Resource Management Innovations

The (North American) statistics are grim:

• 1,500 pastors per month leave full time ministry in North America.
• 7,000 churches this year will close their doors forever.
• 50% of pastors marriages are at risk. (Divorce rates are equal to secular counterparts).
• 80% of pastors and 84% of their spouses feel discouraged in their role.
• 50% of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
• 70% of pastors feel grossly underpaid.
• 80% of pastors spouses feel their spouse is overworked. 
• The majority of pastors wives surveyed said the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was they day they entered ministry.  

The bad news about your pastor and or those overseeing chaplaincy in your community is that they, like pastors everywhere are at significant risk of becoming a statistic. What has gone so terribly wrong? Could this have been an original design flaw … or what we have made of it? Given the history, what value proposition could possibly compel a young man or women to consider ministry as a vocation?

In his book ‘Historical Drift ~ Must My Church Die’ Rev. Dr. Arnold Cook provides three key learnings;

1) Churches who depart from original beliefs, purposes and practices suffer a loss of spiritual vitality … drifting into operating like secular institutions, that just happen to have a Christian name.

2) Unless we acknowledge where we are headed and develop insightful strategies for implementation … we will find the (our) church to be just another ineffective, if well intentioned institution.

3) A church whose spiritual foundation does not move, resists the societal pressure to accommodate to the surrounding culture.

RMI set out to work collaboratively with Dr. Cook to discern if corporate organizational development models were in fact transferable to the church. This work led to several successful consulting engagements within the (multi-denomination) church ~ Linking Vision to Mission. It was in this consulting capacity that RMI successfully designed, developed and implemented into ministry:

• A repeatable methodology for defining vision and mission.
• Vision characterized as: Where are we going, and
• Mission characterized as: How will we get there.
• A template for strategic (3 year), tactical (2 year) and (1 year) operational planning.
• An overall process for setting and delivering vision (where) and mission (how).
• Compliance with Federal and Provincial Employment Standards.
• A (local church specific) organizational design (supporting vision & mission).
• Position descriptions for pastoral and administrative staff (directly in support of vision & mission).
• A performance management and appraisal system (assessing vision & mission tracking).
• Performance objectives for each pastoral & admin staff member (qualitative and quantitative). Yes you can measure what a pastor does … its called stewardship (against vision & mission)..
• An employment agreement (incorporating conduct and confidentiality).
• A new employee orientation program (pre-employment through 6 month review).
• A compensation management & salary administration system (addressing fair & adequate direct & indirect compensation).
• Ministry Reporting: A common template for monthly reporting (by pastoral staff) to the governing Board regarding the status of each ministry, as it relates to ‘plan’.
• Ministry Alignment Model ~ integrating ministry from pulpit to nursery.
• A Shepherding Model ~ the means by which the community / parish is ministered.
• A Ministry Planning Process ~ allowing the local church to be intentional in its ministry. Defining what will be done, and specifically how  (as) it relates to vision & mission. 
• A Ministry Budgeting Process ~ clearly articulating how people, time and money will be allocated, against plan. Enabling vision & mission ~ thereby precluding Historical Drift (the original objective).  

An objective assessment as to how effective this model had become came in a Senior Pastors Annual Report to his congregation, governing board and denominational leadership. Subsequent to the successful implementation of the above, the Senior Pastor stated (quote) … “this is the most effective my ministry has been in over 30 years”. 

‘Must My Church Die’? Simply, No. Is it understandable how it will (naturally) if not nurtured, groomed, developed and fed as required by any other living organism, Yes.

Rick Kneeshaw has since been invited to join the adjunct faculty of Ambrose University College in Calgary, Alberta (www.ambrose.edu) where Organizational Development and Leadership Development is taught to third year students … preparing them for the work that they have been called into. Likely one of our most effective and rewarding assignments to date. 

Rick Kneeshaw
Rick@RMInnovations.ca