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Ten Must Read Books For Effective Ministering

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These ten titles represent books I’ve engaged since first beginning ministry at age twenty. Some helped with my own soul care, and some helped with my care of others. A few helped me grasp leadership in the church, while others gave me life perspective  on situations I hadn’t yet experienced.

If I were charged to create this same list next month, it might look different.  It’s very difficult to choose just ten, but this is the list as of now. These books are not necessarily my personal top-ten favorites, but ones I believe are valuable in creating a solid foundation for a philosophy of ministry.

  1. Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence by Goleman
  2. Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend by Stanley
  3. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Foster
  4. Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them by Ortberg
  5. Crazy Busy by Deyoung
  6. The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of God Every Day of Your Life by Thomas
  7. The Contrarians Guide to Leadership by Sample
  8. Running On Empty: Contemplative Spirituality for Overachievers by Anderson
  9. Boundaries Face to Face: How to Have That Difficult Conversation You’ve Been Avoiding by Cloud & Townsend
  10. The School of Dying Graces by Felix

Whether you’re a rookie or a veteran, I’m confident these ten books will have a positive influence on your life and ministry.

p.s. I’d love to hear your must read books for building a strong ministry foundation via Facebook or Twitter.

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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.
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5 Ways To Bless Your Church Staff During The Holidays

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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:

  1. 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.
  2. Have a staff party and include spouses if possible.
  3. Utilize a retired minister for hospital visiting and other pastoral care needs over the key days of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
  4. Send a hand-written note of gratefulness.
  5. 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.

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