The Ministry Staff Member

A Contemporary, Practical Handbook to Equip, Encourage, and Empower

Douglas L. Fagerstrom

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN:
  9780310855446
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

"When are you going to become a real pastor?""When are you going to get your own church?""How long will you be here?"During his thirty-one years serving in churches across the country, Doug Fagerstrom has both known the joys of being a ministry staff member and experienced many misconceptions of the role. In The Ministry Staff Member, he draws on his vast experience to correct false notions and provide a clear, accurate understanding. This comprehensive and practical handbook provides staff members—paid and volunteer, church and parachurch—with invaluable tools for success and helps those around them to better understand and appreciate the importance of what they do. Dozens of sidebar articles and suggested resource lists provide a useful toolbox you'll want to turn to again and again.

PART 1 Establishing Your Ministry Identity

1 The First 100 Days

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 15:22

It’s the start that stops most people.

It was Carl’s first day as the associate pastor of Bethel Community Church, a day he and his wife, Liz, had dreamed about for nearly four years. As he unpacked the five badly beaten boxes of used seminary books, reality slowly gripped his emotions.

On one hand, he was elated to be in the 150-square foot office next to the senior pastor. On the other hand, he felt a bit fearful. Old voices began to interrupt his new joy: Will you succeed? Will the people really like you? What will you do after you have placed your small and inadequate library on five of the fifteen office shelves?

Carl snapped out of his reverie and quickly tried to recall the seminary class on “how to begin your first ministry.” What were those three award-winning principles to being a success? He finished putting his books on the shelves and sat for the first time in his office chair. After praying he walked out into his new world and began to introduce himself to the rest of the staff. “Where can I find a cup of coffee?” he asked.

How Carl begins in ministry may well determine how he concludes. The beginning days may be a time of great joy or unbearable anxiety. A rough start may bring an early stop.

Carl is not unlike most first-time associates. His experience is limited and he is flooded with a sea of emotions and ideas. He is a passionate idealist who wants to change the world, to make a difference, and to honor God. He is just not quite sure where to begin.

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Suggestions for Leadership to Welcome the New Staff Member

• Create a “welcome” sign and present a small gift in the “new office.”
• Gather staff and/or volunteers together on the first day for refreshments. Perhaps schedule a lunch with a few “key” people or the entire staff.
• Send the new staff person’s job description to appropriate leadership. (Make sure that everyone shares the same performance expectations of the new staff member.)
• Place in the new staff member’s office more-than-adequate supplies, building keys, and an area map if they’re new to town. Remember to purchase a nameplate for their door.
• Provide membership and volunteer lists with phone numbers, email, and street addresses.
• Provide helpful policy guidelines, needed business forms, and ministry procedures that will allow smooth sailing and prevent early disasters.
• Provide a calendar and discuss important meetings or events that the staff member is expected to attend over the next few months.
• Give the new staff member suggestions of people to call for appointments.
• Pray together.
• Maintain daily contact in person or by phone for the first few weeks.

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The Supervisor Is Key to a Good Start!

The senior minister, lead pastor, or an assigned ministry leader who has just taken responsibility for the Carls and the Carlas in ministry can be most helpful at the start. He or she would do well to take time in the early days of a staff member’s ministry to introduce the new staff member to other staff and ministry participants. They can go on a leisurely and complete tour of the facility and surrounding vicinity.

They can have lunch together. They can meet with other ministry leaders in the community. They can take a day to plan, pray, and prepare for those first days of the staff member’s ministry.

These early and simple beginning steps can make all the difference in the world. And, if married or with children, don’t forget to include the ministry staff person’s spouse and children during this time of transition. Remember, they may not know anyone in the community. Also, they do not have the day-to-day opportunity to become acquainted with people like the staff person.

I remember my initial days with Pastor Bob during my very first ministry experience at age twenty-two. Nearly every day of my first few weeks, Bob would include me in his hospital visits, home visits, and lunch meetings. And when a regular lunch was not scheduled he would take me home for an onion sandwich—his favorite, never mine! As we spent time together and he told me stories about the church, I learned valuable lessons. We became a team and nothing ever broke that bond of mutual respect and admiration. What Bob did was so simple yet incredibly thoughtful and unusually helpful to me.

Take Personal Responsibility

God has called you, the ministry staff member, to this new role. You have been given a charge to serve others, new responsibility, and in most situations, leadership with authority. Without question, if you have been “given much…much is required.” Take your new role seriously, not expecting others to perform to your expectations or even to the suggestions in this handbook. Consider the following to create a healthy start:

Keep your spiritual life in alignment with God. Leith Anderson once said, “Prayer is alignment with God.” I like that definition. We need to keep our lives in sync with God’s will, his Word, and his work. People in ministry depend on us, as Eugene Peterson said, “to point others to Jesus.” And that is where we need to live—in Jesus, in Christ, in line with God. So, confess, live a life of ongoing repentance, and model Christ.

Do your job. Stick to the knitting. This rather popular organizational phrase carries a lot of weight. People hired you to do “your job.” Do it. Don’t worry about others’ jobs and responsibilities, unless you have permission and passion to assist and help make them a success. Don’t get in the trap of criticizing the work of others. Leave your comparative and competitive spirit far behind you. Fulfill the job description that you committed to. It is not your prerogative to just start doing what you want to do or like to do and ignore the role given you by the ministry that hired you.

Become a part of the team. Don’t hide in your office. Don’t pretend behind your PC. Engage in the lives and ministry of others while you do your job. Pray for others. Share your life and ministry with others. Encourage one another.

Work hard. That is biblical. People hired you to work, not just “hang out” with them. While some hangout time has value, you still have a job to do. I remember a friend years ago who, after being hired in ministry, was expected to go golfing, fishing, and boating with the people in the ministry to the extent he hardly had time to do his job. It was not long before he resigned from that ministry. Try not to settle for average. You will be the first to know when you are not giving your best. Before long, others will notice the same.

Focus on people, not performance. “The focus of my ministry is people, people, people.” I have heard it repeated by church planters, seminary presidents, associate pastors, and youth ministers. Jim Griffith says it well: ministry is a “contact sport.” Do everything you can to connect with people, and it is amazing how your “performance” will connect in a meaningful way.

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Sample Schedule of Your First 100 Days

In your first 100 days, you hope to build strong alliances and support from your new constituency. With each step, relationships are being established and built. It is people over programs. Programs come later.

While the following is very hypothetical, it may serve as a good overview to prioritize and create an intentional focus for your start.

Days 1–21

Get to the know the ministry staff, board, and key volunteers. Read two or three books in your related area of ministry and read available documents on the ministry’s history and current status. Establish new personal disciplines of prayer and fasting for the ministry.

Days 22–35

Create several small-group forums to learn about the current ministry as well as people’s dreams and needs. Follow up with one-on-one meetings. Initiate numerous lunch and dinner “gatherings” with ministry participants. Establish times to pray with these people.

Days 36–49

Learn about similar ministries in your region. Get to know the leadership of those ministries. Identify and take key leaders on one or two “vision trips” to these similar ministries in your geographic area. Go with the intent to learn and create a new dialogue with your ministry team.

Days 50–72

Develop a basic training program for new and current leaders. Encourage current and future leaders to read the same books and magazines and view the same videos that have impacted your ministry values and objectives. Create a dialogue with your people about core values (see chapter 2).

Days 73–94

Present the biblical core values for the ministry to ministry leaders and participants as well as boards, committees, other staff, and your target audience.

Days 95–100

Create one new event which brings people together to give a taste of a new vision for the future. Pray together.

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Don’t try to be superhuman. You are not the Messiah. Resist the feeling that you have to change the world tomorrow. Besides, you can’t. The church of Jesus needs you, but they don’t want a Mr. Madison Avenue, Miss Know-It-All, or Slick Sam or Sue. They want a godly person who reflects Jesus, while committed to their biblical values and mission.

Leadership Challenges for a Healthy Start

Learn the Culture

Every ministry has its own personality, beliefs, and “tribal customs.” The new staff member will do well to learn the ministry’s DNA sooner than later. You will do well to discover if your new ministry culture values people over programs, or small groups over preaching, hard work over creativity. Know the differences. Know the community values.

A friend in ministry shared with me how he was informally mentored by an “old-timer” in the church...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword by Leith Anderson
• Foreword by Ed Dobson
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Why Read This Book?
• PART 1: Establishing Your Ministry Identity
• PART 2: Becoming a Servant
• PART 3: Working Hard
• PART 4: Serving Others
• PART 5: Leaving a Legacy
• PART 6: Managing Life and Ministry
• PART 7: Practical Advice for Senior and Governing Leaders
• Name and Subject Index
• About the Publisher