From 'Temporary' to 'Lifelong': Creating Long-Term Ministry Roles

What if your church’s staff could thrive both professionally and personally? Tune in to our latest episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, where we tackle the critical issue of long-term staff retention in church ministry. Drawing from the Healthy Church Staff assessment, we reveal that over half of church staff members perceive long-term commitment to their current church as beneficial for their career and family. Discover the key factors that contribute to this positive outlook, including job security, supportive communities, and opportunities for professional growth. We also stress how essential it is for churches to create a nurturing environment that promotes both professional and personal development to encourage dedication and longevity among staff.

However, not everyone shares this sentiment. We delve into the complexities surrounding staff retention, highlighting that a significant portion of church staff members either disagree or remain neutral about the benefits of long-term commitment. Learn about the challenges they face and the importance of fostering open, honest dialogue between senior or executive pastors and their teams. We also discuss effective strategies for addressing neutrality and emphasize the importance of prayer and family considerations in making long-term decisions. As a bonus, we introduce the upcoming Healthy Church Staff Assessment 2024, designed to shed further light on the ever-evolving dynamics within church staffs. Tune in for an insightful and thought-provoking discussion that’s sure to benefit church leaders and staff alike.

Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

I believe that staying on staff at this church long-term is a great choice for my ministry career and my family's development. How would you answer that question? How did 1,100 other people answer that question? We're going to talk about that today here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Thanks so much for joining us. My name is Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom, and I'm so glad that you found us and that you're here listening. We've been on a multi-week series here and we're closing it out today. I can't believe we're done already, but we are looking at some results from our last year's Healthy Church Staff assessment. We are doing the 2024 version of that assessment today. I would love for you today's the last day, the absolute last day. We're closing it down at midnight tonight. We would love to have you take the assessment it's absolutely free of charge but be a part of the over 1,100 people that have already taken the assessment this year in 2024. You can do that by going to churchstaffassessmentcom. Okay, let's look at this statement. I believe that staying on staff at this church long-term is a great choice for my ministry career and my family's development. This is a part of our future stability benchmark that we use in our assessment and here's what we found Just over half 53.1% of church staff in the United States agreed with the statement that they believe that staying on staff at their current church long term is a great choice for their ministry career and for their family's development. Now you'll notice that yesterday we talked about fuser stability actually the last couple episodes we have and the number was up closer to 60%. Yesterday's question or statement was that, hey, I would like to be on my staff at my church for the next three years, and that was about 60%. When we ask this question a little bit different nuance here whether staying on staff is a good choice for their ministry career and their family's development, that number drops from 60% to about 53.1%. Family's development, that number drops from 60 to about 53.1%. That's still a majority. But we have another 27.3% almost let's round it up to 30% that disagreed. That were ones or twos on that scale of one to five that said, no, I'm not, I disagree that staying here long-term is a good choice for my career or for my family. And another 20% are neutral, highlighting just the presence of mixed feelings and potential concerns about hey, is this a place where, if I stay long-term if I stay the next five to 10 to 20 years that this is a good move for me, not only ministry, career-wise, but also for my family's development. So let's unpack that just a little bit.

Speaker 1: 3:08

Let's talk about the positive responses First of all. It could be any number of reasons why you, if you're a staff member or if you supervise a staff, why a staff member at your church, feels that it's a great choice for their career and for their family. It could be just a sense of job security. It could be a really supportive church community or just community at large. Could be those opportunities that you give for growth and development that can contribute to this sentiment. We heard from, like I said, almost 1,100, I think 1,064 people last year on our assessment and some of the things we heard. One staff member shared that being part of the church's ministries allowed them to develop their leadership skills and also given a great nurturing environment for their family. Another staff member mentioned how the church's commitment to staff well-being and work-life balance has helped them to feel valued and motivated to continue their ministry their long term. It just feels like home. So both of those are examples of kind of the importance of creating a work culture that both nurtures both professional and personal development. I think that's the key, because we asked professional development and a personal development aspect of this question. The personal development would be the family, the person in the family, and then the professional would be their ministry career. If you can bridge that gap between personal and professional development and make sure that those things are taken care of, I think you're going to be in good shape at providing a culture that is going to encourage people to stay for a long time.

Speaker 1: 4:47

Let's take a look at a couple of the challenges and concerns. First of all, I'm concerned. Not quite a third, but almost 30 percent, 27 percent disagreed with that statement, so that they were the ones and twos either either disagreed or strongly disagreed that hey, staying at my church long term three to five to ten years they disagree. That would be a good choice for their career and a good choice for their family. And then therals, their stance on that would just be I'm not sure I'm on the fence when we talk about the neutrals and the dissatisfieds. Okay, the neutrals, if you are in charge of a staff, the neutrals are those that they're not. They don't disagree yet, but they could go either way, they could be like some days, yeah, I would like to be here for the next 10 years, other days, it's no, no way. So those are the ones that are a little bit squishy in what they're thinking, and if you're in charge of a staff, those are the people that you really those are the ones that you can win over.

Speaker 1: 5:50

Those that disagree probably already have one foot out the door, and maybe you're a staff member who you would answer that question with a one or a two. You're probably starting to look, because if it's not a good fit for your family, if it's not a good fit for your career, you're probably sooner or later if you're not already looking for other opportunities. If you're neutral, you may or may not be. You may be waiting to see how things work out. You may be waiting to see if the senior pastor retires and who the next senior pastor is. You may be waiting to see how an initiative works out. Any number of things could be factoring into.

Speaker 1: 6:26

I answered that question a straight three. I don't know If you are a person who is in charge of staff say you're a senior pastor or an executive pastor. I would encourage you just have open dialogue with your staff about this future stability kind of metric. One of the questions you can ask is hey, do you want to be here in three years? If they say yes, hey, do you think this is a good place for your family long-term? Is this a good place to raise your family? Is this a good church to be in for your professional development, for your career? And listen to that feedback. Because that feedback, if you ask for honest feedback nine times out of 10, the one time will kill you, but nine times out of 10, you're going to get some honest feedback. And if you have, particularly if you have a medium to large size staff, if you ask that question enough, you're going to be able to put together maybe some common answers that are going to give you some ideas as to how you can enhance that professional development or support the family support programs and create really stability for your church and your staff well into the future.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Now, if you're a staff member and, like I said, if you're a one or a two, you disagree you're probably already looking for opportunities. If you're neutral, you're a staff member and, like I said, if you're a one or a two, you disagree You're probably already looking for opportunities. If you're neutral, you're trying to figure that out and bathe that puppy in prayer. That's what you got to do. You have to really seek out God and see what he wants for you. Talk to those around you, make sure your spouse is on board as well all that particularly when it comes to your family and family issues. But those are just really important things to decipher and, honestly, most of us who've been in ministry for the long term have been in periods where we are the ones and the twos and the threes on that five scale and those are the times of transition. That's really what I do all day, every day in my work at chemistry staffing, working with churches and working with individuals who are in the midst of transition. So I totally understand and I totally get that in my work now and in my ministry in the past when I've been in those situations. Hey, if there's any way that I can help you, you can reach out to me anytime. Podcast at Chemistry Staffing I read every email. Podcast at chemistrystaffing. If your church needs help hiring a new staff member, if you're a staff member and you just maybe need some counseling or some coaching, we can definitely set you up with some kind of a coaching plan as well. So just reach out to me if you have any need. I'd love to be able to work and invest in you and your church and your ministry as I can.

Speaker 1: 8:56

And then today's the last day. This time I'm being honest with you. Today is absolutely the last day. We're going to shut off the survey tonight at midnight for the Healthy Church Staff Assessment 2024. You can take it absolutely for free over at churchstaffassessmentcom and if you do that, we will send you in August around August 1st west, once we compile all the results from the over 1,000 people that have taken the 2024 assessment, we will send you a copy of what we've learned and I'm really excited about this how things have changed from 2023 at Church Staffs in America Healthy what kind of trends are we seeing? I'm really looking forward to seeing that as well. So, churchstaffassessmentcom, you can take that anytime. If you're listening to this on Friday, you can take it today. If you're listening to this on Saturday and you haven't taken it, well, too late, sorry. All right, thanks so much for joining us on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. My name's Todd Rhodes and we will talk to you again on Monday.