Sabbaticals and Jubilee Years for Churches?

Posted on June 24, 2014 Written by

In Leviticus 25, Moses receives farming instructions from God:

‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord.”

A few verses later, “Count off seven Sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven Sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property.”

For years 49 and 50, Israelites were not allowed to sow or reap – the land was to lie fallow. The 50th year was celebratory year: all debts were forgiven, slaves were set free, etc. It was a year to remember and it usually happened once in a person’s life.

What if churches had Sabbath Years and Jubilee Years?

What if every seventh year a church:

  • Seriously evaluated every current program and completely overhauled it to set it up for the next six years. A church probably can’t totally stop every program for a year, but they can embark on a year-long study and serious assessment to determine if the program should continue or not.
  • Discerned what are the goals for the next six years and created new programs to meet those goals.
  • Visited other churches and non-profits to learn from what they are doing successfully and unsuccessfully to see if and how those ideas can be implemented in their own church.
  • Determined if its missions activities were successful and if it its missions funds (even the funds given to the denomination) were used for their maximum good.

What if every 25th year (a half-jubilee) a church:

  • Did an analysis of its staffing needs and current staff in order to implement a strategic blueprint to guide the church for the next generation (every 25 years) – that is a “half-jubilee” timeframe

What if every 50th year a church:

  • Studied its current facilities to determine

o   Whether the church needs to be in its current location or move to a new location

o   Whether the church needs to update or even gut and redo the current buildings

o   Whether the church needs to tear down its existing structures and/or build new facilities

This concept means the church intentionally designs and redesigns its resources (programming, staffing, and buildings) to meet the needs of the current and next generation(s). It follows a (biblical) model of intentionally evaluating why it is doing what it is doing and then decide what it needs for the next few years. Instead of just “keeping on keeping on” this makes the church really pray and study about what it wants to do going forward.

As to what date you start with, why not use the church’s year of origin as the basis?

 

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church staff, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , ,

Intentional

Posted on June 17, 2014 Written by

Stop doing things “because we’ve always done it that way.” Instead, be intentional – about everything. Have a good, solid reason as to why a church does everything. I’ve worked with too many churches who are just repeating what they’ve done in previous years and are getting the same results but they are fearful of changing the status quo lest they upset members. Frankly, staff members aren’t worried about upsetting a member, they’re worried about losing their jobs.

Even Jesus had serious problems with what had become tradition instead of faith and he got in trouble when he questioned why the Jewish leaders kept up practices that were outdated. Their answer was the same that churches use today, “because we’ve always done it that way.”

Ask questions of people—lots of questions—about why things are done. I’ve gotten dirty looks from people when I dared question why a church would spend over $100,000 on a library without ever asking if this library was in the church’s strategic plan. I didn’t get fired. “Attack the problem, not the person” is one of my favorite sayings.

Be intentional with the right motives: to make the church the most effective it can be. Analyze everything a church does. Ask about mission trips and their results. Determine if committees need to be dissolved or reconstituted. Don’t try to tweak and re-tweak programs – shut them down, assess their goals, and start new – that will get better results than continuing the same thing. Don’t be hamstrung by policies and bylaws which were created by previous generations but which aren’t relevant today. Ask why some positions and people rotate leadership roles and why new blood isn’t brought in. Ask why we use the same vendor instead of putting it out to bid. Ask what the financial numbers mean without any financial obfuscation.

The only thing sacred in a church is the text we all use – all the trappings of churches today are human creations and can thus be changed. That includes how we worship, study the Bible, establish church governance, etc. Don’t just let things happen – be intentional about everything in the church. Change may involve killing some of these sacred cows and that must be done carefully and intentionally. But ultimately the church will know there is a very good reason behind everything it does – to be the church God wants it to be.

 

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: budget, strategy, wisdom, young adults Tagged: , , ,

The Immediate

Posted on April 8, 2014 Written by

Western civilization, especially the United States, is an immediate culture. Since WWII, we have wanted things faster and better (and cheaper). If we’re not satisfied with the immediate, then we’ll move on without waiting to see if the intended results came in just a few minutes, days or hours – within a respectable time period. Instead, our society increasingly wants things now – news reports, weather updates, weight loss, health wellness, financial accumulation, home improvements, marital bliss, political change, etc.

This trend is extremely disturbing because the chase for the immediate will usually lead to frustration and dissatisfaction with the present and even with the eventual results, all because it didn’t happen right away.

Good doesn’t have to be immediate. Patience is often rewarded with great results. Slowing down life is much needed in our day and age – we are too much in a hurry and it is usually because of our desire for the immediate.

Let me challenge you to focus on the pursuit of excellence even if, as it usually does, require time and perseverance. Persistence is a good trait (but not stubbornness) in the hunt for wonderful outcomes. The immediate is tyrannical – it insists on getting its own way. Do not be ruled by the immediate.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: future, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , ,

Interim Executive Administrator

Posted on April 1, 2014 Written by

When a pastor leaves a mid-size or larger church, the pastor vacates three critical roles (and a myriad of smaller ones): the primary preacher, the chief of staff, and the staff person who coordinates the decision-making bodies of the church. Below is a description of the reality and non-traditional solution for churches whose pastors leave.

Reality

  • A mid-size to larger church will have 18-24 months without a senior pastor before the next one comes
  • The current staff needs to remain focused on their primary areas using their skill sets without the distraction of meetings outside their respective competencies
  • The church will experience a vacuum of someone who can coordinate and administer the church governance and personnel due to the absence of a senior pastor

Concept

  • The church hires an Executive Administrator (the title is flexible) whose focuses on
    • Working with decision-making teams
      • Church business meetings
      • Coordinating Council
      • Personnel and Finance Teams
      • Pastor Search Team
      • Other teams as necessary
  • Communicating, coordinating with, and leading campus staff members
  • Assisting, as needed, with Pulpit Supply Committee to find speakers
    • The traditional model is to find someone who will speak every Sunday during the interim
    • Alternative solution – to get speakers for three months at a time. That lets the church see a variety of styles and people. It also prevents the church from “falling in love” with their interim and asking him or her to be the permanent pastor.
    • The role of the Executive Administrator is to help the church resolve any lingering baggage from the previous pastor and help the church leadership set the stage for the next pastor. The goal is to set up the next pastor for success.
    • The church must have a point person who, “in the meantime” can make or at least suggest tough decisions. Otherwise, the current staff will be inundated with requests for which they are unprepared.
    • This person must have experience in working with large churches, multiple decision-making teams/committees, and finance and personnel management. Business experience is valuable but non-profits use the legislative process more than executive directives (source: Jim Collins).
    • This person will not be a Sunday pulpit person since those roles should be filled by interim preachers and existing staff. This person will work with decision-making groups. Together they will keep the church informed regularly and invite church members to provide their input and attend meetings as they wish.

Coordination

  • The last verse of Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
  • The church does not need a king, but it does someone to lead the staff and who can work with the church leadership so that the church and staff work together to achieve goals together instead of each person doing what they want to do.
  • The departure of a pastor puts the church at its own crossroads – there are multiple paths from which to proceed, even backwards. The church needs someone with knowledge of churches and their inner workings but who can also help the church leadership determine what is needed in their context to help the next pastor and the church grow for the next generation.

Lead On!

Steve

 

 

Filed Under: church staff, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , ,

Rational Conversations on Emotional Subjects

Posted on December 31, 2013 Written by

I’ve noticed an interesting thing about most human conversations. Sometimes one person approaches the subject in a thoughtful manner while the other person, may have rational point of view and an emotional link to the subject. Occasionally, both sides have emotional connections to the topic. Infrequently both sides talk about a subject in a completely rational manner.

When emotion enters into any conversation, it becomes difficult to talk in a balanced manner. Emotions usually trump reason; feelings are more powerful than thoughts and frequently control human actions.

As you have a conversation with a colleague, vendor, church member, volunteer, family member, or anyone, keep in mind your own emotions and how they are affecting your point of view and what you are saying. Likewise, recognize the feelings that the other person has and how those emotions affect the topic in ways that you don’t know or understand because they’ve had a different life-experience than you’ve had.

Emotions will always affect every decision that is made but emotions should not control the outcome of all decisions. Decision-making should be based on the best information available until more or different information is available. By definition, feelings will affect decisions – and that is a good thing. The key is to ensure that in the end, there is a well-thought out decision which is in the best interest of everyone involved.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: leadership, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , ,

Olive Trees

Posted on December 10, 2013 Written by

Olive trees are rather amazing. I’ve never worked in an olive grove, but I did grow up in Spain, which has about 40 million olive trees. I couldn’t help but learn about olive trees as I drove across the country and saw olive trees from one horizon to the other.

There is a saying that when a farmer plants an olive seedling, he is planting it for his children. Olive trees mature slowly; an olive tree is 25 years old before it bears fruit. Not many farmers today can wait 25 years for a crop to come in.

But the olive tree is also amazing for its longevity. An olive tree will live about 1, 000 years, and some are even 2, 000 years old. So once an olive tree is 25 years old and begins to produce olives, it will continue to do so for the next 1,000 years if it is cared for properly.

Olives are harvested in a rather harsh fashion. Cloths are spread out under the tree and the branches are beaten with long poles. A hail of olives falls on the cloths. The cloths are gathered, and the olives are poured into buckets. These olives are used for food, pressed to make olive oil, or planted for another generation’s benefit. The olive tree doesn’t grow tall; it is smallish. Its trunk is not straight, so its wood is not good for construction. The olive tree is a humble tree that in maturity gives results for centuries to come.

It may be a stretch, but I’d like to compare church buildings to the olive tree. Typically they are not grandiose architectural masterpieces but are functional. They take many years to plan and build, but they will be with us for generations to come. Every generation or so, churches add a structure—knowing the primary beneficiaries will be their children and grandchildren. And, at some point in the unknown future, a decision will be made to tear down the building that the current generation labored so hard to construct.

Church buildings should be seen as investments:

  • First is the money that is raised to pay for the land and the building itself. It usually takes years to raise the money and pay off the principal and interest on the construction debt. If the generation doesn’t pay off the debt, then we saddle the next generation with debt plus the expense of maintaining the facility.
  • The second and greatest investment we make in our new building is people, especially our children. The building is a tool, not the goal; the measuring stick is how many lives the building affects for the Kingdom. We must ensure that the classrooms have the best teachers and leaders and they have all the training and resources they need to do the volunteer job they’ve been asked to do. The result will be people who leave the structures each day to go into the world knowing and sharing the love of God with each and every person they meet.

As we invest our money and our lives in church buildings, only God knows the fruit it will bear over the next several generations, because we planted a seed.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church administration, church finances, future, strategy Tagged: , , ,

Tools for Your Staff

Posted on November 5, 2013 Written by

One of my favorite sayings is that all staff members need proper tools to do the jobs you’ve asked them to do. And then I follow up by saying that if I don’t give you the tools to do a job, shame on me. But if I do give you the tools and you don’t do it, then we’re going to have a serious talk about your future.

What are the tools that a staff person needs? Actually there are lots of them, but let me try to hit the top few:

  • Time
    • A staff person must know how long they’ve got to do a job
    • They need your time to meet with them so they know what to do
  • Knowledge
    • Staff members need to come with basic skills to do a job
    • They need to come with an attitude of being willing to learn new skills
  • Money
    • Staff members need a budget to do their job
    • They need to know the organization as a whole has sufficient funds to keep going so that they are not distracted by whether or not the organization will fold
  • Job Description
    • All staff need to know what their job is in clearly defined terms
    • The job description is also the standard by which their performance will be measured
  • Praise and Criticism
    • All staff need to hear positive things about their work, because those kind words go a long way in helping people feel good about themselves and their role in the organization
    • All staff need to hear some constructive criticism so they realize they have room to improve and stretch; the criticism should never be demeaning but must be a way to push the employee beyond where he or she is now
  • Challenges
    • Humans get into ruts all the time, but that isn’t good or healthy because you can’t see very far when you’re in a rut – the routine becomes the norm
    • Goals which are just beyond our grasp are good ways of making employees push and reach just a little farther than they thought they could

Give your staff the tools they need and in turn, watch them flourish. Nurture that growth and you’ll be impressed and amazed at what they can do. They might even grow so much you’ll need to promote them, and that is an excellent thing!

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: church staff, leadership, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , , ,

David & Solomon: Setting Up Your Successor For Success

Posted on October 22, 2013 Written by

David ruled Israel from 1000-960 BC and his son, Solomon, ruled from 960-920 BC. David was Israel’s greatest king: he unified the country, defeated the Philistine threat, built major civic projects and palaces, and prepared the way (and supplies) for Solomon to build the first permanent temple in Judaism. That temple lasted about 350 years and was the focal point of Judaism. Its restoration became a rallying cry of Jewish nationalism.

1st Kings in the Bible describes the materials, construction, foremen, and laborers needed to build the temple using a LOT of detail. The person most responsible for prepping for the temple was King David, but he never saw it. His job was to gather all the things needed to build the temple so that his son, Solomon, could do the actual building. David’s job was to create a platform so that his successor could be a success.

Pastors who are within five years of retirement have one primary job – to take care of things in the church (some of which have been lingering for years) so that his or her successor is set up for success. This involves making some hard decisions about personnel and/or volunteers, reallocation of budget figures, changing some of the expectations of the church about its leaders, and in general ensuring that all the minefields within the church have been cleared. A longtime and soon retiring pastor should have enough clout to do all these things and still retire gracefully. His financial future will not be dependent on the church when he retires, and that knowledge should free him up to make long-delayed decisions which can help the next generation.

David ruled and finished well as king. He made mistakes and he was vain, but for the most part his motives were pure. Yes, David was used by some of the people around him, including the conspiracy regarding his successor. But David knew that all that he did over the course of his 40-year reign could fall apart if he didn’t gather the materials and wise counsel his son and successor would need. In turn, Solomon was able to stand taller on his dad’s shoulders than he could have on his own. Solomon completed some of his dad’s unfinished stuff (the temple) but did a lot on his own (foreign relations). Solomon’s time was good for the country and good for him (albeit he made some unwise choices in his wives and advisors). Solomon’s success is directly related to David’s setting him for success.

Are you a David who will retire in a few years? If so, what are you doing to intentionally set up the next generation for success? Are you finishing well or just barely crossing the finish line? Be like David and help your successor be a success.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church staff, future, leadership, strategy, wisdom, young adults Tagged: , , , , ,
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