Body-Building

Northminster has recently concluded the annual reviews of our church staff, a process coordinated by the Staff Development Team (SDT) of Session. Although there are a few variations depending upon the staff position, the process generally includes 1) a staff member’s self-evaluation, 2) review by the staff member’s supervisor, 3) additional input from appropriate church officers and members, 4) a meeting of the staff member with SDT liaisons to discuss the reviews, and 5) a summary of the conclusions and the goals for the coming year. Obviously, this involves many people and usually requires more than two months start to finish. I’m very grateful to our SDT members who design, coordinate, and follow-up on this each year from April through June. The result has been consistent, supportive attention to our Northminster staff in a way that affirms strengths and challenges us to function even more effectively. We are blessed to have a corps of outstanding women and men, with a keen desire to serve Jesus Christ as part of the staff team at Northminster.

Because I’ve been involved in church staff evaluations for about 25 years, I’m always on the lookout for ways to improve how we do this. I routinely “compare notes” with others pastors and heads of staff. I was able to learn and contribute for six years as a member of the Personnel Committee of the Presbytery of Cincinnati. My current assignment on the Transformation Team of Presbytery has introduced me to an important new book in this area of evaluation.

Jill M. Hudson, a Presbyterian minister and former Executive Presbyter in Indianapolis for the Whitewater Presbytery, has published a book entitled: WHEN BETTER ISN’T ENOUGH: EVALUATION TOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY CHURCH (2004: Alban Institute). She acknowledges that “Annual performance reviews can be routine, sterile, and relatively unproductive” or can be “used in negative, unhelpful ways to resolve pastoral difficulties and to justify the termination of relationships.” (p. 23) She also recognizes and defines the major shifts in our culture which have created new challenges for the church. The basis for her title, and the premise of the book, is that doing better or harder what we’ve always done in the past is an insufficient response to this new mission field of North America. So she proposes a list of twelve characteristics of an effective 21st-century pastor (or church staff member) and then raises pertinent questions for each of the characteristics. She also provides questions for a review committee (in our case the SDT) to consider the overall effectiveness of our church and system – not just the staff.

The twelve characteristics of an effective 21st century pastor that Hudson details are:
1. The ability to maintain personal, professional, and spiritual balance.
2. The ability to guide a transformational faith experience (conversion).
3. The ability to motivate and develop a congregation to be a “mission outpost” (help churches reclaim their role in reaching new believers).
4. The ability to develop and communicate a vision.
5. The ability to interpret and lead change.
6. The ability to promote and lead spiritual formation for church members.
7. The ability to provide leadership for high-quality, relevant worship experiences.
8. The ability to identify, develop, and support lay leaders.
9. The ability to build, inspire, and lead a “team” of both staff and volunteers.
10. The ability to manage conflict.
11. The ability to navigate successfully the world of technology.
12. The ability to be a lifelong learner.

Jill Hudson’s work is insightful and challenging. I have found much that probes my own effectiveness or patterns of leadership. Some things I value or that are deeply ingrained from my training (three decades ago!) do not appear on her list. Some of the questions unmask our natural preference for the status quo or a quest for an impossible past. Is Hudson correct when she writes: “The real training ground … – the parish – has reinforced most pastors’ sense that members want their church to remain pretty much what it always was – a tranquil place of spiritual comfort. Clergy have been trained and rewarded for maintenance, not creativity”? (p. 30) However you answer, know that her challenging tone is imperative for the future vitality of our mission for Jesus Christ. Hudson’s book is fundamentally creative and hopeful. I am anxious to share this book with our Staff Development Team and Session and, more broadly, with all Northminster members and friends who want to consider where we are headed and how shall we get there with the Lord’s help.

In love with Jesus Christ and eager to be an effective 21st century pastor,

Jeff

Acts 16:9-12 (NIV)
9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

The straight-forward narrative in Acts, chapter 16, camouflages the significance of this moment in Paul’s missionary work. He was on his second journey at the western tip of Asia Minor in the city of Troas. So far on this journey he had traveled only by land. The “man of Macedonia” in his vision was beckoning him to cross the Aegean Sea, to carry the Gospel from Asia to Europe, to deliver the news of Jesus Christ to another land and people. Without this vision and Paul’s bold response, he would not have contacted the Philippians, Thessalonians, Corinthians, and others with whom he ministered on that second missionary journey. It would have been easier and safer to remain on Asian soil, but Paul answered the call and preached the gospel in Macedonia and in other major Greek cities.

As we launch a new Northminster website – complete with staff weblogs and an assortment of other more interactive features – I try to imagine how Paul might have felt after his vision. Perhaps I’m feeling some similar emotions. How exciting are the possibilities for a new ministry in a new “cyberland” – and I’m convinced that God has called us to present the Good News of Jesus Christ and Northminster Church in this way. I’m also keenly aware that we’re headed into new territory, at least unfamiliar to me. I don’t know as much as I would like to know about web-based ministries and what will be most helpful to those who say “come over” to this new ministry. I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to update my “blog” or respond to comments and questions. I’m not sure if any new folks will visit our website or read what we have to say … or care! Yet we have concluded it’s time to cross; and we want to respond boldly and “put out to sea and sail straight” for the destination God has intended for us.

May our new Northminster website be a mission outpost to the glory of God and for the advance of the Gospel!

At the mission outpost for Christ,

Jeff