Hiding in an Office

The most dangerous position from which to lead a church, business or organization is from an office.

In terms of the lowest rate of return of any real estate in the organization, the office is by far the winner. An office becomes a deadly organizational trap as leaders experience upward mobility within the organization. A more prominent position brings with it a more private and comfortable space. Keyword being "space."

An office puts an arbitrary space between the leader and the people of action. An office is typically a hiding place far away from the hassles, moans and whining of those on the front-lines of organizational purpose. Leaders build a cocoon of retreat in which they can "think" strategically or plan "purposefully" yet they are so detached from the real action that their thinking and planning are unrealistic and out of touch.

Leaders must keep themselves in the midst of the daily flow of organizational activities. They cannot hide. They cannot retreat. They must see time spent in an office as a detached existence. Conversations with those serving and those being served must take place away from the sterile, paradigm numbing walls of an office.

If your church seems to be out of step with your leadership, honestly assess the time you spend locked in your room. It is time to come out and engage.

Commit to Capture

Observation: (1) Pastor and lay leader team work depends on strong relationships and (2) strong relationships depend on doing what you say you’ll do and (3) keeping your commitments requires remembering them and (4) keeping track of your “to do” items requires an “air tight” capture system. All successful efforts begin with an effective capture system.

I’ve noticed, and I’m guilty as a lay leader, of catching one of our pastors on a Sunday with a request or finding myself unprepared to capture a “to do“ from them. In the fast pace of Sunday activities, that’s probably not the best time for us to discuss a next action, but that is the day that the most interaction occurs. A capture system solves that problem.

While there are many capture mechanisms, and I have tried most of them, my present system is based on the Getting Things Done (GTD) approach. Before I describe my system, let me mention some “runner up” systems that I’ve used that almost fit the bill for me and might fit your routine.

Some prefer to be totally digital incorporating laptop, desktop or handheld solutions. If that is your preference I recommend the applications from 37 Solutions. Entry level use is free and more expanded access is cheap. I use one of the solutions (BackPack) in my current approach, but more about that in a minute. For a straight forward “to do” list design, I recommend the Ta Da product that replicates a simple “to do” list design.

I also spent several years using the Task list along with OneNote on Microsoft Outlook. It is very effective for those who have continual access to their computer. You can of course capture on a slip of paper and enter as a Task on the computer later.

For many “GTDers” the paper approach called Hipster PDA is an effective solution which at its core design is simply a stack of index cards clipped together. My current system uses a variation this approach to capture not only my next action items but notes.

I use a modified Hipster approach with a Levenger Circa 3x5 index card punch. I print the cards on my Canon iP1800 printer which accepts a stack of blank index cards. I print templates, which are abundant if you Google Hipster PDA template, on the blank cards, punch them and insert in my Levenger 3x5 Circa notebook. I carry extra cards in my pocket in case I encounter a hallway conversation without my notebook. I use a fine lead mechanical pencil instead of pen since the writing space is small and I can change entries if the item changes.

The cards follow the GTD philosophy, arranged around the context or place I will do the action item. I have an @office, @home, @errands and someday maybe card to record actions. I use the previously mentioned BackPack from 37 Solutions to keep more extended notes on a project or other long document needs. Each BackPack page has a distinct email address so you can forward an email to a specific page to process later. On the Circa card I’ll remind myself there is more backup by recording (BP) by the action item to prompt me to look in BackPack for more details. On the BackPack site I put a key word from the card in the BackPack internal search engine which pulls up that tagged page.

For email threads that drive an action item on my Circa card I record (OF) to indicate more detail in an Outlook Folder where I have saved the email. I prefer to use Google Desktop to search my Outlook files (I use only a few folders and let Google find the documents) instead of using the Outlook search function.

The journey to an effective capture system that is designed for your personal needs begins with a strong desire to capture and execute on your commitments followed by some experimentation. Grab a stack of index cards and see how the flow feels. Take a peek at the 37 Solutions applications and play around with the free versions. Learn a little more about the capabilities of your laptop, handheld or desktop. Keep revising it until it feels right. Capture the commitment!

Church Size and Pastor Availability

“Among Protestant churches, 27 percent of the clergy are part-time. A church typically needs two hundred members to afford a full-time minister, and many obviously fall short. The remarkable variation in sizes of churches, in fact, bedevils modern ministry as much as anything.

In America today, just 10 percent of clergy serve “large” churches with 350 members or more, and the result is that one tenth of all clergy preach to one half of all churchgoers. The lopsided corollary is just as remarkable. Half of all clergy do the preaching to just 11 percent of churchgoers. These churchgoers belong to congregations with fewer than one hundred members.” From the book Who Shall Lead Them? By Larry A. Witham

As the economies of church existence continue to grow increasingly difficult with rising mortgage costs and the potential for dwindling giving as the boomers age, look for many creative approaches to “filling the pulpit” in years to come.

Southern Baptist report that over 40% of their churches already employ “bi-vocational” ministers; those ministers who primarily preach on Sundays with reduced pastoral responsibilities during the week while holding another full-time job. Bi-vocational positions will become more attractive to pastors who have been unable to balance their “calling” with lower salaries that did not provide adequate income to support their family. Look also for a newly called supply of pastor's for bi-vocational positions to come from retired or semi-retired laity desiring a more dedicated impact in ministry.

In some regards, look for bi-vocational churches to experience an increase in ministry effectiveness as church members are required to participate more directly in the day-to-day affairs of the church. The experience felt by larger churches of membership disconnect and raised expectations of the full-time or "fully funded" pastoral team to fulfill daily ministry can be minimized under a bi-vocational format.

It is likely, that smaller churches will begin to join forces integrating multiple congregations under one church to increase the affordability of hiring a full-time staff. Look for bible churches and denominations of similar belief to be the first to integrate.

An entrepreneur approach to church will continue to increase as those called to full-time service organize and control their own church start-up with a closely held board and governing documents that prevent their termination for control issues. Their “success” in terms of church growth will fuel the capacity to remain “employed” at above market salary rates. Look also for an extension of the traditional church model to include external non-profit efforts centered at a church that have an international ministry emphasis.

Bi-vocational training programs, many web-based, will likely spring up providing “bi-vo” pastors resources, training and access to a network of those in similar circumstances.

Courtesy of Trend Ping