Pastoral Staff Meetings

Through the years I have very much ap­preciated the privilege of working with min­isters who believed in pastoral staff meetings. I have observed the benefits and pleasures of such a program, and at times have realized the lack of efficiency in the work caused by the ab­sence of such meetings. Regular pastoral staff meetings always help to promote strong team­work.

I have sometimes heard Bible instructors say, "I wish my pastor would have staff meetings. I just work on and on alone. The church doesn't even know I am there." Or, "I don't feel as though I belong!" And I have heard ministerial interns make similar remarks.

On the other hand, I have heard ministers say, "I wish my Bible worker would let me know what she is doing. She just carries on by herself. I never know with whom she is studying." Some­thing is wrong with such working relations.

In one effort a Bible instructor was working very faithfully, even though she had never been publicly introduced. One evening, with joy over­flowing she brought two couples to the pastor and introduced them. She told him how they had enjoyed his meetings and that they had taken their stand for Christ. They were fine people. The truth of the matter was that the Bible instructor had bestowed strenuous per­sonal work and prayers upon them. But what did the pastor do? Did he give his Bible instructor a little word of recognition in the presence of these people? No, he did not. He left her stand­ing on the side, completely ignored, and ex­citedly made appointments with these people to see them at once. Later the Bible instructor said to the minister, "Don't you want me to con­tinue with these families?"

"Oh, no," he said, "this is a man's job. I have to take care of this myself." And yet it had already been taken care of.

The Bible instructor had helped them across, and she had brought them to the pastor that he might know the happy results of his preach­ing. But she practically had to lose face with these people because of the minister's thought­lessness. Surely this was not teamwork.

Now again it may be the other way. It may be that the minister cannot trust the Bible instructor with larger work because she is not centering her work around the pastor. He is the one she should build up, and encourage the people to love and respect. She should never tie the people to herself. Neither should she speak of her work as something separate from the pastor's interests. She is working un­der the strong influence of the pastor, and in all of her dealings with people, she should maintain this devoted attitude toward her pas­tor or evangelist. This principle, of course, ap­plies to other associate workers, and will add to their own success among the people.

It is a well-tried plan that the Bible instructor, as well as the pastor, be well acquainted with each candidate for baptism. It is very difficult for a Bible instructor to help converts after they have been baptized if the minister has not tied her in with these people prior to their baptism. She can also help more efficiently at the baptism if she knows all the candidates.

Mutual Acquaintance Helpful

However, it is even more important for the Bible instructor to acquaint her readers and new friends with her pastor as soon as possible. I want my new contacts to meet our pastor right away, so they will like him personally as well as enjoy his sermons. This will help them to come regularly to hear him preach. Such an acquaintance will tie them to the pastor and he will be able to help them in many ways.

Various pastors I have worked with have told me never to hesitate to interrupt their conver­sation with church members if I have a stranger to introduce to them. Isn't that cooperation? I have more than once invited my pastor and his wife to my home for dinner, just to get them acquainted with good prospects, and they came, sometimes dropping their own plans in order to come. That's working together.

The Bible instructor does not need to report baptisms when she does teamwork with her pastor. He will see to it that she gets proper rec­ognition for her work. This again applies to all associate workers.

For successful relations the minister and his colaborers need to get acquainted with one another so they can have perfect understanding. Certainly a regular staff meeting each week will help a great deal to bring about these happy results. Agendas for these staff meetings differ from week to week according to the cur­rent needs, but usually an agenda begins with a brief reading from the Bible or the Spirit of prophecy writings, to get all hearts in tune, and a short prayer for guidance. The prayer session can be had at the close of the meeting, after all the needs have been presented.

All have their "week-at-a-glance" books open to jot down dates and important announce­ments—also personal assignments. The pastor then opens the session with news items about the work and church in general, and any an­nouncements that are to be made. In other words, he lets us on the "inside" of things as it were. This is appreciated by the various workers. It creates a fellowship—a togetherness. The pastor, of course, has definite plans in mind, and because he presents them in pastoral staff meetings and asks for opinions he seldom has trouble in selling his ideas to the rest of the staff. It is most important that all know about the plans, be enthusiastic about them, and be able to answer questions when necessary.

At this time the various workers may express their observations, good or bad, concerning the last Sabbath's meetings or the work in general. During an evangelistic effort there is so much to talk about. How it cheers the pastor and all the workers to hear favorable reports.

Individual Worker Reports

Next each worker in turn is asked to report on how things are going in his or her depart­ment. (The details of each staff member's work are discussed privately with the one concerned, so as not to consume too much time in the general staff meeting.) The minister of youth in our church is usually the first one on the list.

He expresses his joys and sorrows in the work for the youth. Everyone, of course, shares this burden with him, and plans are discussed. Special prayer requests are made. We note in our books the dates for junior and youth meet­ings and the speakers, so we can help direct people to these meetings.

If there is an associate pastor he presents the burdens and needs of the people that rest on his heart. The Bible instructor is permitted to state briefly how new interests are developing, and requests prayer for certain ones who are having special problems.

The church secretary has a handful of nota­tions to present. There are numerous requests to mention, such as the sick, the poor and needy. The pastor makes notations, in his book, of items that he must present to the church board, and the other names and problems are assigned to various workers. I have always appreciated my pastor's leaving me free to do Bible work rather than church work.

During Ingathering time no one is too busy to share in the campaign. Besides doing some soliciting, each one spends hours at the tele­phone calling our large membership right down the list, having friendly chats and tactfully reminding members that we are counting on them. We work in relays at this job and the response is gratifying.

Sometimes the pastor announces a surprise. He is going to take the staff out for a treat, or maybe it will be a potluck supper. Needless to say, this adds greatly to the fellowship of the group.

Problems to Meet, and Their Solution

Is it easy to conduct pastoral staff meetings? Are there problems to encounter? Yes, many of them.

Problem No. I. Filibustering—innocent or otherwise. To keep all remarks brief and right on the subject is no small task for the pastor. Any minute someone in the group may deviate a bit. Others join in, and off we go into unneces­sary discussion. Maybe it's a favorite TV pro­gram, or automobiles, or likely as not it could be personal finances.

The Bible instructor may ramble on too much in detail about the problems of poor Mrs. Jones or those of others of her readers. This can con­sume valuable time. On the wall the clock is ticking the minutes away. The efficient, friendly pastor, however, is on the alert. You can't side­track him. He is allergic to time wasting in a meeting, and detects it in its earliest stages. He may listen with a knowing smile for a few moments, but soon he looks up at the clock and down at his agenda—then calls everyone back to the business at hand. Thus he succeeds in covering his agenda in the allotted time.

Problem No. 2. When is the ideal time to have the pastoral staff meeting? There are so many unexpected interruptions. There are the sick, funerals, weddings, conference committee meet­ings, special campaigns, et cetera.

Planning the Staff Meeting

Problem No. 3. The last problem I shall men­tion is a serious one—the time consumed by the pastor in planning a staff meeting. It does take some of the pastor's precious time to plan the agenda, but this is the groundwork for a suc­cessful and profitable staff meeting. One of our good pastors spends Monday forenoons in mak­ing his plans for the afternoon staff meeting. It certainly pays the pastor to spend this time alone in laying careful plans. Some pastors feel they do not have time for such a procedure. No time to plan ahead—and what is the result? They work frantically trying to keep up with their numerous duties—always feeling too busy, and overworked. Yet all the while they might be sharing much of the burden with the rest of the staff members by assigning each one to certain tasks, thus saving time.

When I first met one of my good pastors some years ago, I found that he was one of these extremely busy ones. It made me weary just to listen as he wailed how busy, how tense, how overworked he was. It took a great deal of his time to tell it. One day I said in a friendly way, "Elder Blank, your workers are just no good, the whole lot of us!" He looked surprised. I continued, "We are just not helping you much. We are letting you do too much of the work alone." Then I added, "We would like to help you more."

"Well," he said, "what would you like to do for me?" Some suggestions were made and things somehow changed. Teamwork developed. More and more he trusted us with soul-winning tasks. This gave him time for his other important work.

We pastor's assistants like to feel that we are helping the pastor carry his heavy load, and that he is actually depending on us for certain re­sponsibilities. We can't let him down. Yes, pas­tors and evangelists, taking time out for organ­izing teamwork pays off well.

The pastoral staff meeting provides a wonder­ful opportunity for younger workers to ob­serve a successful pastor at work. It is inspiring to see how he relates himself to great and small problems, and how he courageously relies on God to help him solve those problems. Observa­tion of how he applies Christian principles in all of his dealings with others makes deep im­pressions. To hear the pastor pray for each one of his workers by name gives new courage and devotion to the task. Such methods result in creating confidence in the pastor's leadership and developing a strong, loyal team. Each worker feels that he is an important part of the organization and must hold up his end of the work. All share in the work and all share in the success—the wise pastor sees to that!

I am a firm believer in pastoral staff meetings and teamwork. Through the years my experi­ence in the work of God has been enriched and my vision has been expanded by the inspiration gained in pastoral staff meetings and in per­sonal counsel from godly ministers. In fact, I would greatly miss these meetings in my Bible work. Here is a place where workers keep uni­fied and where the fellowship of prayer works miracles.