Having served in many areas within the church from youth pastor to worship leader, small group director and church board member I learned the art of easing the burden of a senior pastor. I loved this role of helps and I thought I would pass along a few things I learned.
Here’s how you can help your senior pastor:
Challenge your own selfish behavior - We can hoard more than just toilet paper and canned goods during this crisis. We can hoard our time and our talent. Offer to jump in a help where you can and when you can. Right now job descriptions are out the window and it’s all hands on deck.
Extend unnecessary grace - I don’t know about you, but trying to explain things to tech illiterate people can become frustrating quick, especially over the phone. I’ve learned that when you push patience through the phone line the receiver responds with gratitude. If you’re not experiencing a lot of gratitude from the leader you’re serving, check your attitude, are you pushing patience?
Prove to your senior leader that you’re not there for the paycheck - If you’re currently being furloughed right now your mind can wander back to three years ago when the church spent money to have an elephant in the Labor Day parade and you can’t help but think, “If only they had saved that money I wouldn’t be losing my paycheck.” It’s important to remember that God is our provider, not man. Your inability to set funds aside for a rainy day isn’t the fault of your pastor or church board. Make sure you place the blame where it needs to be.
Call in an old-fashioned welfare check - I recently reached out to a pastors wife and she said, “No way, I was just telling myself the other day, who’s going to check on us?” Yep, even Senior Pastors are human and would appreciate a “how are you doing” call. No matter how strong they may appear, reaching out is never a bad idea, but assuming people are doing better than they are, is.
The benefits of these four steps is what moves hired hands into leaders. To borrow a phrase from one of my favorite songs, “Eye of the Tiger” opportunity is really what stalks it’s prey in the night. Crisis has a way of bringing out of us what is already inside. Serving well during this season will gain you respect during your next season. You’re being watched on many levels by your spouse, kids, students, pastor, church board, parishioners and possibly your future employer. Your future self is watching how you will handle this opportunity and of course we all know that most importantly God is watching and as one of my close friends always says, “He keeps good records.”