In a thriving church community, staff alignment is crucial. While agreeing on a doctrinal level is a foundational requirement, having the same heart and philosophy towards ministry significantly influences how efficiently your church staff can function. Often, it is this spiritual mismatch, not doctrinal disagreement, leading to tension, confusion, and burnout on church staff teams.
In a spiritually mismatched team, even though the theology lines up, the heart, posture, and ministry philosophy differ. One person might value risk and boldness while another values caution and discernment. One person might see success as faithfulness, another might define it as fruitfulness. These subtleties might not show up in interview questions, but they play out in everyday ministry decisions. Unchecked, they could promote gossip, resistance, and frustration among your church staff.
More significant than differing personalities, spiritual backgrounds or past wounds, surfacing and resolving spiritual mismatches involve creating a dialogue around unspoken values and style preferences.
In your next hiring round, asking insightful questions can help identify any potential spiritual mismatch. For instance, you can ask: What's a recent decision that your last church made that didn't sit well with you, and why? What energizes you the most in ministry right now? * What does a healthy church staff look like to you?
Much more than uniformity, fostering clarity, consistency, and courageous dialogue should be the team goal. It isn’t conflict that is the enemy; it is confusion.
In an existing team setting, it may be wise to have open conversations about these unspoken values and style preferences. By putting them in the open, you remove the risk of misunderstanding or hard feelings that could lead to spiritual mismatch.
Just like you cannot disciple people well if your team is constantly confused about your leadership style, you cannot foster a healthy church staff culture while catering to hidden value differences. Begin addressing your spiritual mismatches early with humility.
While we may all have the same theological position, lapses in ministry philosophy can create chasms between church staff and ultimately affect the effectiveness of your team. By openly dialoguing about potential differences, we can build a stronger, more united church staff.
Still unsure how to navigate these differences within your church staff? Listen to our latest Healthy Church Staff Podcast episode where we delve deeper into this often overlooked but vital topic. Together, let's build a thriving, spiritually aligned church staff.