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Requiring Ministers To Take A Spiritual Renewal Day

In the one-page employment agreement our Church provides its ministers upon being hired, one sentence stands out from the rest:

“Once a month, you are to take one day away from the office for a spiritual renewal day.”

It’s not a suggestion. It’s not just another important task to prioritize.

It’s a job requirement.

In the document that outlines what the employer is going to provide the employee, the employee is asked for something too. A wise church knows this one requirement pays both physical and spiritual dividends back to the church.

Our church lay leadership teams place a high value on our ministers’ spiritual development. They realize they must make it a requirement for our ministers to set aside time for renewal. They realize the rapid pace of our church’s work, and know that unless the ministers are purposely setting aside a day for renewal, it’s likely to largely ignored.

They’ve seen highly capable ministers experience significant ministry productivity, while maintaining an idle relationship with God, and they know that’s not sustainable.

A once a month renewal day doesn’t mean ministers are to solely rely on that for their connection to Jesus. Our ministers are asked about their spiritual lives often – both overtly in quarterly meetings with their supervisor, and also in everyday staff relationships and conversations. However, we’ve also found that a day away can be very catalytic.

For their renewal days, ministers are encouraged to try different things. They’re encouraged to leave technology out of their plans. Amongst the ministers, we share best practices and locations for the renewal days. Some ministers travel. Some find a quiet coffee shop. I tend to use local libraries (we have really nice libraries here). You can find a free PDF of best practices we provide to our ministers as they prepare for their spiritual retreat days on my resource page.

Whether or not you have lay teams proposing spiritual renewal days, as a church staff leader, you could encourage and allow for renewal days. You can model it. Even if it requires using one of your personal days, a once a month spiritual renewal day is a healthy practice.

If you’re in a position to make this an expectation of the employment agreement, I suggest you do it. In a fast-paced work environment, requests are often ignored. Requirements are not.

Practical Takeaways:

Take the idea to your church leadership.
Be creative with how you spend a spiritual renewal day.
Model the discipline of substantial and systematic time away to be with God.

5 Ways To Bless Your Church Staff During The Holidays

Most everyone knows the anticipation Clark Griswold felt waiting for his Christmas bonus in the movie Christmas Vacation. He had grand plans for the money…a pool for his family. We also know the disappointment Clark felt when his bonus ended up being a one-year membership to the “jelly of the month club.”

As Cousin Eddie proclaimed, it was the gift “that keeps on giving.”

What we desire for holiday gifts, and what we actually get is usually not one in the same (“Wow, thanks, tube socks.”)

It’s doubtful a member of your church staff has put a down payment on a pool hoping for a Christmas bonus to cover the cost. It’s also doubtful a church staff member would turn down a cash bonus, or even a gift card. But I wanted to provide you some other ways to think about providing bonuses, or blessing to your staff.

If you lead a staff, or are in a place that could provide these to the staff of your church, here are some suggested ideas somewhere between the jelly of the month club and a pool:

5 ways to bless your staff during the holidays:

Close the church office the week between Christmas and New Year’s (and don’t count it as their vacation time). Use a receptionist and a minister on call to coordinate ministry that week.
Have a staff party and include spouses if possible.
Utilize a retired minister for hospital visiting and other pastoral care needs over the key days of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Send a hand-written note of gratefulness.
Take a key staff member and their spouse out for a nice dinner.

Every idea would require some work and tweaks based on your church’s situation, but you get the idea.

Keep the jelly membership for yourself, and bless staff in whatever other ways you can.

Being Prepared, But Saying The Least — Meetings

Recently I attended a meeting with our church’s leadership, and as I drove home from it, two thoughts kept bothering me: I wasn’t prepared enough for the meeting, and I said too much in it.

The following week, I set up an appointment with an advisor for input on my meeting contribution. (The role of the advisor is captured well by Michael Hyatt in his post “Who Are Your ‘Trusted Advisors’?”.)

This advisor had heard me present in several meeting environments (including the most recent one), and had watched me interact with church staff and members. He recommended several points of improvement for me, but the one that was most impactful was this:

Be the most prepared guy (gal) at the meeting, with a plan to say the least.

We’ve all been in meetings with people who weren’t prepared to speak authoritatively on a subject, but did it anyway. They spouted content without substance. And even if spouting is done well, waxing eloquently doesn’t equate meaningful content.

We’ve also been in meetings with well-prepared people, who because they were so prepared, subsequently chose to take over a meeting with incessant talk. Again, filibustering doesn’t equate to quality content provider.

What’s the best mix of preparation and spoken contribution in a meeting?

Specifically, what’s the best plan of action when you’re a participant in the meeting, but not facilitating it?

On Being Prepared… a few reminders, for prior to the meeting

Have I gathered all my facts?
What questions can I anticipate on this agenda topic?
Have I searched my paper files and e-mail for all correspondence which may be relative to the meeting topic?
Have I studied enough that I have key information and metrics in my head?

On Saying Little… a few reminders, for during the meeting

Only speak to a topic after you’ve answered this question to yourself:

Am I speaking to bring value to the conversation, or for some other less worthy reason?

Resist the urge to control the output or concerns of others.
Listen reflectively.
Don’t formulate rebuttal comments while others are speaking.

I’ve by no means got all this down. After most meetings I lead or participate in, I feel there’s ways I can improve.

Wouldn’t it be nice if people said about this about us after they left a meeting…

“They don’t talk a lot, but when they do, they bring a lot of value”?

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