youth

The untraditional associate pastor

It’s been a little over four years since I wrote, The Work of the Associate Pastor (Judson Press) and a lot has changed. As church budgets get smaller and the pews reveal increasingly empty space, many church leaders cannot fathom having an associate pastor on a church staff. A Hartford Institute for Religion Research study found that from 2010 to 2015, part-time clergy jumped from 29% to 38%. If it’s hard enough to staff one pastoral position, how could a church even think about two?

The answer is: it’s time to consider another model of associate pastor. Continue Reading…

Church Leadership

Webinar: 4 Keys to a healthy church staff dynamic

Watch and listen to my Judson Press webinar “4 Keys to a Healthy Church Staff Dynamic”. If you are a youth, children’s, music, or associate pastor check out my book, The Work of the Associate Pastor. Judson Press is running a 35% off deal via their website with code CAENW till October 31.

No matter if you have a small church or a large one, maintaining a healthy church staff can be a challenge. In this webinar, learn 4 key elements to building a healthy staff dynamic. Rev. Alan Rudnick, author of “Work of the Associate Pastor” and Executive Minister at DeWitt Community Church shares practical strategies and effective steps to creating a positive church working environment. Church leaders will also discover: Continue Reading…

Christianity

The myth of the elite young athlete

I recently received an email from my brother-in-law that contained several video links.

“Tell me what you think.” My brother-in-law wrote.

I clicked and opened each link and watched my 8-year-old nephew goaltending a lacrosse goal. The video contained the coach’s commentary, superimposed video drawings, and slow motion point-by-point breakdown of his form.

“Wow! When I played that type of analysis and video work was only on ESPN,” I wrote back. I was shocked at the level of sophistication of the coaching analysis.

In the last 10-15 years, there has been an explosion in youth sports training, travel teams, artificial turf fields, video production, websites, private coaches, and “elite” sports teams. According to the news channel CNBC, youth sport travel is a $7 billion dollar industry. With the recent interest in forming “elite” youth athletes, parents are left paying for additional training and sacrificing family time to “elite” sports.

Growing up in the 1980’s and 1990’s, we kids played football, lacrosse, soccer, baseball, street hockey, and basketball. Some of us were on recreation teams and others were not. We tried all sorts of sports and leagues. We played because it was fun.

Now, as a father of three children, I cannot believe how much youth sports culture has changed. What was once a time of fun, team building, and exercise is now a billion dollar industry. Families spend the whole weekend carting around their kids to sport games or leagues. They spend 2-4 nights a week at practices. Their kid’s sports are their life.

It is not supposed to be this way.

Church Leadership

The stress of the movable Sabbath

Someone at church once asked me, “When is your day off?” I replied, “Friday.”

“Wow.” He said. “I wish I could have Fridays off. Must be nice.”

“Well, I don’t many Sundays off. That must be nice to have a Sunday or a full weekend off.”

The reality for most ministers is that Sundays are a true “workday” – we labor. Leading worship, preaching, greeting, teaching Sunday School, marriage counseling, Bible studies, and church meetings occupy most of my Sundays (as well as my weekdays). And why not? That is what pastors do, right? Sure. It’s what we are supposed to do.

But, it is not always easy.

As the only full-time ordained pastor on staff, it’s hard to get away for a weekend. Most families enjoy graduations weekends, beach or lake weekends, reunions, weekend family celebrations, camping weekends, friends weekends, or even that ultra cheap last-minute fight to Miami for the weekend. I hardly ever do those things. For me, I have to plan weeks and months in advance to take a Sunday off.

Sunday is the Sabbath Day for most Christians but for ministers, we need more true Sabbaths. A weekend with a Sunday of rest from our labor, which is ministry. A weekend where we are not counseling, preaching on Sunday, visiting people in the hospital on Friday, attending a meeting Saturday morning, officiating a wedding or funeral on Saturday afternoon. Sometimes, that Sabbath Day for me is Saturday. Other times it is Monday.

As a pastor, I have a movable Sabbath.

A movable Sabbath is convenient but it is stressful. Having a day ensures a type of rest but not knowing when that day will be makes my family life unpredictable. Sometimes, I don’t get a Sabbath let alone a weekend. Daily staffing needs, counseling, trouble shooting urgent demands, congregant frustrations and mediating conflict every day of the week are typical requirements. It’s a constant crescendo of events. It’s exhausting. My labor comes home with me everyday. It never turns off. My wife, children, and even some friends, have a connection to my labor at church.

I covet and miss the freedom to block a weekend for my family and my friends on short notice. Sure, there is the vacation week, but I miss a lot of important family and friend events on weekends because Sunday is a fixed ministry labor day. The stress and demands and fulfilling so many expectations leaves me drained. When I come home for my day off, I have nothing left to give my immediate family.

In posting about this stress on Facebook, a few friends had some responses to Sabbath and stress. My friend and mentor, Charlie Updike posted:

One of the things I’m aware of at the end of the journey is that I wish I had taken a Sabbath approach to the Sunday work and take a Sunday off every seven weeks…that is still preparing and preaching 45 Sundays a year.

Another minister, Liz Lemery Joy posted,

I began taking a hard look at that beginning last February. I creatively had to cut back a little. It’s hard to do in ministry… I schedule set times for rest in my calendar now. I believe we need to incorporate the Sabbath rest- in order for God to be able to minister to us, get refreshed and energized

A member at my last church had the best advice (Thanks Scott!):

Tickets to the Washington Nationals…….road trip, hot dogs, cold beer…..come back refreshed and ready to save some souls!

This year I decided to do something different. I took advantage of some family gatherings clustered together. I’ve told my church leadership that I need this time. It is stress-relieving and very fulfilling. We leaders and ministers need to plan for the sustaining practice of intention-fixed Sabbath weekend rest.

blog, Leadership

The Church Draft

As millions of football fans will undoubtedly will be glued to their televisions and social media, they will hunger for the latest information about NFL draft picks. The NFL draft is part pageantry and part celebration for football teams and their fans. Draft day means that a team can have hope for a better season as new athletes come on their roster.

This is also a tense time for football teams. Owners, coaches, agents and managers are all trying to work together to pick the best player. With all those high powered people trying to work together sometimes egos, tempers, and anxiety can play a major role in the team’s success. In order to get the best draft position teams will give away players, negotiate terms, trade draft spots, and participate in a number of complex agreements. The world of the NFL draft is truly a dizzying drama for teams but also there is tremendous opportunity.

In the world of the NFL, resources and money are seemingly endless as players are paid multi-million dollar contracts. For churches, the search for staff and volunteers is a frustrating process. Many churches lack the financial resources for say a full time youth minister or education minister. Often volunteers have to take on that work load without pay. Unlike the NFL, churches do not have ability to search for and pay for staff that could grow their organization.

In the church world of limited resources, what if churches joined together to have a Church Draft?

I live and minister in a small community with five mainline churches within a mile of one another. Our worship is similar and so are our ministries. We pastors get along very well. Back in 2009, we started meeting regularly and formed a clergy organization. We started to dream of the ways in which we could work together. We already had a number of connected ecumenical gatherings, but we wanted to do more.

One day, I jokingly asked if I could steal one of the other pastor’s secretary since we were in search of one. He replied that I would have to trade my choir for her. A few months later we were searching for an office manager. I went back to the same pastor and reminded him of our trade agreement but this time it was for real. I wasn’t going to give up my choir but we negotiated terms to share his staff person for our church office administrator position. BOOM! It worked. Fast forward a few years, and now all of our churches are talking about sharing a community youth minister and are supporting community based youth ministry! And, we continue to negotiate and draft ministry people to work in all of our churches.

In our community, it makes sense to work together and “draft” staff and volunteers. Each individual church may not have the resources, but together we are able to work together as one team and not five teams working against one another. Churches in the 21st century need to think about their staff and volunteers as players in the big game of ministry and not see each other as competitors.

Alan Rudnick is the author of “The Work of the Associate Pastor”, Judson Press.

Church Leadership

Poll: Most Americans feel connected to local church

In an age where cries from denominations about declining membership and church participation, a new poll offers some encouraging news on American’s feelings towards their congregation.

A Rasmussen poll found that 54% of American adults feel at least “somewhat connected” to their local church. In addition, 34% said they are “very connected.” The poll did not ask respondent’s religious affiliation. However, the poll did match responses to political connection questions. About 42% said they are not at all connected to a local political party. On the church side, 25% they have no connection to a local church.

The survey also provided some other interesting results:

35% of adults said their strongest personal allegiance is to their church
31% said their strongest allegiance is to their country.
Only 30% of Catholics said their greatest loyalty was to their church, while 38% said they were more loyal to their country.

Aside from political allegiances, this study shows that most Americans feel a connectedness to a local church. Perhaps that may be the drawing power of a non-denominational church. No overarching identity that is in conflict with local values. As mainline churches are declining in membership, many independent churches are seeing an increase in attendance and membership. Mega churches are an example. At sizes measuring in the tens of thousands, they dwarf many smaller denominations.

This is a opportunity for church leadership to wake up and start seeing the local church as the key connection for communities. Focusing on the local impact of the church is what makes people want to come to a particular church. Folks want to feel connected to their community and to God. Food pantries, after school programs, youth ministries, community service, and other missional opportunities are ways churches can grab hold of people looking for faith.

The question for local religious leadership is, “What are you doing to actively help people in your community feel connected to your church?” If church leadership cannot come up with ways to encourage connection, then their church will increasingly find it difficult to retain and attract new members.

blog

FREE Book Giveaways – 6 Ways to Win!

I’m giving three great books this week! You can win and all you have to do is respond below using the giveaway form below. Here are the books I’m giving away (be sure to go to the bottom of the post to enter to win!):

The Work of the Associate Pastor
Alan R. Rudnick

A new vocational volume in the best-selling “Work of the Church” series!

Having spent more than ten years in pastoral staff ministry, Alan R. Rudnick brings a wealth of research and experience to the often undervalued ministry of the associate pastor. Inviting readers to understand associate ministry as more than training ground for a senior pastorate, Rudnick explores the diverse roles and responsibilities that fall under the associate umbrella. From life-stage ministries with children and youth, singles and seniors, to specialized ministry areas such as music, education, pastoral care, and counseling, this volume acknowledges the challenges and opportunities offered to associate pastors in their distinctive ministries. The book’s appendix offers practical resources for churches:

How to plan for an associate
Sample job descriptions
Compensation guidelines

Associate ministers also will find a personal assessment, helpful in discerning when to stay and when to leave their associate position. Overall, this is an ideal resource for graduating seminarians seeking associate opportunities, as well as church leaders looking to establish an associate position.

An American Gospel: On Family, History, and the Kingdom of God
Erik Reece

At the age of thirty-three, Erik Reece’s father, a Baptist minister, took his own life, leaving Erik in the care of his grandmother and his grandfather-also a fundamentalist Baptist preacher, and a pillar of his rural Virginia community. While Erik grew up with a conflicted relationship with Christianity, he unexpectedly found comfort in the Jefferson Bible. Inspired by the text, he undertook what would become a spiritual and literary quest to identify an “American gospel” coursing through the work of both great and forgotten American geniuses, from William Byrd to Walt Whitman to William James to Lynn Margulis. The result of Reece’s journey is a deeply intimate, stirring book about personal, political, and historical demons-and the geniuses we must call upon to combat them. Publisher description

Weird: Because normal isn’t working
Craig Groeschel – author of Christian Atheist

Normal people are stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted. Many of their relationships are, at best, strained and, in most cases, just surviving. Even though we live in one of the most prosperous places on earth, normal is still living paycheck to paycheck and never getting ahead. In our oversexed world, lust, premarital sex, guilt, and shame are far more common than purity, virginity, and a healthy married sex life. And when it comes to God, the majority believe in him, but the teachings of scripture rarely make it into their everyday lives.

Simply put, normal isn’t working.

Groeschel’s WEIRD views will help you break free from the norm to lead a radically abnormal (and endlessly more fulfilling) life. Publisher description

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Israel Trip

Israel Day Four: Bethlehem

An earlier incomplete post was accidentally published. This is an updated post.

Today was a great day of visits and meetings. It was full of though provoking conversations with leaders.

Our first meeting was with Jack Sara the President of Bethlehem Baptist College. Jack is a Palestinian Christian and is an alum of the school. His perspective of education was through the lens of peace and transformation of the area. He talked about being imprisoned and beaten because of his work with churches and education.

As we sat in the newly built building, he told us how the school was created. With a vision of a Christian college in the area in 1971, a pastor responded joyously that he wanted to help it start with a donation. The pastor quickly gave $20. So with $20, the school was created. Jack is leading a community of Christians who are very hopeful that local people can be transformed through the hope of the Christian message. He also believes that mercy plays an important role in reconciliation conflict in Israel. Christians are a shrinking group in Israel but they are still leading the way for peace and transformation.

It is very reassuring that Baptists are leading the charge in transformational change and education in a place where Christians only make up 2% of the population. The school offers a BA, MA, a program for mass media, and a course of study in tourism guiding. A number of Muslims attend these programs and give people education for a career. Unemployment in Bethlehem is high. Jobs are tough to get.

Associate Pastor

Three simple ways to appreciate your associate pastor

Associate pastors, youth ministers, and other staff ministers often do the unglamorous jobs of ministry without much recognition. Associates have a calling and a title, but they often do not preach, must attend church meetings, and juggle several responsibilities which may be unrelated to their job description. It can be a thankless job.

As I wrote about in my book, The Work of the Associate Pastor (Judson Press), Senior pastors and church leaders need to recognize the special nature and challenges of associates. They spend many hours doing unappreciated jobs that senior pastors would rather not do: long retreat weekends, spending time with youth, and responding to congregant complaints when the senior pastor is not around. Churches will be better served if they appreciate and recognize their associate minister’s work.

Since associates are often undercompensated to begin with, senior pastors and church leadership can show appreciation through simple actions. Recognizing their standing and place in the church will enable an associate’s longevity and self-esteem. Here’s how you can show your appreciation:

Appreciation through pulpit time. Many senior pastors guard their pulpit as if they were guarding Fort Knox. Let go! Give your associate an opportunity to preach. Some senior pastors worry that handing over the pulpit may lead to parishioners liking the associate more. Nelson Mandela once said, “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.” Congregations will see a senior pastor’s strong leadership by allowing associates to take center stage. It shows that the senior has good skills in developing talented leaders by letting the associate take center stage for a short while.

Appreciation through quality time with the senior pastor. It’s easy for the senior pastor to go through their week and forget to meet or spend time with the associate. Senior pastors have to worry about budgets, administration, church meetings, pastoral calls, and sermon preparation. However, they should be sure to carve out quality time with associates. Taking associates to lunch, going to conferences together, or any time that can be spent together away from church will lead to greater trust and mutual appreciation.

Appreciation through loyalty. Church folk may think loyalty goes up the chain of command but it also goes down. If an associate makes a mistake, defend the associate. Then, in private, talk to the associate about what happened and provide encouragement. Being loyal to an associate pastor means publicly thanking and backing up the associate’s work in ministry. Duffy Robbins, youth ministry guru, once said, “If you are not making mistakes in ministry you are not trying hard enough.” Loyalty is about preserving relationship over failures and celebrating successes.

Aside from the obvious pay raise, these three simple acts of appreciation will go a long way in the eye of your associate and will bless your church’s ministry. Building confidence through appreciation will make for healthy church staff dynamics and will aid an associate’s work as a fellow minister.

Do you have associate or assistant ministers in your church? Are you an associate pastor? Get a copy of my book, The Work of the Associate Pastor. This valuable resource will set associates and churches up for success.

Associate Pastor, the work of the associate Pastor

Associate pastors are not second chairs

In an informal interview for an associate pastor position, I was once told by a senior pastor, “Being an associate pastor is about paying the rent.”

“What’s paying the rent have to do with ministry?” I asked. I thought the church might be tight on cash! The senior pastor explained that paying the rent was about doing all the aspects of ministry that most pastors do not like to do, like working with youth groups. As I heard these words, I knew that there was something very wrong with this philosophy of ministry.

The senior pastor finished his thought with, “It’s about playing second chair to the senior pastor.”

In the relatively small market for books on associate pastors, a common image is portrayed: associates are like second chairs. In an orchestra setting, the second chair plays behind or next to the first chair, who is usually more talented or more skilled. The associate as a second chair is an analogy that is fundamentally flawed in its approach.

In my book, The Work of the Associate Pastor I explain why associate pastor ministry is a calling, not a step on the vocational ladder of ministry. Accepting a ministry position as an associate pastor should come out of a sense that God desires you to use your gifts in a particular way. The second chair approach to associate-senior pastor relationship is more often about power and authority. Senior pastors might be tempted to employ the use of this relationship, but it will leave associates feeling micromanaged and frustrated.

If the second chair approach to associates is not a fruitful one, then how should churches and pastors articulate the relationship of associates and seniors?

Generation X, Generation Y, Millennials

Millennials value Parenting more than Marriage

A recent Pew Poll and study among 18-25 year-old adults found that parenting is more important than marriage. The majority of Millennials, (generally those born between 1982 and 1995) about 52%, said being a good parent is “one of the most important things” in life. About 30% said the same about having a successful marriage. This Pew Poll points out that there is a 22 percentage point gap in the way Millennials value parenthood over marriage.

Sometimes called “Generation Y”, Millennials differed from their Generation X counterparts:

When this same question was posed to 18- to 29-year-olds in 1997, the gap was just 7 percentage points. Back then, 42% of the members of what is known as Generation X said being a good parent was one of the most important things in life, while 35% said the same about having a successful marriage.

What does this mean?

Generation Y, Millennials

Shocker: Young Adults Want ‘Religion’

In churches, we often hear the warning giving to youth off to college, “You’ll lose your faith in college.” All those competing ideas about religion, philosophy, and knowledge working against everything a church has built up! I once had an old timer in my home church tell me right before I left for seminary, “Be careful, you can lose your faith in seminary!” Is there something about education and youth that are dangerous? Sordid stories of youth going wild in early adulthood often lead people to think that young people want nothing to do with church, God, religion or faith.

In a surprising new study, we have learned that young adults/youth actually want a life of faith and religious practices. Duke Divinity’s Faith and Leadership blog sums up the study:

In the National Study of Youth and Religion, 72 percent of young adults said they had positive feelings about the religious tradition in which they were raised. And nearly half of the young adults in the religion panel study said they would like to attend worship services more often.

The fact that most young people have “positive feelings” towards their religious tradition and nearly half of respondents want to go to church more, should tell us something about Generation Y.

So, how can churches reach these young people?

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