It’s been my experience that most staff members in churches feel under-appreciated.
Feel free to correct me.
What you may not know is how it feels from the other side of the desk.
As a Lead Pastor, I often struggle with limited resources to make our church’s paid and volunteer teams feel loved on. It’s honestly less about me feeling appreciated and more about how restrained I feel in being able to love on leaders.
Sometimes saying “thank you” needs to be felt and not just heard.
Steven Furtick (pastor of Elevation Church) wrote an inspiring article early in his ministry about the lengths he wanted his church to go to appreciate its staff.
The various values he proposed at the time include:
- Provide lunch for the families of Directional Staff every Sunday. “It’s a long and grueling day, and since many of these couples rarely get to sit together in a worship experience, the least we can do is ensure that they don’t have to worry about what to cook when they get home.”
- Pay all expenses for each couple to attend a marriage conference. “An investment in the marriage of our leaders is an investment in the health of our church.”
- An attorney provided estate planning for all Directional Staff families. He did this “to make sure that the leaders of the church have their houses in order, at no expense.”
- All staff are required (not advised) to take one Sunday off from their ministry areas per quarter. “This helps refresh perspective and reenergize performance.”
- We pay well. “We bonus generously based on performance. We offer great benefits and retirement plan options. We resource well, via books, conference budgets, etc. We celebrate a lot, finding as many ways to reward the sacrifice of these leaders as possible.”
Does anything remotely happen like this for you?
On the other end, how are you appreciating others around you in every direction – those above you, below you and side-to-side in how your ministry plays out?
What do you think it looks like to appreciate each other on a budget?
Thoughts? Reactions?