Growing up as the son of a pastor I experienced a transition about every five years. This is what I knew, this is what I expected. My first paid, part-time position in 1979 lasted a year, I volunteered for the next year at another location, took a summer paid position at another location, moved to seminary, volunteered for year and then went on staff for the next two years in that same church before landing in Santa Barbara. I was ready to settle in for at least five years. Twenty-five years later I’m still here, with the same senior pastor so I guess I have something to say about this topic . . . thankfully! Here are few things that have helped our relationship to grow.
- Meet regularly – Emails, Facebook, Twittering, texting is not enough. Face-to-face is essential. There you can pick up non-verbal cues and efficiently dialogue about items. This meeting can come in the form of staff meetings and one-on-ones as needed. I interviewed at one church coming out of seminary where they did not have regular staff meetings. I said “no thanks.” I don’t always love meetings but it is my regular place to share my dreams, frustrations, be encouraged and be known.
- Recognize him/her as a team member – The senior pastor is on your team. Treat him/her as a teammate. Offer them ways to support you and the youth ministry. They care, and if they don’t, that’s a whole other question for this blog.
to be continued…
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Doug is going on 30 years in youth ministry at the Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara.
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Great post Doug.
The face-to-face time just can't be replaced by anything else. One of the reasons I was so quick to "sign on" a couple of years ago at New Life is that I knew they were a "church of teams". I can't tell you how many times our Tuesday Staff Meeting has served as an "airing out" session for us as teammates. It's not always about ministry either. Sometimes we need to talk about our kids or our family, and the trust we've built from "being known", as you put it, gives us the freedom to do that.
I can't imagine working without this dynamic present. I know from past experience that isolation in ministry, and the absence of a team I can be attached to and report to, only leads to my eventual burnout.
I also can't agree enough that the Senior Pastor needs to be viewed as a team member. We need to extend them the same compassion, grace and understanding that we would hope to be given. The truth of the matter is that there's a burden of responsibility that only the Leader of the ministry feels. And like we see in Scripture, with that responsibility comes authority. Giving our leaders the benefit of the doubt, rather than just our obligatory compliance, is the first step toward healthy "followership", and qualifies us to lead in our areas of ministry.
Thanks Doug. I agree with you completely. My first year on staff was rough, namely because we had no regular meetings (actually, no meetings at all, except by chance). We still don't have a "regular" meeting time, but we do have some face time at least once/week to discuss what has happened since our last meeting and talk about what is coming up.
One area this has proved to be of great worth is in the area of expectations. Like many youth workers, I also pick up a lot of associate pastoral duties, church maintenance tasks, as well as a gamut of other things. Sometimes I'm not sure what is expected of me, so meeting together with the senior pastor helps shed light on what he is wanting to see happen in the next week. I can't express enough how much of a difference this has made.
Thanks Doug,
This is an area that I am passionate about too. One of the keys that I have found is a simple willingness have a relationship with the senior pastor. The desire or attitude goes a long way toward building a bridge.
Another thing that I learned early on was that there were things that I needed to do as a youth pastor that really had nothing to do with youth ministry but had everything to do with surviving in ministry itself. I learned that at the first church I served when I was told that the expectation was that I needed to show up at the monthly Christian Women's Fellowship Luncheon (average age – 75). At first, I couldn't stand going. There were no teens. There was nothing that really related to me during their discussion, but I kept going. By the time I left that church, I had more allies in ministry than I ever thought possible. These ladies had my back and they were prayer warriors. I say all that because when it comes to investing in ministry – long term – the focus needs to be bigger that just teens. Taking the time to invest in your senior pastor yields greater youth ministry rewards. Find ways to serve them. Ask how you can make them more successful. Think of it this way, if he/she wins, you win.
Was this something that you thought about before you were hired? I know it wasn't on my mind in my first church job!
haha, maybe we'll do something on the blog about on the topic of what we know NOW that we wish we had known THEN.
Doug, awesome post! (both part 1 and 2). I couldn't agree more about the face to face time. Working in a small church, my pastor and I are the only staff members. We don't have officially scheduled 'staff meetings' but it's our Monday morning routine, once the office gets opened up and running, to grab a cup of coffee and chill in his office going over the previous weekend and looking ahead at what we have coming up for the week. On the rare occasion that our schedules don't allow for that, I can definitely feel the difference. That time is essential to working as a team!
Thanks again for all your thoughts! I'm looking forward to checking out the curriculum you and your SP put together!
No way! It wasn't even close to being something I thought about. I came from being a self-employed contractor who worked alone. I was thinking, "Great, more time to spend with students and studying my Bible!" I found out there's a little more to it than that.
I doubt you'll have any problem getting enough material for at LEAST one week on that one