Thursday, January 29, 2009
Just Normal People
If you were on a church leadership team and had to prioritize spending cuts, which would you cut: seminary trained pastoral staff or lawn and maintenance services? I am aware of lots of churches that are laying off “professional” ministers. Lawn and building services seem to be a higher priority. Why? Couldn’t these services be provided by volunteers? Evidently not, it seems that lawn and building maintenance requires the work of highly trained technicians. Ministerial services do not require as much training and can more easily be handled by volunteers. Do you find that to be the case where you are?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Excellent question, Mark.
There are too many unknown variables here. As you know, Mark, often churches are in fact led by a volunteer -- a deacon or lay leader who is really the pastor of the church and employs a minister to do the daily duties. So the choice is not pastor or lawn guy. It is lawn guy versus ministry assistant. I also don't know if cutting the pastors salary means that he would leave his role as pastor. But I'll assume that he does leave for the sake of this exercise. (Of course, I reject the idea that maintaining the lawn cannot be figured out -- even by the Pastor. Maybe they should hire him to do that.) OK... if I had to make this choice I would decide based on Talent.
Here are a couple of observations.
1] This scenario suggests a deep shift in the social impact of the missional leader.
Today's professional minister is an expense, a cost. This is quite unlike Paul who wrote,
"Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day
in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel to you." (1 Thess 2.9)
Paul was an income generator.
2] It also suggests a deep shift in the curriculum required for ministry today. Churches "employ" properly "credentialed" leaders --i.e. a degree from the right seminary, an ordination from the right church, etc. But, In secular language, excellence is built on talent. In our language leadership is a charism. When leadership is a charism -- built on a leaders success based on the execution of his gift -- then he becomes more than someone filling a role. He becomes a generator. If this were the case you wouldn't have committees weighing the relative merits of the pastor verses the maintenance crew. In fact, in that case you probably don't have this committee at all.
I had a similar situation once. The head of the deacons and chairman of the finance committee --that's right... he was the same guy -- told me that there were things he wouldn't do. He referred specifically to cleaning the toilets. I've had the priveledge of more than once being the pastor-toilet cleaner and his attitude told me he should never have risen to the level of leadership he commanded.
The key may be the use of the term "ministerial services". These can be performed by anyone with desire. Leadership, however, is tougher...not for the faint of heart. Assuming an equally Talented Pastor and Lawn Guy, I'll stick with the Pastor. He'll figure out how to get the lawn mowed. He'll recruit and woo others. He'll generate income one way or the other. He'll get a job. Or, Maybe sell the builidng. Or, do the lawn himself. But if we keep the lawnmower guy, the yard will look great as the church diminishes without leadership.
Thanks for the morning jolt. I may use this question in the 7 Day Mentoring Immersion next week.
Alex
I like Alex's answer. It's smart, thoughtful, and well reasoned. Just what I'd expect from a seasoned thinker. MY friends expect something more left-fieldy from me, and that's why they include me in notes like this. So here goes...
Of course, the obvious knee-jerk reaction--the kind to which I am prone--is to keep the paid staff as long they'll do a good job on the lawn. Better yet, is not the historic raison d'eter for the WMU to keep the grass cut?
The problem with my answer is that when one forces the paid staff outside their job descriptions, they tend to polish up their resumes and in 6-8 months, I'll have to mow the dang lawn myself. Ministers today cannot reasonably be expected to take jobs from high school boys or international people groups. Not just that, but the lawn man we fire will tell everyone how we fired him while keeping the do-nothing church staff on the payroll. And, if you are from a high lawn maintenance region, like me, or were once in the lawn care business, like me, then you also know that good lawn men are hard to find. Moreso, since Homeland Security started butting into everybody's business.
So firing the staff is really the only viable solution. The fact that they're seminary trained is no one's fault but their own.
As for the experiences of the churches where I stay, I have no idea. For some reason, they do not talk much to me as I am in the planting and not the mowing end of the family business.
As a side note, what if the churches in question used this opportunity to downsize all that heavily padded payroll for good. Maybe we need a motto, "Hire only the ones for whom you can make a New Testament case." That may not be popular, but it will keep the anxiety levels low next time we have an economic tsunami.
Here's to our friend Mark, for stirring the pot. Keep stirring amigo.
100,000 blessings,
Jack
This is shamelessly reproduced at http://jacksbuzz.wordpress.com (with links to Mark's and Alex's blogs, of course)
Thanks Alex - lots of good stuff here,
Where I work, they decided to keep me on staff. I take out my own trash, clean toilets and (after today's rain) do yard work.
I think selling buildings is a good idea. Building maintenance usually cost more than renting a school or other facility. Multi-usage of buildings is good for the community and the enviornment.
Thanks Jack,
From a church planting perspective, should we be setting guys up for financial failure by expecting too much?
I am encouraging planters to find ways to start churches without dependence on outside money. I am looking for volunteers to start churches in their neighborhoods and work places. If that means seminary guys who have marketable skills - good. If it means lawn guys w/o degrees - even better.
This is a prime example of why we need to be prepared to enter the mainstream marketplace. Those of you who know me well know that I have been encouraging people for years to gain "marketable skills." For example, I've always thought it was crazy and wasteful to get an undergrad degree in religion and a Master's degree from a seminary. Talk about cutting yourself off from the world! If we all were prepared to have jobs like the rest of the world we are trying to reach, this dilemma would not be facing us. Like Jack said, it's not our fault these "professional" ministers haven't taken the time to learn marketable skills. The question is if I were in his situation, but my goal is to never be in this situation. My friend Sean Benesh feels the same way. I think we are seeing more and more every day that marketplace ministers is who we are looking for here in Orlando. If I were indeed faced with this decision, I'd have to cut some of the staff.
Does the maintenance service include "white washing"? :0
I like Rick W's response: this is actually a great time to take a serious look at priorities. Futile arguments flourish when the different "camps" argue for Rev Johnson's lifetime tenure OR our beautiful, disfunctional building. Each are just the results of unspoken priorities.
Conversations, guided by a coach/faciliator: "What IS a football?" "Are we agreed that expanding the kingdom is The Outcome we can agree on?"
"If we had no building, no pastor and no money what is God saying to Orlando. through the Acts of the Holy Spirit?"
"If we had to hire anyone, he would have to be pivotal in the TRAINING AND EQUIPPING of the saints to do such good works. Contrast that to our current understanding/experiences with paid preacherBoyz?"
"If God gave us a building, what would our friends from Acts encourage us to do with it?" "Is it really 'attractive'"? Is it training and equipping the saints for every good work or is it not even training enough people to sustain a stupid lawn?"
And, yes, this is an all-too-common challenge with similar dysfunctional assumptions alive and well. One thing that God is not afraid of...killing off a group that is no longer shining.
r
Post a Comment