--- title: Stop Holding Staff Meetings After Service (And What to Do Instead) description: "Are you calling impromptu staff meetings after Sunday services? Here's why that \"quick 15-minute huddle\" is damaging your team—and what to do instead." image: https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/hubfs/blog-images/featured/featured_213.png --- [Skip to content](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/stop-holding-staff-meetings-after-service-and-what-to-do-instead#main-content) [![cropped-chemistry\_logo\_homepage-342x95](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/hs-fs/hubfs/cropped-chemistry_logo_homepage-342x95.webp?width=342&height=95&name=cropped-chemistry_logo_homepage-342x95.webp "cropped-chemistry_logo_homepage-342x95")](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/) - [How We Help](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/what-we-do/) - [How We Help Candidates](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/candidate/) - [How We Help Churches](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/church/) - [Our Team](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/team/) - [Our Mission & Strategy](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/what-we-do/) - [Churches](https://chemistrystaffing.com/church) - [Hire New Staff](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/2021-churches-new-staff-hiring/) - [Free 30-Minute Church Consult](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/lets-talk/) - [Chemistry Solutions – You Don’t Have to Do Ministry Alone](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/solutions/) - [Final Fit Assessment](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/final-fit-assessment/) - [Senior Pastor Succession](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/succession/) - [Job Seekers](https://chemistrystaffing.com/candidate) - [Add My Resume / Profile](https://chemistry.fyi/kwq) - [Current Openings](https://chemistrystaffing.com/jobs) - [Free Resume Assessment](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/free-resume-self-assessment/) - [Step-by-Step Job Search](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/cjb) - [How Chemistry Can Help](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/candidate/) - [Resources](http://www.chemistrystaffing.com/candidate/) - [Free Playbooks & Downloads](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/resources/) - [Chemistry Blog](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/) - [2024 Youth Pastor Compensation Survey](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/resources/2024-yp-compensation-survey/) - [Contact Us](http://www.chemistrystaffing.com/lets-talk/) - [Candidates](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/candidate-contact-page/) - [Churches](http://www.chemistrystaffing.com/lets-talk/) - [Find a Job](https://chemistrystaffing.com/jobs) - [My Church is Hiring](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/lets-talk/) # Stop Holding Staff Meetings After Service (And What to Do Instead) Are you calling impromptu staff meetings after Sunday services? Here's why that "quick 15-minute huddle" is damaging your team—and what to do instead. ![](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/hubfs/blog-images/featured/featured_213.png) It's the last amen. You catch your worship leader in the lobby. "Hey, can staff meet for 15 minutes?" 🎧 Listen to this episode: The kids pastor's family is already in the van. The worship leader has a trailer half-loaded. But seventy minutes later, you're still talking about Christmas planning and a volunteer who didn't show up. They can't leave without looking uncommitted. And you? You're just trying to capture those fresh thoughts before they slip away. If this scene feels uncomfortably familiar, you're not alone. And today, we need to talk about why this common practice might be one of the most damaging patterns on your church staff—even when your heart is in the right place. ## This Isn't About Working on Sundays Let's be clear from the start: Sunday *is* the job when you're in church ministry. It always has been. It always will be. This isn't about whether your staff should work on Sundays. This is about the meeting you start **after** the job was supposed to be over. When the spouse has already been there all morning. When the kids are hungry. When the teenager has a game after lunch. And your staffer is sitting in a folding chair in the lobby because you said, "Hey, can we grab some time together for the next 15 minutes?" You didn't put it on the calendar. You didn't name an end time. You grabbed whoever was still in the building. That's not a huddle. That's a hold. And your staff knows the difference. The people in the van? The spouse sitting in the driver's seat scrolling through their phone for the third time? They know the difference too. ## Why These After-Service Meetings Feel Easy (But Aren't) I understand the appeal. I really do. You already have the room. You already have the people. You already have the thought fresh in your mind. Using the last service like a built-in staff meeting seems efficient. The morning's still hot. You saw three things you don't want to lose. Catching everyone in the lobby feels a lot faster than scheduling another Tuesday morning meeting. But here's what's actually happening: You're turning the end of worship into unpaid staff time that they cannot refuse. ![Episode visual summary](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/hubfs/blog-images/whiteboards/whiteboard_213.png) ### The Real Cost Nobody Talks About There's no calendar block. No childcare plan. No chance to say no without looking like they don't care about the ministry. That part-time kids director just worked a six-hour Sunday. You just added an hour she can't bill. The worship leader's day just grew again—you won't see that on a timesheet, but you'll see it on their face when you say, "Real quick, though..." And here's the part that really stings: the staffer with the youngest kids always seems to stay the latest. Why? Because leaving first has a story attached to it. You didn't write that rule. The lobby culture wrote it. > "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." - Philippians 2:3-4 ## The Truth About "15 Minutes" Let me be honest with you: "15 minutes" is the tell. Fifteen minutes is never, ever fifteen minutes. You've said that sentence. You've broken that promise. Everyone in the chair has a clock in their hand (or their pocket), and they're counting the cost of looking faithful. The first twenty minutes might actually be useful. The next forty? That's you thinking out loud. Your staff isn't collaborating at that point. They're trapped. They're thinking about how to explain this to their spouse. Again. They're doing the mental math on whether they can still make their kid's game. They're wondering if the crock pot dinner is going to be completely dried out. And they're certainly not doing their best thinking or contributing their best ideas. ### Real Talk Question When was the last time you had a genuinely productive conversation in the lobby after the last service ended? Now ask yourself: was it worth the cost to your team's families? ## What Fresh Ideas Are Really Worth Now listen—I know your heart. I've been in your shoes. Those thoughts that come during the third song or while you're watching the parking lot fill up? They feel urgent. They feel important. They feel like they'll evaporate if you don't capture them immediately with your whole team. But being fresh in your mind is not a reason to hold people's families hostage in the parking lot. If it matters, it can live on a calendar. You can still debrief Sunday. You absolutely should debrief Sunday. But you cannot keep stealing the hour after it as if it doesn't count because everyone's already at the building. ## A Better Way Forward Here's what a real meeting looks like: - A real meeting has a start time - A real meeting has an end time - A real meeting is on the calendar before anyone loads the van So stop using the lobby as your calendar. ### If You Need Staff After the Last Service **Say it by Wednesday.** Put it on the calendar. Name the end time. Name who is actually required—not "anyone who can stay." That sentence always lands on the same three people. If you cannot put it on the calendar, it's not a meeting. It's a drive-by. Let them go home. Send those three thoughts in an email. Save the rest for Tuesday. Get out your phone right now and create a note called "Sunday Debrief Items" where you can capture those thoughts in the moment. If you won't calendar it, you've already named your plan: you're going to grab them in the lobby again. Their family will wait again. And the resentment will build again. > "Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be... not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." - 1 Peter 5:2-3 ## Your Challenge This Week I want you to do something uncomfortable this week. If you feel like you need staff time after the last service, put it on the calendar by Wednesday. Give it an actual end time. If it's 15 minutes, say "We start at 11:30, and we're done by 11:45." Then stick to it. If you can't do that—if you can't commit to calendaring it and honoring an end time—then let them go home this week. Just this once, resist the urge to call the huddle. Write yourself the note instead. See what happens when your staff gets to leave on time. I know this might feel like I'm taking away the only time you can catch everyone together. That's exactly why it's so easy to do—because everyone's already there. But I'm asking you to stop using their families as the waiting room. ### Action Steps for This Week - **Audit your pattern:** Look back at the last month. How many times did you call an impromptu meeting after service? - **Create a capture system:** Set up a note on your phone or a shared document where you can immediately record thoughts that come during or after service. - **Calendar your next debrief:** If you need a Sunday debrief, put it on the calendar now for next week with a clear start and end time. - **Have the conversation:** Ask your staff honestly: "How do our after-service meetings impact you and your family?" Then listen without defending. ## The Staff You Actually Want Here's the truth: you want a staff that can finish Sunday and go home feeling refreshed. You want them to feel like this was a good day in the house of the Lord, not like they got trapped into an hour-long meeting they couldn't escape. You want staff members who are excited about Sunday, not dreading the unpredictable meeting that might happen afterward. You want their families to support their ministry, not resent it. All of that starts with respecting the boundaries of their time—even on Sunday. Especially on Sunday. A meeting after the last service isn't just a quick huddle. It's unpaid staff time that you never put on the calendar. And every time you do it, you're making a withdrawal from the trust account with your team and their families. This week, make a deposit instead. --- *What's your experience with after-service meetings? Are you the one calling them, or are you the one waiting in the van? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Send me an email at [podcast@chemistrystaffing.com](mailto:podcast@chemistrystaffing.com).* *For more practical wisdom on building a healthy church staff, visit us at [chemistrystaffing.com](https://chemistrystaffing.com) or subscribe to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.* ### [![Todd Rhoades](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/883a0d42581424e9bbe7c77dccfeed6b) Todd Rhoades](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/author/todd-rhoades) Todd has invested over 30 years in serving churches, having served as a worship pastor for over 15 years, a church elder for more than a decade, and in various ministry leadership roles in both the business and non-profit sectors. As the original founder and developer of ChurchStaffing.com, Todd fundamentally changed the way thousands of churches search for pastors and staff on the internet. Todd is a graduate of Cedarville University, and lives in Bryan, OH with his wife, Dawn. 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