The Art of Church Leadership
I just finished Leadership is an Art by Max DePree. DePree is the former CEO of Herman Miller, a very successful furniture maker and retailer that was founded by DePree’s father.
Even though DePree served in the Army during WW2, his management style has no resemblance to a militaristic, heavy-handed hierarchy. In Leadership is an Art, he writes:
“The measure of leadership is not the quality of the head, but the tone of the body. The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?” (12)
DePree is a proponent of “participative management.” He is clear that this is not a method. Like art, it must be truly felt. He writes:
“Participative management arises out of the heart and out of a personal philosophy about people. It cannot be added to or subtracted from a corporate policy manual as though it were one more managerial tool.” (24)
Later in the book, DePree writes “The best people working for organizations are like volunteers….Volunteers do not need contracts, they need covenants. Covenantal relationships enable corporations and institutions to be hospitable to the unusual person and to unusual ideas…The difference between covenants and contracts is ‘intimacy’” (28)
This discussion of “volunteers” and “covenants” brought to my mind the many volunteers who serve at our church (and in churches everywhere).
Church leaders who have a heavy-handed, top-down leadership style have a high turnover rate when it comes to volunteers. When a pastor or minister leads by their personality or status, volunteers will not usually do high-quality work for a long amount of time. Since they are not being paid, their motivation must be something else that they value. In the past, there have been church leaders who have led via guilt (“do these things for God or you might go to Hell). Yet, our denomination (and many others) believes in salvation by grace alone (not works) and an assurance of salvation. The idea of leading through “intimacy” (aka relationships) rings true for evangelical churches. Volunteers who feel a connection with their pastoral leaders are motivated if they feel that they are valued. How do we know that our volunteers are being valued? DePree helps us as he identifies six “rights of team members” on pages 35-43. I would like to discuss these in the light of church volunteerism.
1) The Right to be Needed
Some church members are gifted in a wide variety of talents and abilities. For example, when I was in high school, I played the drums in our school jazz band. Yet, our church was so traditional that it did not have drums in the worship services. Even though I had a talent that could be utilized by some churches, I was not needed in our church music program (at least not as a drummer).
In our churches today, we may have talented photographers, web designers, outdoorsmen, engineers, horticulturalists, or athletic trainers who have talents that could be put to use with some visionary leadership. Otherwise, they may just sit in the pew each week feeling that they have nothing to contribute to their church because they are not talented as a teacher or a children’s worker.
2) The Right to be Involved
If volunteers are to form strong bonds with the church, leaders must ask them for their opinions. Volunteers need to be involved in regular evaluation of the tasks. This is more than just letting them “vent.” If a volunteer identifies something that could be done better, they need to see their idea acted upon. If there is a good reason not to follow through on the idea, the church leader needs to explain this to the volunteer. For example, if a volunteer youth worker hears from parents of teens that they are frustrated because they never know what is being planned for the youth ministry, the youth minister might begin a weekly newsletter, email, or blog in order to get detailed information in the hands of the parents.
3) The Right to a Covenantal Relationship
Covenants stand in contrast to contacts. A contract is something that defines responsibilities, but it is rarely celebrated. It is something that we are held to…like it or not. A covenant is a voluntary agreement where a church leader and volunteer can come to an understanding of what is expected, but not in a harsh way. A covenant is based on a relationship, trust, and mutual admiration. Covenants may be difficult for some church leaders because they do not work in a “top-down” authority model. They work best when both parties equally value one another.
4) The Right to Understand
Volunteers need to fully understand the mission of the church and how it relates to the task that they are expected to perform. Volunteers need to see where their work contributes to the church and to the work of others.
I believe that this is one area where I personally have made mistakes in the past. Looking back over 30 years in ministry, I can see that there were times that I needed help but did not effectively communicate how a volunteer’s work fit into the big picture of what we were trying to accomplish.
5) The Right to Affect One’s Own Destiny
Church volunteers who demonstrate superior work may need to be recognized, promoted, or even hired to an appropriate paid position. Some may need to be encouraged to get a degree in their area of expertise. Their gifts may need to be shared with other churches or ministries who could benefit from them. Leaders should collaborate with volunteers who are not fulfilling their commitments in order to set forth a path to either succeed or possibly move to a different role (without shame).
6) The Right to be Accountable
Our church volunteers need to be shown how their work needs to contribute to the ministry’s goals. Their work should be evaluated by standards that are given to them before they begin a task. Their supervisor should meet with them and hold them accountable while continually expressing a caring attitude (as a family member would).
7) The Right to Appeal
Church leaders make mistakes. In addition to this, misunderstandings happen in churches on a regular basis. Every church volunteer needs to know what appeal process is in place for them. When there is an unresolved conflict, many volunteers simply quit. Others sew seeds of gossip and bitterness. Some may try to undercut the authority of the leader or even seek to see them fail. By having a clearly defined appeal process that does not allow for the shaming of the volunteer, many negative consequences can be avoided.
8) The Right to Make A Commitment
Some churches have high turnover rates when it comes to pastors and church staff. Sometimes, newly hired pastors and staff will introduce a significantly different direction for the church. In these cases some volunteers feel like their past work is not valued by the new church leaders. Some volunteers may even be “fired” because the new leader wants a fresh start. In these situations, volunteers may no longer make long-term, quality commitments to the church. Instability in church leadership will never equal stability among church volunteers.
In conclusion, I believe that DePree, who studied at Wheaten College, developed much of the content that he wrote about in Leadership Is An Art based on his Christian background and character. It is not surprising that his theories about leadership are so easily translated to church work.
Pree, Max De. Leadership is an art. New York: Crown Business, 2004.
About the Author
Stu Cocanougher
9 responses to “The Art of Church Leadership”
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Nicely written Stu – I think the way you focused on volunteerism in the church and the needs of volunteers is very important and insightful. I think a lot of leaders and pastors get this wrong and have a constant churn of volunteers doe to lack of communication, lack of gratitude, lack of trust – contractual rather than covenantal relationships.
There is stuff here that we can all learn from and get better at!
Stu you made a great connection with the book and your own ministry context. It sounds like you discovered much that could affirm how you already lead, and ways you have grown as a leader. Reading through that list as someone who has overseen many volunteers, I, too, found areas of affirmation and growth.
Stu, I really appreciate your reflections on volunteers. My husband and I volunteered in the State Penitentiary for 17 years. It was a covenantal relationship rather than a contractual one as you refer to. Of course, we really felt led by God to be there.
However it was the many things you point out that made the ministry more enjoyable and fulfilling and encouraged us to keep going. The head of religious services was an Anglican priest but all volunteers felt equally important. The task was clearly spelled out – help to lower the recidivism by giving the men spiritual strength to stay clean when they got out.
Leaders took comments graciously. There were some ‘short-timers’ but a most of us had long term commitments.
Good summary for business, church, and prison!!
Great post Stu! You make an excellent point in your very first point about the right to be needed. We sometimes have the idea in the church that only the Clergy should be involved in leadership, while there are many talented people sitting in the pews who feel that have nothing to offer because they are not a Sunday school teacher or children’s worker. If we could only light the flame, organize, inspire and lead with those in mind, what we could do for the cause of Christ! Thank Stu!
“The measure of leadership is not the quality of the head, but the tone of the body.” This is such a great point. You clearly addressed the eight points DePree presented. This statement reminds me of 1 Corinthians 12:12, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body so it is with Christ.”
Great Post
Good post, Stu. Yes, I relate with your struggle to involve volunteers effectively. It can be challenging to find the right people, get them in the best-suited positions, then motivate or manage them to work effectively together for a common vision or purpose. Sometimes, just easier to do it yourself. I would agree, his leadership principles easily fit with church leadership.
Thank you, Stu, for connecting this book to volunteers in a church setting. Many of these thoughts are the things I tried to get through to our board and certain leaders when I was Volunteer Coordinator. Not everyone is cut out to work in the children’s ministry or sing in the choir, but we certainly can find a place for every person’s talent to contribute to the mission and vision of the church if they want to be a part!
Stu great reflections. Yes top down leadership will always struggle to understand the plight of their volunteers. They tend to do the opposite of what DePree shares on building intimacy, maintaining momentum, shared ownership and empowerment through diversity. All of these are important. Servant leadership is not a science but it is learned over time. Those who truly desire to to be better leaders will have to shift their leadership paradigm to embrace other models that can be more effective and inclusive.
Great, detailed post, Stu…. I love how you went through the 6 ‘rights’ with church volunteers in mind.
The first ‘right’ – to be needed – is one that I think we overlook in our churches so often… People used to come to church, at least in part, because it was ‘what you do’ or ‘what you are supposed to do’…. that isn’t the case anymore.
So, now, if churches don’t give a compelling reason for why you need to be there, why you are needed, then for most people – I think the thought is, ‘why bother’.