Get the right people in the right positions to begin with. Motivating people who fit their jobs is much easier than hassling with those who buck the system.
— Leith Anderson
I once invited a well-known preacher and educator to speak at a Christian education banquet held at our church. An hour and a half before the event, I learned our Sunday school superintendent, a main figure on the evening’s program, would not be attending. He was protesting the presence of our “theologically liberal” guest speaker.
I picked up the phone.
“Bob, I understand you don’t feel comfortable with our speaker’s theological convictions,” I said.
“Uh, yes.”
“In the spirit of Matthew 18, then, can I ask you several questions? Have you confronted him personally with your concerns? If so, have you met with him again, taking along a member of the church? Finally, if you were unsatisfied with the results of your first two meetings, did you request that the matter be brought before the church?”
A long silence screamed from the other end of the line. “No,” he admitted reluctantly.
“If you follow through with your protest,” I said, “I believe you’ll be going contrary to clear biblical teaching. Unless you follow these biblical guidelines in the next hour, then, I hope you’ll fulfill your duties at the banquet.”
To his credit, the superintendent showed up with his game face and managed to endure the program. Not much later, however, he resigned.
His behavior was inappropriate. But it would have been more inappropriate to let it slide. He needed to be held accountable.
Situations like this are always gut wrenching. But they’re part of church ministry. Do it well, and the church hums; do it poorly, and programs crawl, people fume, efficiency grinds to a halt.
I’d much rather the staff, lay leaders, and congregation did the right thing every time. To avoid having to correct, I try to put in place a system that will motivate people to do the right thing.
Simple Maintenance
As a young pastor, a problem individual in the church continually plagued me and my ministry. No one, including me, knew what to do with him. Exasperated, I finally encouraged him to serve on the board. I reasoned that if he was on the board, at least I could keep an eye on him.
What a perfectly awful experiment. He sabotaged good ideas, obstructed vision, and initiated fruitless debate; he wound up being a bigger problem on the board.
Such pain can be redeemed. In this case, I learned a life-long lesson: get the right people in the right positions to begin with. Motivating people who fit their jobs is much easier than hassling with those who chafe and buck the system. To bypass a world of frustration, invest heavily in people before they become leaders.
That’s one reason I always attend nominating committee meetings, taking a pro-active role in the discussions. The committees probably get bored with my opening speech, in which I discuss church philosophy, the right way to select good candidates, and leadership expectations. But laying that groundwork helps us choose the right people.
I read excerpts from 1 Timothy 3 regarding the biblical criteria for leadership. Then I move on to our church constitution, not exactly scintillating prose, but a clear statement of our church’s mission. I cap my presentation with stories that show the value of choosing the right people.
I also guide the committee as it makes specific selections, although that can be awkward. Once I was late for a nominating committee meeting. The meeting already in session, I stepped in the room, noticing a number of names of possible candidates written on the board.
Halfway through the list, my heart sank. One of the names was a man accused of sexually molesting his child. Criminal charges were being considered against him.
No one on the committee was aware of the serious allegations. Stomach churning, I agonized for forty-five minutes, trying to decide the best course of action. I couldn’t reveal this privileged information, but neither could I allow his name to stand. I gulped and made my stand.
“Before I came in, you wrote a number of names on the board,” I said with an artificial calm. “I don’t feel comfortable with one of them. I’d like it removed.”
“Which one is it?” the chairman replied innocently. I said the name.
The chairman simply went to the board and erased the name. No one blinked; no one asked why. I had just experienced the equivalent of an ecclesiastical near miss in midair. As I touched down, I quietly resolved not to be late for another nominating committee, nor ever allow names to be randomly listed for office.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of emotional agony. That’s why I invest a significant amount of time preparing for those meetings. By design, the chairman of the board and I are automatic members of the nominating committee. That authorizes us to meet in advance, discussing individuals whom we might nominate.
Before a name reaches the blackboard, we consider each person thoroughly. We request reviews of their giving record, their membership history, and their qualifications for office. By weighing information about individuals, we exert a strong influence on the names that finally appear on the ballot.
Yet even before the nominating committee, we’re developing leaders. Like a baseball farm system, future leaders must do well in aa ball if they hope to move up to aaa competition. By watching them in the minors, we can eventually tell whether they have the desire and skills to play major league ball.
The best indicator of future performance is past performance. Potential tells little about an individual; past behavior speaks volumes. Observing people over an extended period of time is the best predictor of future fitness for leadership.
Our standard practice is to give potential leaders opportunities to serve in a number of roles. They might first serve on a task force. Next, they might teach a class. Then they might be named to head up a special project.
During this time, I’m asking several questions: Can this person think conceptually? Does this person share the vision of the church? Is he spiritually mature and growing? Is she trustworthy?
When we’re ready to ask a person to take significant responsibility, we have two further criteria. First, we believe ministry takes precedence over position. We’re not looking to fill slots; rather we search for people already active in ministry. One man turned down an opportunity to serve on the elder board because he believed it would interrupt his boys ministry on Wednesday nights. Ironically, that’s the type of person we’re looking for — someone who values ministry over position.
We also see if people demonstrate leadership before they are appointed to it. The reverse — position first, then ability — is often disappointing, if not catastrophic. Positions normally don’t shape a person, the person makes the position.
The pressures and demands of top-level leadership are great. Leaders need the incubation process to mature. Our desire is to be a pennant team, and our farm club system gives us an opportunity to discover those who will be future champions.
Finally, I realize that good boards come in small packages. I once asked a pastor how many members were on his board.
“Twenty-five,” he replied.
“You don’t have twenty-five leaders in your church.”
“You’re right. How did you know?” he asked.
“Because there aren’t twenty-five leaders in the country. Even if there were, they couldn’t all be in your church.”
I was joking, of course, but I was aiming at a crucial principle: there are limited numbers of top-caliber leaders in any one church. Boards that become too large stretch their leadership resources. Creating too many slots with too few qualified people to fill them is a formula for frustration. I prefer quality over quantity. If the church constitution calls for twenty-five members on the board, I’d suggest lobbying to change the constitution instead of beating the bushes for prospective leaders who don’t exist.
See You at the Top
When a British mountain climber scaling Mount Everest perished, a member of the expedition recorded in his diary a fitting epilogue: “He was last seen heading for the top.”
I hope the same could one day (later rather than sooner) be said of my life. In fact, I hope that it could be said of our entire church staff and leadership. High ministry standards are an integral part of our church identity. We deliberately instill the values of pursuing excellence, reward for strong efforts, and applaud visionary decision making. Here are a few practices I follow to keep people heading for the top.
• Practice affirming actions. One Easter Sunday our music director arranged for the orchestra to accompany the opening hymn. It was a magnificent addition to worship. However, the plan called for the orchestra to be dismissed before the sermon. After the first service, I realized the mistake. The last hymn sounded flat as a North Dakota interstate. We needed the instruments for the final hymn.
But time was running out. That morning we had four services, each ten minutes apart. Making a last-minute decision, I dashed out into the hallway, searching for our music director. I knew I was asking the impossible.
“Dave,” I said, “I need to ask you a big favor. The last hymn went flat without the orchestra. Can you gather the orchestra together in time to perform in the next service?”
Without batting an eye, he replied, “I’ll have them assembled for the next service.” When the orchestra finished accompanying the last hymn, not one soul in the congregation knew what a musical feat had just been accomplished.
In next morning’s staff meeting, I couldn’t wait to tell the others of Dave’s effort the day before.
“I asked Dave to do the impossible yesterday, and he did it. Few music ministers in this country could say to their musicians, ‘We need you to play a hymn next hour without rehearsing it.'”
I like to catch people doing things right, and then publicly affirm them. It keeps high-motivation octane in their fuel tank. I’m always amazed how far a person will travel on a gallon of praise.
• Invest in the bond market. Another key element in motivating people is the development of close, supportive, and caring relationships. I let our staff and lay leadership know that I’m available when they need me. But I also let them know I need them.
I have opened my private life to the elders. I share my family struggles and sorrows. I don’t hide the fact I’m not a perfect parent or spouse. I have sought their counsel in personal financial decisions. Before buying our summer cottage, I asked, “What does buying a cabin communicate to the congregation? Does it send a wrong message?”
I had no desire to appear extravagant or elitist. Even though owning a summer cabin is common for many middle-income families in Minnesota, I wanted to check in. I’ve asked for advice before buying a car. Because they know my heart, I can trust their mind in these matters.
We use other methods to develop close bonds. Every other month, I invite the staff and elder board to our home for a game night. They take over the house. Some use the trampoline, others watch the big-screen television, while still others shoot hoops. In the summer, I invite leaders to our cottage. In each case the strategy and objective is the same: to build a team by simply having fun together.
On a spiritual level, we cement relationships by making a mutual commitment to pray daily for each other. Though I rarely make hospital calls, I’ll visit an elder who is ill or facing surgery. I’ll drop everything. During one elder’s hospitalization, I called him three times the same day during an especially busy day. He knew where my heart was.
• Be up front about the stakes. Leading a church forward is like playing in the majors. There are enormous rewards: the pay is good, the championship rings are impressive, and your picture appears on baseball cards. But there are tremendous pressures. You are expected to play as a professional on a daily basis.
When I share that analogy with my staff and elders, I’m not issuing a veiled threat: hit a home run or find another team. Rather, I’m trying to show them the stakes in rising to high levels of leadership. The rewards are great, but the price is a commitment to excellence and professionalism.
• Help people be all they can be. I believe competition in a church can be healthy. I’m not talking about trying to preach a better sermon than an associate. I’m referring to encouraging workers to compete with themselves. I want individuals to push the limits of their talents. I want our music to sound better this year than it did last year. I want our Christian education program to introduce new courses, drawing on the latest advances in the field. Throughout our programs, I push people to become all that God intended. Each component contributes to our larger goal of performing well as a team.
One of our staff members just completed her doctorate. Though she was never required to do so, we had encouraged her to pursue further education. We gave her time and paid for her research project — with no strings attached. Now that she’s finished, she could take her degree and pursue greener pastures elsewhere. I don’t want her to leave. But we don’t strike deals to hold people. Instead we try to seek what’s best for everyone. If we get to enjoy the benefits of our investment, so much the better.
And whenever possible, I like to find new positions within the church for those restless for change. Our evangelism pastor was once the junior high minister. He did an excellent job but outgrew the position. Sensing he was ready for a new challenge, I said, “Give me one more year, and I’ll find another job for you.”
He asked to preach more, so we gave him more pulpit time. He wanted further education, so we gave him time off to pursue a doctorate on the West Coast. He wanted broader horizons, so we sent him to Romania on a short-term assignment. I know he has large churches approach him to be their senior pastor. But he stays on.
The same principle applies in working with lay leadership. Watching some of our leaders begin a daughter church was exhilarating. We sent over people who were products of our “farm club” system to form the nucleus of the new church’s elder board. We gave up precious leadership, but in the end it benefited everyone. They got off to a healthy start; we had the joy of starting a new witness for Christ.
• Remember everyone’s a volunteer. Peter Drucker points out that all organizations, at their core, are volunteer organizations. We have to forget the idea there’s a difference between paid staff and volunteers. If people don’t enjoy doing what you ask, salaried or not, they’ll quit and go elsewhere.
Although we try to pay our staff well, I know salaries alone won’t motivate them to excellence. Money is never a sufficient reward to keep someone on the job. People need other incentives, such as self-esteem, a sense of accomplishment, and the satisfaction of sacrificing for a worthy cause.
Organized Accountability
Even if all leaders are highly qualified people, the time will come when we need correction. Fallible people make fallible judgments. What matters most, then, is dealing with errors constructively.
First, standards of excellence need to be established. Expectations need to be clearly communicated. Scripture needs to be recognized as the source of our operating principles. Actions perceived as arbitrary and personal can lead to division, acrimony, and poor performance. A “systems approach” to correction provides the safeguards of fairness, consistency, and objectivity.
Not all expectations are communicated in print. After working at Wooddale for a month or so, a new staff member gets the idea that punctuality is one of our standards: people make a strong effort to be on time to meetings, rarely being late. In some instances, the corporate culture corrects people who start to become tardy. The tardy person just senses that others, although understanding, really don’t like waiting to start a meeting.
Other times a direct confrontation is necessary. But it doesn’t have to be formal or made into a big deal.
One Easter Sunday we had a musical faux pas. The choir processional was a hymn that neither I nor the congregation could sing. Our standard of excellence in worship suffered.
At the time, I thought it the most unsingable melody in Protestantism. Adding salt to the wound, there was no printed music for people to follow, only words in the bulletin. We stumbled so badly that some people were chuckling. That wasn’t the way I had hoped to begin the worship services of the biggest Sunday of the church year.
Talking to the music leader, I said, “Please, don’t misunderstand me. I know you put time and preparation into planning the music. But why in the world did you choose that particular melody for the opening hymn?”
“I know it quite well,” he said.
“Well, you may be the only person in the congregation who knows exactly how to sing it,” I replied. We both smiled. The next time we sang a hymn from the hymnbook.
I was upset with the poor start, but I wasn’t angry at him personally. I told him my concerns, and that was the end of the matter.
I want to correct behavior, not people. Correcting people is never easy, nor is it usually pleasant. When I have to confront a person who has done something wrong, I sometimes lie awake thinking about it. I’ll stew about it. But I won’t let it slide. Eventually, I’ll confront the problem.
And when I do, my desire is to confront the person in a Christian manner, trusting the truth spoken in love will perform a good work in their lives. I try to show intolerance toward wrong behavior and tolerance for the individual, regardless of what’s been done. Through the years I’ve seen patience change people’s lives.
I once faced a woman who wanted me out of the church. She said so publicly. She accused me of greed and egotism because of a building program I had helped initiate. She wasn’t really a threat, but she annoyed me and others. Sadly, she was a troubled person wrestling with numerous unresolved issues in her life.
Rather than isolate or ignore her, I spent a great deal of time talking with her about her concerns while I let her know I thought her attacks out of place. I sent her notes and letters, even after I was called to another church. Eventually, she changed, and today we are friends.
Sometimes, of course, correction is not enough. Peter Drucker believes that every time an organization doubles in size, half its leaders become obsolete for their positions. I’ve asked Wooddale’s leadership, “We had X number of people in our worship service last Sunday. If you want to double that number, at least half of us will not be competent to lead a church of that size. Are you willing to pay that price?”
Most agree in principle, but the rub comes when personnel change becomes necessary. Letting people go is perhaps the most unpleasant task of leadership. The final decision is often agonizing to everyone involved. If the individual has been loyal, hard working, and well-liked by the people, the decision is more painful.
Here’s where leaders must make tough calls. Even though people may be well-intentioned and diligent, if they don’t possess the needed skills to move the church forward, a change is needed. Loyalty is a virtue, but blind loyalty can hinder ministry.
Still, I’m repulsed by the idea that people should be used until they outlive their usefulness and then simply discarded. Christian grace calls for showing as much concern for the person’s next position as we did in bringing him or her on staff in the first place.
Let My People Go
Through motivation and correction, I hope to further the work of the church and set people free. If correction binds people from fulfilling their objectives, something is seriously wrong.
Conducting church business in the proper way ought to liberate people. I’m optimistic that our approach is achieving that end. A man with a business degree from a major Midwestern university said to me, “I learned more about solid business practices by attending the church than I did from my four years in college.”
My desire is to see people motivated, and if need be, corrected in order for our church to serve God with all of our heart, mind, and soul. Whether we or another church are the direct beneficiary of our efforts doesn’t matter. If God’s kingdom advances, and Christ is glorified, we have made it to the top.
Copyright © 1993 by Christianity Today
