Earlier this year the 2023 Youth Pastor Compensation Report was released. This is sponsored annually by The Youth Cartel, Chemistry Staffing, and Christianity Today’s site, Church Salary. As Director of Searches for Ministry Architects, I found this report helpful in providing a glimpse into the larger picture of church staffing today. As a former youth…
Most senior pastors are terrible at church staff development. I know. I’m one of those senior pastors. Too often new staff arrive and it feels like a relief. That pain point of a previously open position or that need for hiring additional staff has been handled. We sigh and celebrate. The new staff person hopefully…
Full disclosure: I think leaders and pastors fall into the trap of focusing more of their time on building ministries than making disciples. It is not that leaders and pastors don’t think discipleship is essential, but the reality is that discipleship does not pay the bills. The commitment to discipleship is time and energy-intensive, ultimately taking time and energy away from the ministries we are paid to oversee. As a result, discipleship takes a back seat to most everything else.
The church in North America is shrinking and we blame the next generation, “nobody wants to go to church anymore.” We did it with Gen X. We did it with the Millennials. We’re doing it with Gen Z. However, I don’t think blaming the next generation of young adults for not connecting with what connects to us is going to right the ship.
It’s Friday, and it happened again. You’re sitting in front of your laptop trying to come up with something to preach on Sunday. Your mind is blank. Your soul is dry. You’re frustrated and angry for getting to this point again. You were so excited earlier in the week about what you wanted to share. Now, you don’t want to be here, stuck doing sermon prep. It’s the weekend and there are other things you’d rather be doing. All the while your cursor is blinking, “You’ve got nothing. You’ve got nothing.”
Let’s get to the point by naming the problem: Many church committee meetings don’t need to take place. Often, we leave a meeting, see a bumper sticker in front of us and think, “Yep, I’d rather be fishing, too.” I don’t even like fishing, but that would be better than some of these meetings. People…
Balcony time is an intentional, weekly practice of spending time working on your ministry rather than just in your ministry. Often, doing church ministry and other non-profit work can feel like putting out one fire after another and prioritizing what feels urgent over what feels important. Balcony time helps alleviate those issues by increasing the…
Fall is always an exciting time in church world. People are coming off summer vacations, rest, and a different pace of life. They are typically ready to re-engage with church on some level. Kids move up into their new Sunday school class or small group. Then, youth group cranks back up with some kind of…