff members to do the work of ministry…[The SPRC/LB] hold the pastor and staff members generally accountable” (Direct Hit: Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission Field by Paul D. Borden [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006] p. 114). 

Please note that church staff are not more exceptional Christians. Paid or unpaid, they will not do anyone else’s ministry. Leaders are meant to equip the people of God to do their ministry (Ephesians 4:12). Bishop Will Willimon says every great reformation of the church has included the restoration of the legitimate baptismal ministry of the laity. Leaders help the laity to live up to the promises of their baptism. 

I invite you to pray with me for God to raise up staff leaders for Salem in all these areas.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Church Under Water

Image
I spoke to Pastor Linda Bibb this evening. She’s the outgoing pastor at Salem Church where I have been appointed effective July 1. Salem is just a couple of blocks from the Cedar River in downtown Cedar Rapids. She told me they were evacuated from the church building at 4:00 pm yesterday. The wonderful people of this congregation worked together sandbagging and moving as much as they could to the second and third floors. But the river was too much. Linda said the water is at least 8-10 feet deep at the church building. There is a car port over one of the entrances and the water is above that car port. So the water could be to the second floor now. This picture from the Cedar Rapids Gazette shows how high the water was earlier today at the Dairy Queen which is right across the street from Salem United Methodist Church. Unfortunately, the river hasn’t even crested yet so the flooding will probably get worse. We will attempt to get to Cedar Rapids tomorrow. In the midst of all this we ar
Read more

Tearing Down the Old Church Building

Image
The week of September 4, 2012, the old Salem United Methodist Church building was torn down. It had been destroyed in the flood of 2008 and sold to the city in the "voluntary buyout" in early 2011. Much of the building was torn down when work began on the morning of Tuesday, September 4. At one point, most of the building was down except for the sanctuary and bell tower. The workers removed their equipment and took a break. In the stillness of the morning, the roof over the sanctuary collapsed on its own and brought the rest of the building down except for the bell tower and front facing. The bell tower finally came down on Friday, September 7. It was an emotional week for many of the Salem people and for many who were connected in other ways, such as through the Walk to Emmaus. We showed this video of the church building being torn down during worship on Sunday, September 9.
Read more

I'm Back, But What Have I Been Doing?

I returned to work today after my four-week leave of absence. For the last month I have been reading, thinking, and writing. I had fun with my family, read more books, watched some movies, set up this blog, went to the Van Halen concert, hung out with friends, visited the first church I served (and three others), got organized, and slept in a lot. Oh, I celebrated a birthday too. Did I get done with my dissertation? No. My hope was to write the first three chapters of the dissertation. I did not meet that goal but I did accomplish much. As I said, I have done quite a lot of reading and taking notes and writing out thoughts. I have the three chapters outlined and formatted appropriately. (That might sound silly, but the dissertation layout has to be in a very specific format). The writing now is somewhat like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. I take what I know and have learned and put it into the specific format. So I’m a little sad to be done with the four-week leave. It was gr
Read more