Friday, October 29, 2010

TOP 5 / reasons staff members leave a church

We have all heard this when a staff member leaves our team..."God is calling me away." Trust me, I am a pastor who serves from the 2nd chair, not in the lead pastor role. There are reasons staff members change churches. Yes, God does call people away and most of the time God uses "holy discontent" to help people make moves in different directions. Making a ministry move is not a bad thing. I know church members/leaders take it personally. The question many people wonder is...WHY DID THEY LEAVE "US"...WHAT IS WRONG WITH "US? If you want the truth here goes...there are many more unhealthy churches than healthy churches out there. Here are my TOP 5 reasons I see staff members make ministry moves. Please let me know what you think...
  1. Disconnection from the "church">> so many times staff members leave because they just do not connect with the vision and direction of their current church.
  2. Lack of support >> when leaders lack support from the lead pastor or overal church leadership...when they have an insufficient budget...when they have no hope of ever getting needed space in a facility. Yep those three will do it. When staff members don't feel supported many times they leave.
  3. Chasing THE LADDER  >> many times it is just this simple...sometimes staff members are not given the freedom to move into other ministry areas in their current church. Staff members have to make moves in order to go in a new direction...focus on their passion...have more influence. I hate the ministry "ladder" but we know it exists.
  4. Burnout >> when leaders place ministry ahead of everything else burnout is on the horizon. So many times staff people leave because they are have been beaten down by the system, wrong priorities, and lack of balance.
  5. Maturity >> This happens when a staff leader discovers who they are and who they are not. That powerful combination leads many staff members to new adventures.

2 comments:

  1. Good stuff. I could identify with all of these reasons at some point in my career in ministry. Reason 1 is particularly difficult. I used to always ask myself this question: Would I attend this church if I did not work here?

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  2. So true CJ, thanks for reading and thanks for sharing that!

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