Nothing poisons the fellowship within a congregation like strife among the leaders; nothing blesses a church like leaders loving one another.
As a pastor of 6 churches over the past 42 years, I’ve seen it both ways, and I have to say, harmony is the only way to go.
Here are my top eight ways for a church staff to achieve healthy working relationships with each other:
1. Play together. Whether the staff prefers tennis or golf or they spend the morning at the bowling alley, the camaraderie that results when you have fun together is worth the trouble. On an out-of-town retreat, take in a movie or a play.
2. Get the staff families together regularly. Have backyard cookouts and covered dish dinners in the homes of staffers. Play parlor games involving the children. Whatever you do, do not schedule a program or entertainment. Let it happen. It will. (Such informal times are far more valuable than taking everyone out to a fancy restaurant.)
3. Do not skimp on regular staff meetings to plan the calendar, solve problems, and schedule events. The pastor should make sure everyone gives priority to the meetings, then he or she should find ways to make them more enjoyable. Laughter is a tremendous bonding agent.
4. Communicate appreciation for each other publicly. Few things build harmony in the staff like a minister speaking positively of another staffer to his people. The minister of music tells the choir what an incredible devotional the youth guy brought last Wednesday night. The senior adult minister tells his people that the children’s minister led his granddaughter to Christ last week and brags on her.
5. Have two or more of the staffers cooperate on a program. The youth are having a retreat, and the student minister invites the associate pastor to be the Bible study leader. The choir director invites the business administrator to take a leading role in a dramatic portion of the Easter program.
6. Build a quartet from the staff, and have them sing in church. Or, form a larger ensemble from the staff and their spouses and have them sing in church.
7. Take walks together. A friend who was the administrator of a church I pastored two decades ago told me recently what he remembers best are the walks we used to take around the block. We were just getting out of the office and stretching our legs, but it built the fellowship. I recall how in an earlier church, some of us would take a break and play snooker in the youth building for an hour. We laughed, got silly, and learned to treasure one another.
8. Pray together, in an unhurried way. Pray for each other’s families, giving thanks for one another’s gifts and calling and spirit, interceding for his or her ministry.
In Colossians 2:2, Paul speaks of our being “knit together in love.” That’s the idea!
