Caring for your staff well

One of the greatest elements of pastoral ministry is the opportunity to care for people. The word “pastor” possesses a deep connotation of love, care, and leadership.

However, caring for people is not always easy, and caring for your ministry team can be even more challenging when considering the unique confluence of church members who happen to earn a living working underneath their pastor. This reality underscores the necessity to care for your team well.

Hopefully, what follows will be both principled and practical—but there is one thing worth mentioning before jumping in. It is healthy to remember that caring for your staff is a journey. It is a path I hope we learn to walk more faithfully and intentionally. It is also a path where all of us have undoubtedly caused hurt. We need to own that. Leadership is challenging and good leadership demands that we keep learning and getting better at truly caring for others well.

Now, let’s look at a few areas we can grow and better care for our ministry teams.

1. Is your leadership postured to link arms with your team?

Beginning with the big picture in mind is important. I’ve heard it communicated more than once that a staff serving under the lead pastor is there to make his ministry successful. I couldn’t disagree more. While the lead pastor is responsible as the primary under-shepherd, his goal should foster mission success, not personal platform. Men and women serving in vocational ministry positions are first called by God, secondarily called by the church, and then work alongside one another to accomplish the mission.

There are certainly healthy reporting structures necessary for organizations, but our posture should be one of linking arms to accomplish God’s great purposes for His local church and His great kingdom.

Is your leadership postured to labor alongside your team for the sake of the gospel?

2. Remember, communication = value.

You’ve probably heard it stated before: “Communicate early and often.” This is especially important with our ministry teams. When we communicate with our teams, they feel included, important, and valued. It also prepares them to field the questions and concerns they’ll inevitably hear concerning whatever is happening.

Good communication, however, is more than merely information—it also contains vision and builds culture. How we communicate matters. Here are three areas which are particularly important:

• Communicate change: Before change happens, take the necessary time to communicate to your team. Provide opportunities for your team to ask hard questions and take time to build consensus. And don’t forget to communicate the “why.” If we’re all going to row the boat in the same direction, your team needs to know why the change took place.
• Communicate public appreciation: As you’ve probably heard it stated, “Correct privately, celebrate publicly.” Our churches need to be reminded often that it takes a ministry team to truly accomplish the mission. It is a great privilege that we get to deflect credit and celebrate others.
• Communicate how things are really going: Valuing your team also means telling them hard things. When the job isn’t getting done, we need to communicate even more early and often with the intent of coaching them to success. Ultimately, if it’s not going to work out, caring for a person means loving them through that process, as well.

Where does your communication need to get stronger?

3. Love your staff by loving their families.

We have a staff value we revisit fairly often: “We love our families as our primary ministry, and they know it.” It’s not enough to say it—they need to know it because we live it. At times, this may simply mean flexility regarding a work schedule. Other times, it may mean walking a family through a season of incredible difficulty.

Additionally, care for your team by knowing the families of your staff. Know the names of spouses and kids. Ask about them and shepherd them well. Caring for families adds exponentially more joy and commitment as you work together for the mission.

How well are you loving the families of your ministry team?

4. Celebrate.

Caring for your ministry team will always include celebrating the amazing and gifted individuals God has called to your church. Here are three practical ways to celebrate:

• Celebrate regularly: Every month, we pull our entire staff together. Included in our time is a devotional, communication, housekeeping things, and celebration. It’s usually fairly simple. We have a meal, acknowledge wedding and work anniversaries, and point out birthdays that will happen that month. We laugh together, sing together, and share a small part of our lives. On a less regular rhythm, we’ll bowl, play laser tag, hit golf balls, and engage in other team-building fun. Regularly celebrating reminds team members they are important and valued.
• Celebrate wins: Take time to highlight wins. These wins might include an event that was incredibly successful or a project completed despite significant setbacks. Other wins might be small moments you caught someone doing something above and beyond the call of duty. We’ll even celebrate the ones who get all their ministry receipts in on time (I rarely receive that honor).
• Celebrate authentically. However you choose to celebrate, mean it.

How are you caring for your team through celebration?

5. Disciple your team intentionally.

For ministry leaders, this is an easy one to miss. We often see our teams as fully developed followers of Jesus. However, discipleship is a lifelong process for everyone. Investment in their spiritual journey is so important. Practically, caring for your team can include reading developmental books together, reading articles, listening to podcasts, and then discussing with the intention of personal or ministry growth. Also, choose to spend time in God’s Word together. They probably don’t need another sermon but would relish scriptural encouragement and direction through devotion.

Finally, pray often and intentionally—for your team and with your team. Model dependence on Jesus and care for them through their spiritual journey.

Do you take seriously the intentional discipleship of your team?

When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 13), he made the underlying motivation of spiritual investment really clear. It is love. To sum it all up, may we care for our staffs by loving them well.

The old adage is true: “People don’t care how much you know until they know much you care.” Our leadership abilities, preaching abilities, and administrative gifts are unimpressive and often frustrating if love is absent. Let me encourage you to take a few minutes to read through 1 Corinthians 13:1-8, thinking about your ministry team. Ask God to give you the sacrificial love needed to care for these unique sheep particularly well.