No one enjoys polluted streams or dirty drinking water. We sometimes face unclear water in other areas of life. We are confounded when we navigate toward one goal only to find it shifted or was never clearly enunciated. We need clear expectations, particularly in church life, where the enemy seeks to cause as much pollution and muddiness as possible to impede the mission of a church family.
When a pastor or minister comes on board a church staff, the initial excitement sometimes overtakes the necessity of clarity. At first, the new leader is welcomed and loved by all and the future seems pregnant with promise. The church sees his arrival as an answer to prayer in the form of one who will fill a void or bring a welcome change. Following a beloved leader who has left brings people relief when the void in leadership is finally filled. Following a less than beloved leader brings joy to people who felt change was long overdue. One way or another, this honeymoon period is usually welcomed by the new leader. He is appreciated. He is joyful. He is becoming connected to his new church family.
After a few months, a few decisions, and a few circumstances the church and the leader begin to know one another better, “warts and all.” What was a honeymoon is now a time of finding agreement in vision, values, strategy, and measures of outcome. In short, much was assumed in the honeymoon and much becomes clearer as the relationship seasons.
No matter who reports to whom, it is of utmost importance to establish clarity. Job descriptions and desired outcomes must be established at the beginning of the relationship between churches and leaders, as well as between senior staff and departmental directors. The pastor and those teams or committees that work with oversight of staff must make every effort to establish clarity. This same group of people must work equally hard to establish this clarity when hiring other staff members and leaders. The team cannot pull together without the unified yoke of clarity.
As one who works with dozens of churches and even more pastors and leaders, I am astounded at how many are plagued with unstated expectations and conflicting ministry visions within their own organizations. A pastor may think of himself as a revitalizer or reformer while a church may consider him to be a preacher, only. What is missing? Clarity. A staff minister may have a cutting-edge next-generation relational mindset concerning his ministry to students and children while his overseeing pastor holds to a program or event based idea of attractional ministry. Worship ministers often see themselves moving the tastes of the church one way or another, while others are pulling in another direction.
Here’s some advice:
- Know yourself and your expectations
- Share these clearly with one another before marrying your lives together
- Clearly communicate these often
- Together, establish ways to measure progress and outcomes
- Lather, rinse, repeat
This will leave no dirty laundry to air.
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