16 Dec Why Every Pastor Needs An Ugly Assistant
So we did a video summary a few month ago, Effective Staffing for Vital Churches, and it really got me thinking about why/how the local church should free up pastors to be more effective and have a bigger impact.
If you think about it, there are really only two types of people on a church’s staff:
equippers and supporters.
Equippers
These are your true pastors. They work directly with the people in your church and their singular focus is to equip others to do the ministry (Eph 4:12). They need to be freed up to develop, train and lead ministry teams.
Supporters
Then there are support staff. These are the ones that free up equippers to do their job!
On a purely pragmatic level, equippers are paid more, right?!
Why would you want to waste money paying them to do email, answer the phones, do research, update the website, scheduling, taking meeting notes, making online purchases, manage small projects, respond to annoying salesmen, produce prayer lists.
I could go on and on, but you get the point.
A lot of pastors become ineffective because they get bogged down with simple, routine tasks that can be done by someone else.
So why not pay for a supporter to free up an equipper to do more of what they get paid for!
I believe that every full time pastor should have (at least) a part-time supporter.
But they need to be U.G.L.Y.
U – Upbeat & Understanding
Being a pastor is hard. Not many people know just how hard it is.
There are seasons where every Sunday is an emotional rollercoaster. It’s critical to surround yourself with people that are upbeat and understanding.
G – Gracious & Gifted
The more time you spend with someone the more you see their flaws.
Your assistant needs to be gracious in their approach to you when you do screw up.
In those rollercoaster seasons, the last thing you need is a unkind, rude or passive aggressive assistant.
You also want to make that your assistant is gifted in the areas you aren’t!
The two of you are a team and you need to compliment each other, not compete with each other.
L – Loyal & Lighthearted
As your assistant, this person will be all up in your business. And if you’re delegating correctly then you’re also giving this person a good deal of authority.
They will be speaking and acting on your behalf. This type of relationship will only work if you have loyalty and trust.
Being a pastor would be a lot easier if it weren’t for all the crazy people, right?!
Dealing with people is hard and at times really depressing. It’s vital that your assistant is someone that’s lighthearted and easy to have fun with.
Y – Young
Ok. This one might be the most controversial so hear me out.
There is a huge decline in young people in church these days. One simple google search will pull up tons of articles about how to reach millennials.
Well, what if your assistant was a millennial?
Do you think it would be easier to reach younger people if there was a younger person in the office that you could bounce ideas off of?
If you want to reach more younger people, maybe you should hire one!
