Let’s first define church staff development. It can take many forms from team-building exercises to educational courses for pastors, treasurers, secretaries, etc. It can be leadership training sessions or church administration classes for certification in one or more areas. The underlying theme is the enrichment of the church staff to fine-tune the skills they have, increase their knowledge, or develop new skills.
Some may believe that church staff don’t need ongoing training and education. However, most people in the workforce get on-the-job training or classes to improve what they do. Church staff are no different. Many skills required for a senior pastor, worship pastor, church administrator, etc. require ongoing professional enrichment like any professional position. This is why there should be an annual budget for these activities for each church employee.
The congregation suffers when leadership and staff can’t advance their knowledge base and skills. For example, a senior pastor’s sermons may not offer new insights for the congregation to glean from. A treasurer may not know about new accounting laws that affect churches if they don’t stay updated with continuing education courses. When staff aren’t given the opportunity to expand their knowledge, what does that do for the people they lead? It hinders the group as a whole.
How is staff development tied to donations?
People are moved to donate to an organization by an emotional tie or because they believe in the causes the organization stands for. Using the senior pastor example, what happens if new insights aren’t offered in sermons? People tend to grow disenchanted with the organization’s message. Some comments from the congregation may be — ‘I didn’t learn anything new during the sermon’ or ‘Didn’t we just hear this same sermon a few months ago?’ So if people become disenchanted with the message, their emotional connection to the church becomes less, which may decrease their donations over time.
Another example is the treasurer who accounts for donations. What happens if his training is not up to par and he/she accidentally accounts for the money without taking a new law into account? One of the fastest ways people leave an organization is when their donations are not properly accounted for or distributed.
Quotes from Leaders:
- ‘Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other’ – John F Kennedy.
- ‘Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them’ – John C Maxwell
- ‘If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader’ – John Quincy Adams
- ‘Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower’ – Steve Jobs
- ‘The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership’ – Colin Powell
Summary
The examples above show how continuing training is needed in only two key areas of the church. Each church has unique needs and will have to answer the question, ‘What other areas may need training?’ Staff should have the opportunity to hone their skills and improve in their area of responsibility. These educational enrichment seminars don’t have to drain the church’s bank account using a little creativity and budgeting. Maybe a few churches get together to bring in an expert in the tax and donation field, for example. Whatever the method is, shouldn’t the church be giving the very best to its congregation that supports them financially?
