Does your church have a meaningful job description for your senior pastor?

I remember receiving the pastoral job description for a church that I ended up serving in the eighties. Not only was it one that the Apostle Paul could not fulfill but it was a long list of activities rather than a short list of key results. I find that many church boards do not have clarity with their senior leader on what the results of their work should be so they are effectively operating without a meaningful agreed on job description.

With senior staff a list of activities in a job description is not helpful but a short list of expectations is. How they fulfill those expectations is their prerogative. That they fulfill them is not.

In my own role as a senior leader for ReachGlobal I am responsible for fulfilling five expectations. Knowing these five allows me to focus my activities around what is truly important.

1. Expectation one is that I am always developing personally in my personal life and that I have a plan for the year to do so.
2. Expectation two is that I provide strategic direction to ReachGlobal and drive a clear missional agenda.
3. Expectation three is that I build a strong, unified, results oriented leadership team in ReachGlobal.
4. Expectation four is that I develop current and future leaders for the organization.
5. Expectation five is that I mobilize the necessary resources for ReachGlobal to be successful.

If you are in leadership do you know what is necessary for you to be successful. If you supervise others, have you provided clarity on what the expected results are for the work of your staff? If you are a board, have you defined this for your senior leader?

Again, notice that specific activities are not defined but outcomes of the job are. How I achieve these outcomes is not a matter of concern to my supervisor - the EFCA president. That I fulfill them is.