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STAFFING

9 Changes in Church Staffs

Lyle Schaller on what’s shifting—and why

1}From full-time ordained generalist to full-time and part-time lay specialists

The old formula called for one full-time, ordained minister for every 200 worshipers. The new model calls for one ordained minister for every 350 to 500 worshipers. The gap is bridged by both full-time and part-time lay specialists.

2}From roles to relationships

The world of the 1950s asked, “What do you do?” Today’s world asks, “What are the needs we must address?” For example, the youth pastor is being replaced with the “minister of families that include teenagers.”

3}From credentials to character, competence, and call

Today’s committees evaluate staff candidates with different criteria.

4}From men to men and women

This change is particularly seen in program positions in larger congregations.

5} From seminary’s emphases to people’s needs

The old staff model reflected what the professional school taught—preaching pastor, director of Christian education, minister of evangelism, etc. The new model reflects the needs of the people more clearly—minister of prayer, minister of families with children from birth to age 3, coordinator of volunteers, etc.

6}From individual to teams

The old church staff had a network of isolated fiefdoms (Christian education, youth, music), each under the oversight of a full-time staff person. Today’s model uses teams, which frequently include part-time staff members plus volunteers.

7}From frequent to less-frequent all-staff meetings

The old model often called for a weekly meeting with the entire program staff, plus a monthly all-staff meeting. In the new model, the senior minister may meet weekly with leaders from each team and only twice a year with everyone on the payroll.

8}From doing ministry to making sure ministry gets done

The new model shifts staff from “doing” ministry to identifying, enlisting, training, and supporting volunteers who do most or all of the ministry.

9}From smaller-church to larger-church applicants

More and more, larger churches are turning to other large congregations as they search for their next senior minister. In the old model, a 1,500-member church called the senior minister of a 900-member congregation to become its senior minister. In the new model, that church often calls the senior associate pastor of the 2,700-member church. This brings a senior minister who is comfortable with the next size in the church’s development.

—Lyle E. Schaller editorial adviser, Leadership Naperville, Illinois

An Evangelistic Installation Service? How welcoming a new pastor can welcome newcomers

St. James Lutheran Church used my installation service as an evangelistic service. A month before, a congregational letter encouraged members to participate and gave each member five invitations to pass to friends.

One week before, we handed out reservation cards (to make name tags and get an accurate count for lunch) and collected them after the service. A few days later, a team called members who did not make reservations, including inactive members.

The service was held at the normal worship time, and I preached. Afterward, we offered a free catered lunch.

Later, I mailed letters to people who visited, and lay visitation teams followed up. At the Installation Service, attendance was up 60 percent. Within six months, 35 of the visitors joined the church.

—Stuart W. Luce Limerick, Pennsylvania

NEW TOOLS

Consultant in a Box

A resource to help you bring change—without hiring a high-priced outsider

Recently my staff and I worked through a new resource kit, Changes That Count, that helps leaders bring change (from J. David Schmidt & Associates, 100 W. Roosevelt Road, Suite B6, Wheaton, IL 60187; 630-682-1990; $129.95).

This “team-based learning experience for church leaders” includes one leader’s guide, five 95-page workbooks, five bookmarks, and two packs of coffee to share with the team. (Additional workbooks can be purchased for a hefty price of $29.95 each.)

Changes that Count is like having a church health consultant at an affordable price and a time that fits the church’s calendar.

At the end of each of the first six chapters (Part 1), Schmidt gives exercises to help leaders assess the strengths and weaknesses of the church’s worship, evangelism, small groups, and so on. For example, “When I think of our worship service, these words come to mind . . .”

Part 2, to be used in a four-hour “campfire meeting,” leads the team through a four-step process:

Celebrating your church’s uniqueness
Processing the ideas generated in Part 1 of Changes that Count and coming to a conclusion about the direction God is leading
Taking a brief test to determine the church’s readiness for change (my staff and I found this helpful)
Making a “covenant together before God” regarding where the team will seek to lead the church.

Changes That Count has ample research findings regarding effective, non-mega churches (worship attendance of 200), and the findings are presented in user-friendly sidebars and graphs. It raises provocative questions (“What about your church’s community makes its mission difficult or challenging?”), and the “campfire meeting” develops synergy among leaders.

—Merle Mees First Baptist Church Topeka, Kansas

10 SIGNS IT’S TIME TO MOVE

Master these signals, and discernment is easy!

Your secretary answers the phone by saying, “Yeah, he’s still here!”
You keep getting nasty notes from an anonymous critic—and you notice the handwriting suspiciously resembles your wife’s.
The chairman of the board asks if you’ve given any thought to retirement—and you’re only 36.
The church decides not to buy one of those clear acrylic pulpits because “We see enough of you already.”
The congregation votes to expand the church parking lot—by paving the front yard of your house.
Your church’s lapel mike makes your voice softer instead of louder.
The church’s voice mail system includes an option that says, “To complain about Sunday’s sermon, press 3.”
The youth minister openly questions your competence—and he’s your son.
It’s been six months since someone new visited your church—and he was there to read the gas meter.
A deacon erases all of your sermon tapes so the cassettes can be used to record “something important.”

—David Faust
Cincinnati, Ohio

Parents’ Night Out

Evangelizing the weary

To reach out, North Lima (Ohio) Mennonite Church sponsors a Parents’ Night Out program on the third Friday of each month. Parents from the community can drop off their children from 6:30 p.m., and enjoy a date or break until 9:30 p.m.

Parents fill out a registration form, giving permission for the children to play at the church and providing a contact name and telephone number in case of an emergency. The kids play games, work puzzles, watch a video, play basketball, and eat snacks.

Recently, one family became church members as a result of bringing their children to Parents Night Out.

—Robert D. Wengerd, North Lima, Ohio

How to Get Respect in the Pulpit

Tips from a veteran communicator

Steve Brown, a long-time pastor and speaker with Key Life Ministries, offers this advice:

* Tell people you’re human. Some people have no idea what goes on in a pastor’s life, so we may need to challenge their stereotypes. I’ll mention in the pulpit, “A man said to me, ‘Reverend, some day I’m going to take you out and show you the real world.’ I said, ‘I see more of the real world in a week than you’ll see in a lifetime.’ “

* Don’t violate your personality. To be respected, we must use well our natural gifts. Someone once asked an ambassador, a short, frail man, why he talked quietly whenever he was with important people. “When a big man shouts, people take him seriously,” he said. “When a little man shouts, he just looks silly. So I talk quietly.”

* Be straight with people. In stewardship sermons, I might begin by saying, “You know all about the missionaries we support, about how our church reaches out to the homeless.” But then I’ll pause and say, “Now let me get honest for a minute. If you don’t support this ministry, I don’t get paid. So this subject has extreme existential importance to me!” I know a lot of people are thinking it’s self-motivated to ask for money for the church, so I address it directly.

* Don’t be afraid to make contrarian statements. Sometimes only by shaking people can we get them to take the gospel seriously. In an evangelistic appeal, I might say, “Right now, I don’t care about the millions going to hell,” then pause. I continue, “Right now, I care about you, because I know you, and I want you to respond to Christ.”

TODAY’S SEEKERS

Questions People Ask about God

Insights from a popular European outreach tool now being welcomed in America

In 1977, Holy Trinity Brompton Church in London developed a class for new Christians. In 1990, Nicky Gumbel discovered that many students of the course were not Christians at all but spiritually curious. He reworked the material and published it (Questions of Life, Cook Ministry Resources). The resulting “Alpha” Course has been attended by more than half a million people worldwide.

The 10-week course, which includes a weekend retreat, addresses questions people ask most often about Christianity: