Four commitments that healthy church staffs keep with one another

Working on a church staff can be a challenge. There is always more to do than it seems there is time. Working with volunteers can be challenging and congregants can be critical and sometimes difficult. We can be overwhelmed with ministry demands that can sap our own spiritual engagement. Work for Jesus can replace our own love for Jesus. Our busyness can take our eyes away from our mission. Activity can become confused with outcomes and ministry teams can become siloed from one another causing conflict and lack of alignment.

All of this requires intentional focus on four commitments that healthy church staffs keep with one another - if they are going to overcome the "dark side" of ministry. These four commitments or promises can ensure health and engagement on staff teams. These commitments work best when the entire staff is committed to them.

Commitment One: We keep Jesus central.
It is easy to forget in the press of ministry "stuff" that the church is all about Jesus. Our lives are all about Jesus as well. As the church grows it is easy to allow professionalism and programs to become our focus rather than Jesus Himself.

How do we keep Jesus central? Staffs that make prayer central rather than the obligatory meeting opener (after all we are a church) are reminded constantly that our success has everything to do with our own dependency on Christ. Praying together, worshiping together and sharing with one another what God is doing in our own lives creates an environment where we intentionally place Christ in the center of our lives and our work. 

No staff can lead a congregation closer to Christ if they are not also walking the same path. Much staff burnout can be attributed to hard work without the requisite discipline of keeping Jesus central in our own lives and in everything we do. 

Commitment two: We keep our missional focus central
There are few thing more powerful than ministry teams that keep the mission of the organization central. There are many things that can take us off focus from our main mission (however you define that). Initiatives, no matter how good they are that are not directly connected to our mission dilutes our overall effectiveness. To many ministries do many good things that do not directly contribute to the mission of the organization. 

Asking the question constantly, "Is this mission critical?" can help us sift the chaff from the wheat. In fact, if a program cannot specifically show how it directly contributes to the mission of the organization it should not be pursued. This is where the good can take the place of the best. When all teams focus on a common mission, there is alignment and synergy. When they don't, they are simply disparate groups doing disparate things.

Commitment three: We keep relationships healthy
Healthy relationships make for healthy teamwork, cooperation, good dialogue, better ideas and greater results. When we allow unhealthy relationships to fester it destroys all of these outcomes. We know when staff relationships are healthy or unhealthy. We also often avoid dealing with unhealthy relationships because it requires humility and sometimes hard conversations. 

Don't allow unhealthy relationships to torpedo the work you are doing. Develop a staff wide commitment that when there is an issue between individuals or teams that you will resolve it quickly in a healthy manner. All staff members are responsible for healthy relationships. 

Commitment four: We are always trying new things
Here is a truth. What got you to here, got you to here, but it won't get you to there. The lifeblood of energy and engagement is that of trying new things to get better results. Healthy staffs are always encouraging innovation and new ideas. The words "But we've always done it this way" are not words that healthy teams use. In fact, if we've always done it a certain way, that might be an indication it is time to look for a new way.

Innovation matters in any organization. Healthy staffs celebrate it, encourage it and expect it.

Are these commitments that your team lives by?

The Pipeline Principle in promotions or hiring

The key question leaders must ask when they either hire someone in at a leadership level or promote an individual to a leadership level is simple: Can they do it?

The issue is not whether they were successful in their last position but in promoting them to a new position there is often a different set of values involved and different skills needed. While past performance is a guide to future success, in this case it is not always true.

In fact, most leaders have experienced situations where they hired from the outside or promoted from within and it did not work. While there are several reasons why this can be the case, it is often an issue of ignoring the leadership pipeline.

If you think of every level of leadership in an organization as a bend in a pipe you get the picture. At each bend, new skills are necessary and new priorities must be paid attention to. Let me illustrate.

Self Leadership. At the ground level of an organization, individuals need to understand and live out self leadership. When I started a role in a certain organization I was the assistant to the President - a one person role with an assistant. My main task was to lead myself and ensure that I fulfilled my task. There was not much else I needed to pay attention to.

Self Leadership and a small number of reports. When I found myself with some reports I now had to pay attention to others, help them be successful and continue to fulfill my previous role. Now I was continuing my old role but also helping others be successful in theirs.

Team Leader. At this juncture I was leading a large team. The emphasis was no longer on what I could do as an individual producer but now I needed to act as an organization leader. My success was now through the success of the team. I had to think we, not me. I had to strategize with others rather than calling the plays myself. I had to ensure that the whole team was aligned with its mission and the mission of the organization. In other words the values and focus of my work changed as did the skills needed.

Leader of Teams. Again, things changed. Now it was necessary to focus on the leaders of other teams, ensure they were working in synergy with one another, were aligned with the organization and that each team was healthy and staff happy. I was not leading a team as I had done previously but was leading leaders of teams. Also, I had to think of the organization as a whole, not my slice of the organization. I had to mentor others to do what I used to do when I led a team. Again the values, skills and focus was much different than previously.

Senior Leader. Now the ultimate responsibility for a large organization was on my shoulders. I had to pay attention to stakeholders inside and outside of the organization. The issues of alignment and missional focus along with ensuring the values were always kept central become very important. And, I had to focus on fewer things but the most important things.

Think about this. At each bend:

• We must focus on new things
• Learn a new set of skills
• Give up work that we had done previously
• Fly at a higher altitude
• Give more responsibility away
• Take greater ownership of the organization as a whole
• Listen, collaborate, strategize and make decisions in a group setting

So why do some hires or promotions not work? First, it rarely works to promote someone from one bend to another in the leadership pipeline if they miss a bend between the two. Why? Because they didn't learn important skills and now they have been promoted two rungs above where they were and the necessary training and skills were not learned.

Second, if there is not adequate training and support to help an individual clearly identify what they should do and should not do at each bend, they will revert to what they did in the past, not realizing that what they did as a leader previously will not suffice in their new role. I had to learn these lessons the hard way because no one tipped me off, mentored me or gave guidance.

If you are hiring from the outside it is critical to ensure that an individual has experienced all of the bends in the pipeline below them even if in a different context. If hiring from within, no matter how brilliant someone is, it is unwise to skip a bend and hope it will work. Not only can it hurt the organization but it can hurt the individual.

For more information on leadership pipelines and helping leaders successfully make the transition, my book, Leading From the Sandbox can be of help. It will point you and the leader you are promoting in the right direction.

High Impact Church Boards and Leading From The Sandbox are both back in print

I am pleased to announce that High Impact Church Boards and Leading From the Sandbox are back in print and available. 

The books are available at AddingtonConsulting.org

I am available to meet with church boards and dialogue with them on the challenges they face and possible solutions. With zoom technology, this can be done easily at low cost to you. If interested, you may contact me at tjaddington@gmail.com.

Asking the right questions at the start of a new year

This week is a time to ask questions that allows us to evaluate the past year and plan for the coming year. There is no growth without change and change comes from evaluating the past, planning for the future and acting on that plan. 

So here are some questions to ask or issues to evaluate. The rest is up to us!

• List the major accomplishments of the past year.

• What are the three key goals you have for the coming year?

• In order to meet those goals - What do I need to stop doing, what do I need to keep doing and what do I need to start doing?

• How will you evaluate your progress in these three areas over the course of the next year?

• Are there any relationships I need to leave behind because they are life taking rather than life giving? Are there boundaries with people that need to be established for your well being?

• Are there relationships I want to nurture that I have not paid enough attention to?

• What books did you read this year and what books do you want to invest your time in this coming year?

• Time and focus are the key to all goals. How can you free up time this coming year to focus on what is truly important to you?

• We frequently add obligations to our lives but often don't eliminate those that have run their course. Are there obligations you can and should shed? 

• Our faith journeys matter. What can you do to take the next step in that journey?

• All of us have "shadow sides" that dog us. What shadow sides do I need to learn to manage and how will I do that?

• If this was my last year on earth, what would I do? How should my answer impact my plan for the coming year?

The most successful people ask the best and deepest questions. Finish this year and start the coming year by asking the questions that matter. I would love to hear the questions that you ask. Those who ask the best questions and act on them are the largest winners in life.

Christianity Today, Donald Trump, Evangelicals and Christmas

I find it ironic that Christians of differing stripes are doing battle over President Trump and the impeachment proceedings during Christmas week. That in a moment.

Here is what I suspect. I suspect readers of this blog fall on both sides of the fence. That is good since God does not carry a card for any political party. I suspect that there is plenty of hypocrisy in Washington by those who want to impeach the President and those who are defending him.  Hypocrisy in Washington is not limited to either party and anything seems to go in the political arena. For those who know American history this is nothing new. The fact that this process is almost entirely along political lines should indicate that it is a political process.

Here is what I am glad for. At least CT has started a conversation about issues that matter to many. It is right to be unhappy with the public statements, tweets, attitudes and behaviors of our President. We are the laughing stock of the world over his behavior. Most of which we would not permit in any evangelical church or any sane place of business. So to say this doesn't matter is not possible. 

For those who believe that a national leader should be a general role model for those they lead, the behaviors of our current President are deeply problematic. Yes, our President is not our national pastor but there are standards of decency that we have in society that are not remotely followed by our President.

For those who focus on issues such as the judges appointed to our courts, religious liberty, abortion and freedom of religion, Mr. Trump has been a Godsend. Those matters are as important as that of his behaviors - so there is no way to insist that the former views are more important than the latter views. Both are true and we live in a fallen world.

I suspect that neither side has the option of being smug regarding their views (as many are) as there is plenty to be said on both sides of the equation. And it might just be that we need to find another source of our hope for the present and the future.

Many evangelicals have not been willing to speak out regarding issues they have with this administration because of how polarizing those opinions are. I tweeted this a few days ago:

Regarding #ChristianityToday it is clear that politics is just as divisive among evangelicals as it is elsewhere. What we lack is the ability to have conversations around our national leader and still stay connected to one another. It is why so many choose to say nothing. Peace!

We have good leaders and bad leaders who end up in power. And their policies do matter. Look for instance at the policies of President Xi of China where the government is causing all kinds of difficulty for the church. So, policies and laws and appointments have real life consequences.

The irony is that no political figure can be the savior of a nation, a society or a man or woman. That role belongs to Jesus, whose birth we celebrate this week. My confidence, hope and faith is not in any party or any person but in the sovereign God who chose to invade this universe surreptitiously to redeem men from their sin.

"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

"The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the father, full of grace and truth." John 1:10-15.

Christmas gives me great hope because Jesus is the only hope of the world. The two pictures at the top show the difference between the two sources of hope. One is that of power. The other is that of God becoming man. Too often we believe power is the answer when in reality the humble baby born two millennia is the answer.

A Story Stranger than Fiction

No story is better known. No story better captures the heart of a child - small or grown - than the one we celebrate today. No matter how many times we hear the story it never grows old, it never disappoints, never ceases to evoke deep emotions of wonder, awe and comfort. An angel’s proclamation to illiterate shepherds, a teenage unwed mother, a loyal carpenter fiancee, the evil king Herod, a cold, clear, Bethlehem night without a place to stay. A messy birth in an animal’s stall, alongside a dirty alley in the dark of night. Confused cows watching unknowing as the Son of the universe stares back unknowing at the very animals He had created eons before. A mother, a child, a carpenter, a few agitated animals and the pungent smell of manure.

This is a story so absurd that it could only have been scripted by a Divine hand. No other writer would have attempted such a script. If they had they would not have claimed it to be true: fiction maybe, but not reality. This is not how the One whose voice had echoed off of a billion galaxies would make His entrance. Without CNN and Fox News, into a hovel known affectionately today as Bethlehem but then nothing more than a tiny village on the path to Jerusalem. 

His entrance was marked not by a proclamation to kings but to astonished herdsmen sleeping with sheep. The heavens opened with ten thousand voices – not over Jerusalem the ancient capital – but over a tiny grazing field for a handful of insignificant shepherds. They would be the only witnesses of the grand entrance of a King. No other writer would have written such a script. 

No other author would have taken such a chance. For behind this story there are echoes of another story - equally incredulous. Centuries before in the vastness of eternity past – when infinity kissed infinity, The Master of Infinity spoke into being the universe in which we live - 3,000 of whose stars are visible to the careful eye, 30 billion visible from a large telescope, - the other 90% of the universe still hidden from our eyes. Its splendor an eternal testimony to the Author of the story.

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render: O help us to see
Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee.
(Walter Chalmers Smith)

The Author’s heart had love that could not be contained. A heart full of love is not easily satisfied. Transcendent goodness longed to give away infinite love. Again the Author spoke: A planet was expertly crafted. One among billions. A people wonderfully created – in the image of the Author. Free to love, free to experience the infinite goodness of the Author. Free to revel in His infinite Love. But above all free. Love cannot be forced and remain love.

We are not the sole owners of broken hearts. No heart suffered such sorrow as Infinite Love rejected. Image bearers rejected the Image Maker. The story’s characters fired the Author to write their own script. Unmatched, searing pain

pierced the Author’s heart as the loved jilted the Lover.

Chaos infiltrated beauty. A planet was hijacked and spun out of control. Poverty of spirit supplanted endless joy. Unfulfilled hearts realized the pain of lost love. Without the Author, individual story lines faltered – and failed. Sadness reigned. Darkness descended in seeming endless gloom.

Truth can be stranger than fiction. For in the pained heavens the grieving Author plotted love’s revenge. An awesome revenge that only Divinity could contrive – that only Divinity would contrive. Having lost His loved, the Lover would send His most loved to reclaim His heart’s desire. The rejected Creator would kiss the unfaithful created. Tender mercy in place of deserved destruction. An astonished heaven broke into unbelieving applause. Image bearers would be reclaimed by the Image Maker. Light would once again prevail over darkness. Brokenness would be made whole. Peace would triumph over chaos.

All was silent in the heavens on the chosen night. Angels held their corporate breath. For nine months the Son had been absent, resident in a young girls womb, coming to us not as a king but incognito, just one of thousands of children that would be born on a lonely planet that night – into the darkness that our word had become. Placenta covered the Son of the universe arriving to claim back His beloved: this time, one by one, heart by heart. Tender mercy arriving in disguise: one of us, one like us. On that night, the Author personally entered our story. 

Such humility our world has never known. A stunning reversal for a world gone astray. A Heart full of love is not easily satisfied. Transcendent goodness longing to give away infinite love, arriving under cover of night in order to “shine on those living in darkness…to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:27).

When an author writes, each character is unique; each has his or her own story-line. We, each have a story – unique, unrepeated, singular. Each story has its own joy, its own pain, its own pathos and unmatched quality. But each shares one singular, astonishing feature. We are made in the Author’s image, and He will not rest until we have invited Him to join in our story. 

More astonishing than the script He has authored, the story we celebrate today is that He also wants to enter into your story. This is the most ancient of stories but it is also the most contemporary of stories. The Christmas story is but one chapter in the Author’s divine script. The Author is still writing. And every person who invites Him into their story becomes a separate and unique chapter in His unfinished book. And into each story He brings His light and peace. 

“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17.)

Have you invited Him into your story? 

Why congregations distrust their leaders and love to second guess them

I have noticed in my years of consulting with congregations that there one of the common dysfunctions in the church is an underlying distrust of their leaders. 

Sometimes this mistrust manifests itself by those loud voices that love to be heard in congregational meetings where behind the opinions and complaints one can often hear distrust. At other times this mistrust manifests itself in criticisms of leadership and their decisions that is like a low level dissonance that is always present.

Mistrust of leaders is one of the reasons that it can be difficult to convince the right people to serve in church leadership. It is a hard job in the best of circumstances and in the difficult times thankless. When there is mistrust there is no healthy appreciation of the work or challenges that leaders face. 

I am not speaking here of criticism when leaders have done a poor job, have failed to act, don't face up to realities that are evident to others or make foolish decisions. What I am speaking of is the all to often default position of congregations to constantly second guess their leaders and view them through a lens of mistrust. Even here, however, our attitude counts and the words we use do as well.

Where does this come from?

In many cases it is a reflection of our national polity where we are trained to distrust leaders. That is precisely why our government was established with three co-equal branches of government to provide checks and balances against any one branch having too much power. Not a bad idea given the corruption of power in national polity. We learn early not to trust leaders in the political arena. We are jaded by corruption, misuse of power, use of office for personal gain, and personal agendas that are not always good agendas for the population at large. 

But notice the context here. It is a secular context in a fallen world. 

We actually live in two worlds simultaneously. The fallen world and God's Kingdom and in His Kingdom the attitudes and are different than in society. For instance, the Fruit of the Spirit is what should flow from His people. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control are all attitudes and results of living in Christ. 

The same should be true of attitudes of trust for leadership in the church. We ought to start from a place of trust rather than the place of mistrust that is often the case in society at large. Kingdom leaders should act in ways that are trustworthy and Kingdom people should respond in kind. 

The ugliness of attitudes toward leadership that we see in the political arena should not characterize the attitudes toward leadership in the church although it often does. Where it does, we have not done an adequate job of teaching what it means to be God's people living together under Christ and His leadership. 

Furthermore, even when church leaders don't live up to our expectations - how we address those issues matters. When congregational meetings or attitudes reflect anything else than the Fruit of the Spirit we have failed. By that standard, many congregational meetings fail the test. When ungodly attitudes are on full display in a congregation, it says more about the congregation's spiritual condition than it does the decisions of leadership. 

All of this goes to what we teach our congregations about attitudes in the church and God's expectations for our conduct with one another. It would be a powerful moment in any congregational meeting if someone nicely rebuked those whose words and attitudes don't reflect Jesus. We are God's people so it is worth teaching God's people how we ought to live with one another and how we ought to treat those called to the often tough job of church leadership.