A Candid Letter to Senior Pastors
With deep concern Norman Shawchuck asks, Are you a people shrinker?
Norman Shawchuck
July 1, 1980
Dear Senior Pastor:
I'm afraid you may not like this letter, and to tell the truth, I write it with some regret. You may vigorously disagree, and perhaps even decide to crumple these pages into small wads. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to write because of all the needlessly stunted ministries I run into.
Let's start with a statement I hope we agree on: "Senior ministers should pay dose attention to the care, feeding, and motivation of staff."
Do they?
Do you?
Frankly, I've found very few do. Instead, they often drain the staff member of whatever motivation was there before employment! Take youth ministers. They last only eighteen months on the average, and I lay most of the blame at the senior pastor's feet.
Am I too rough? Maybe you don't have these problems, but I'm deeply troubled that so many do. As a church consultant I work with many denominations. In my view, the overwhelming majority of associate staff members are frustrated and often angry. Serving as a staff member in a local church can be the most painful position in ministry. Shocking examples of staff mismanagement are legion.
Much of the responsibility lies with the senior pastor. I'm not saying he's a villain; he's usually a victim of having never been trained to be a good supervisor. His style is often modeled after rigid hierarchical patterns, and he seldom taps into people who could help him change.
It doesn't need to be this way! Serving on a church staff can be a stimulating, rewarding, growing experience. In fact, both you and your staff members should be enriched by it. But I see the opposite in church after church.
Why do I place responsibility at the senior minister's feet? While it's true that one person alone can't create good staff morale, only the senior ...
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