February 19, 2025 • 20 mins
Hey, Friend!
Whether you are in your first ministry role right out of college, or you have entered ministry as a second career, there are at least 6 things you need to consider that will be beneficial to you as you learn the world of ministry, which is like nothing else.
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Manage your expectations
-
Leverage your experience/expertise
-
Be curious
-
Ask for what you need
-
Seek relationships/support
-
Embrace your role as a new minister on your way to becoming a Specialist, or as a seasoned professional who has entered ministry as a Generalist
I pray this blesses you!
Becky
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I used to think that most ministers had degrees in ministry.
(00:06):
But I mentioned in last week's episode, episode 53, that the Barna Group did a study in
2019 that found that 55% of ministers have entered ministry as a second career.
I fall within that category.
And I used to make jokes about it.
(00:27):
Well, first of all, I felt the need to apologize or to explain why I'm not formally trained in ministry.
But I don't do that anymore.
I used to consider myself a utility player because I've been on staff for 18 years and I've
held four different positions and I would joke, "I'm either a utility player or they don't
know what to do with me."
I don't do that anymore because I have finally have words to wrap around the difference between
(00:53):
a minister who has formal training in ministry and one who does not.
And these are the words, specialist or generalist.
If you are a specialist, you are someone whose education, training, experience and expertise
is in the very thing you're doing.
So men and women who have degrees in ministry and then work in a church, they are specialists
(01:16):
in ministry.
But those of us who have degrees in something else, who have experience in expertise and
training in another discipline, we may not be specialists in ministry, but what we do
have is a broad range of knowledge and skills across multiple disciplines.
(01:37):
And we are known as generalists.
Generalists are often good at problem solving because they've been exposed to a wide range
of experiences and they can be valuable assets in leadership positions and teams that need
critical thinking and versatility.
In today's episode, I'm going to suggest six things that you need to consider in your
(01:58):
role in ministry as a new or as a second career.
Let's dive in to today's episode.
Hey, friend, are you a people-pleasing conflict-avoiding leader?
Is your secret relationship with fear affecting your leadership decisions?
Do you want to learn how to build credibility and confidence or to navigate difficult conversations?
(02:23):
Do you long to manage your time without sacrificing your family or self-care?
Welcome to leadership becomes her.
I'm Becky Burroughs, your host and a minister and life and leadership coach with over 50 years
experience in leadership.
I firmly believe God has given you everything you need to lead well.
(02:44):
You have the toolbox.
You just need to learn how to use the tools.
So get comfy or start a mindless task.
You know how to pause or rewind if you need to.
Let's get started.
So whether you are young and new in ministry but you're a specialist because that's what
(03:07):
your degree is in or whether you are a generalist who is coming to ministry as a second career.
The first thing that I would suggest to you is manage your expectations.
I was working as a high school principal at a Christian school when this church recruited
me to be their administration minister and we were in negotiation so I called a friend
(03:28):
of mine who has been preaching for decades to talk to him about it.
One of my expectations was that it wasn't going to be that different from working at
a Christian school.
I actually said those words.
I said, I really think it's going to pretty much be the same.
Think about it.
A school has kids, parents, teachers, volunteers, administrators, a board of trustees, a church
(03:51):
has kids, teachers, parents, volunteers, ministers, and an elder.
And he said, yeah, yeah, but only if same means different.
He said, at your job, you can have a hard week, maybe some hard conversations or that parent
that blew up at you and you have the weekend to recover, including Sunday.
(04:12):
Maybe Sunday is a Sabbath day for you when you can worship and be spiritually fed.
In ministry, you can also have a hard week, maybe some hard conversations or that person
who blew up at you.
And on Sunday morning, the most important day of your work week, the day that all of your
work has been leading up to and you have that dread of seeing that person, wondering how
(04:37):
you're going to handle interfacing with them.
And there they are, front and center.
Sunday is not a Sabbath day for you.
It's not a day of rest of getting lost in worship.
There will be Sundays when you won't worship at all because of the duties you have that
day.
Well, just know that in many ways, ministry is different from anything else.
(05:01):
That was such an important conversation for me.
I took the job, but I had to learn to manage that expectation.
But I also had other expectations, which we do, especially when we come from the marketplace
or the corporate world into ministry.
Now I'm going to share with you some of my expectations, but know that a lot of mine were
administrative because I was leaving one administrative role in a school for an administrative role
(05:28):
at a church.
So, for example, one of the things I just assumed is that there would be an employee handbook.
But what I learned was some churches have them, some churches don't.
Some churches have a handbook they have been updated in years or a handbook that they don't
follow.
I expected there to be specific guidelines for office hours or how they wanted me to spend
(05:52):
my time during the day.
I expected the clock in and clock out when I went to lunch because I came from a school.
I came from an environment where I had about 20 minutes to scarf down my food while standing
in the lunch room, monitoring high school kids.
And then I transitioned to ministry.
And there was this expectation that I would leave every day for lunch.
(06:15):
And no one really cared within reason how long I was gone.
There was great trust as to how I would manage my time throughout the day.
It felt very laid back compared to where I came from.
And again, all churches are not like this.
Every church is different.
So those of you transitioning from one church to another, you need to find out how your
(06:37):
new church does things because chances are it's going to be very different from how your
last church did it.
I expected that everyone would have fair pay and benefits.
Now I came from a career in speech language pathology and I started out in the public school
system where you could go on their website.
It was public knowledge and you could see this chart and you go, "Okay, I've got this
(07:00):
many degrees.
I have this many years experience and you bring those together.
Boom, here's what I'm going to make.
It was common knowledge."
And when I transitioned to a private school, it wasn't like that.
It wasn't public knowledge, but the pay was standardized.
And you may or may not know the federal laws in the United States concerning employment
(07:23):
such as equal pay for equal work or not discriminating based on marital status or if your
pregnant or have children.
But unfortunately, those federal laws only apply to churches with 15 or more employees.
So if your church has 15 employees and they're not paying equitably for equal work, that is
(07:44):
a federal offense.
However, churches that don't pay their ministers equally for equal work regardless of
the number of employees may not be violating a federal law but they are being unethical.
And yet it is very, very, very common in churches for women to be paid less for equal work,
(08:05):
for single ministers to be paid less than married ones which is discrimination based on marital
status, for women to be paid less if the church knows that her husband has a great salary.
Now, I want to be clear about this.
All minister positions are not created equal nor should they be paid the same.
For example, it is standard for the lead minister to command the highest salary because of
(08:28):
the responsibility of that position for the whole staff and the whole church.
And it is very common for the executive minister or the administration minister to make the
second highest salary because of the level of responsibility that they carry.
The children's minister should make in the range of the student minister depending on
(08:48):
education and experience but all too often.
The student minister, if he is male, will make significantly more than the female children's
minister.
I wish I was making this up.
But I have been coaching women for a number of years now and I have lost count of the number
of stories I have heard.
(09:09):
One that immediately comes to mind is when a children's minister in her forties found
out she was making significantly less than a student minister in his twenties.
And when asked why she was told we let you do the mommy thing, what does that mean?
Because she was full time.
(09:29):
And she said, well, you leave every day to go pick up your children from school.
Now granted, this was quite a number of years ago.
This is before COVID.
Let me just say that.
But then when she began to say, well, am I not doing my job?
Oh, you're doing an excellent job.
Am I always ready for Sunday?
Oh yes, as far as we know, you're always ready for Sunday.
(09:51):
Have you had any complaints about me?
Absolutely none.
But in their minds at that time, that was justification for paying her significantly less than
a man half her age.
Now she didn't stay there very long.
Fast forward to today post COVID when everybody had to learn that, wow, you can actually work
(10:11):
from home.
In today's culture, it is not uncommon for men or women to send out a quick staff email.
My kids are off school today for this particular holiday.
So I'll be working from home, call or email me if you need me and nobody's pay is being
cut.
I have heard multiple stories of a female children's minister finding out she's making $20 or $30,000
(10:35):
less than the male minister.
I know of single ministers who make significantly less than married ministers.
And the reason they were given is, well, he has a family.
That is illegal.
That is unethical.
But it's going on in our churches.
But here's the deal.
These are not bad men making these decisions.
(10:57):
Keep in mind, churches do not have an HR department.
And it is the responsibility of the HR department to protect both the organization and each individual
employee.
And as a result, the decision makers and the churches may not understand the need for
having someone on staff who is not only knowledgeable in HR laws and fair practices, but is holding
(11:23):
the organization accountable to that.
But what I'm not saying is just resign yourself to oh well, this is just the way it is in churches.
Remember, as someone who's coming in new, who has fresh eyes, as someone who's coming in
with experience, working in an environment, were hiring, and onboarding, and salary, and
benefits, are standardized, you bring a unique perspective.
(11:45):
So as you develop relationships with church leaders, look for opportunities to plant seeds,
gently suggesting how things could be done differently so that they're fair and equitable.
But don't expect immediate change.
But if you say nothing, you can expect nothing to change because silence suggests complicity.
(12:05):
Let's say you find out that you've been paid significantly less than your male counterpart.
Let's say it's 20,000 less.
Don't expect when you come in and bring it to their attention that you're aware that
they're going to go, "Oh, okay, we're immediately, effective immediately.
We're going to increase your salary equal to $20,000 a year or more."
Churches aren't sitting on that kind of money to make those kind of snap decisions with.
(12:27):
But what you can reasonably ask is you can say something like, "I'm aware that you might
not be able to correct this situation now."
But let's talk about how we can move toward correcting it.
And then discuss a schedule that might make sense to both you and the organization realizing
you're going to have to be patient.
(12:48):
Because they didn't get in this situation overnight.
It's hard to turn that tide, but it can be done.
I've seen it done at my very own church.
Number two, leverage your experience and your expertise.
To leverage means to use something to its maximum advantage and you bring fresh eyes.
You'll see things the rest of them don't see or they've trained themselves not to look
(13:10):
at.
So share what you are noticing.
At our church employees tend to stay a long time.
So consequently, our onboarding process was stale.
It needed updating.
But we didn't realize it until we recently hired three new ministers.
And then a few weeks later, we asked them what they were seeing with their fresh eyes.
Thankfully, they shared what their onboarding experience was like, giving us the opportunity
(13:35):
to make some needed changes.
So regardless of any influence for change that you might or might not have with the church
at large, feel empowered to leverage your expertise and your
experience in the ministry that you oversee.
For example, let's say that the church as a whole, the staff as a whole don't do a good
job honoring volunteers.
(13:57):
You can still honor volunteers in your ministry.
Or maybe the church, the ministers as a whole may not communicate well with the church,
but you can communicate well in your ministry.
Maybe the ministers as a whole do not value input from members as you think they should.
You can create a team within your ministry that exists to give you valuable input.
(14:19):
Number three, be curious.
You know, sometimes you don't have to actively plant seeds.
Sometimes the easiest way to open their eyes to what they're not seeing is by being curious.
And it's helpful to begin your question with something like, I'm curious or help me understand
because it doesn't feel as accusatory.
So for example, I'm curious.
(14:40):
I see that we don't use a time clock.
So what is the expectation for office hours?
I'm curious when I leave the office, am I supposed to let anyone know where I'll be?
I'm curious.
Can someone show me how to or can you help me understand why we do something in this way or
with this timing?
I would love to know how ministers handle the situation.
(15:02):
And some of these questions that you ask out of curiosity could be a result of poor
onboarding, but they could also be things that you are seeing with your fresh eyes.
Number four, ask for what you need.
If you need a particular training, if you need to be taught how to do something, if you need
a coach or a mentor, or you need to know how to network with other ministers in the area,
(15:25):
or you need something for your office, whatever you feel you need to function in this new
role, ask for what you need.
The answer may be no, or we don't have the budget, or we can't do that this year, but if you
don't ask, the answer is already no.
And by asking, you have planted a seed.
One thing I have done many times is I understand there's no budget for that this year, but how
(15:48):
can we work toward that next year?
And asking the question is planting the seed.
I talk about seed planting a lot, and I got the idea from Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 when
he said, "I, Paul, plant, appalos, waters, and God gives the increase."
And here's the significance of that.
Let's say I want something, or I feel I need something, and I'm told there's no budget
(16:11):
for it.
If I feel strongly about it, I could hammer that idea and drive everyone crazy until I got
what I wanted.
Or I could view myself as a seed planter.
That's it.
My role as a generalist is to plant seeds.
I see something that's not done well.
I make a suggestion.
I offer to be useful in that suggestion, and then I let go of it for a while, and give God
(16:32):
the opportunity to work on that person's heart if he chooses to.
And when I do that, I'm not attached to the outcome.
It's something I learned in my training as a coach to guide my client toward a solution,
but not to be attached to what they ultimately decide to do.
It's also a great practice for trusting God at work.
(16:53):
Number five, seek relationships and support.
You know, one of the things that's different for you as a minister is you now work where
you go to church.
So it's very, very, very easy to have all of your relationships, your friendships here.
It's very easy for the church to become your whole world for you and your family, and
that is a mistake.
(17:13):
Make sure that you also have important relationships outside of the church where you work.
Make sure you're networking with other ministers outside of your church context.
Those relationships are so important as these people are those who will understand your
world.
So you're going to be looking for ministers with whom you can share who will understand
(17:34):
you and encourage you.
And number six, embrace your role as a new minister or as a generalist.
You know, ministers who have been around for a while, specialists, they have their own
lingo.
Words that they use that have great meaning for them, that have the rest of us scratching
our heads wondering what in the world they're talking about.
When I first came on staff 18 years ago, we had a large ministry team and the majority of
(17:58):
them had degrees in ministry.
So in staff meetings, they would throw around words like, you know, we're going to be
"Missional vs. Attractional" or they would talk about hermeneutics or exegesis with no
thought to explain to the rest of us what in the world they were talking about.
So obviously in those meetings, I had nothing to contribute.
I didn't feel comfortable asking all the questions that I had.
(18:21):
It can be intimidating being surrounded by specialists.
But if you're new in ministry or you have come to ministry as a second career, having studied
and gained your experience in expertise in something else, you are probably not a specialist
in ministry.
Those of you who are new or on your way to becoming a specialist, you just need more experience
(18:42):
in expertise.
So ask for what you need.
And those of you who are coming to ministry as a second career, you are a generalist,
own it, embrace it, be proud of it because as a generalist, you have a broad range of
knowledge and skills across multiple subjects or fields that will be beneficial to specialists
(19:03):
and to ministry in general.
I hope this has been helpful to you.
Hey, let's do this again next week.
It is my prayer that this podcast inspired you, blessed you or made you think.
If so, please share it with a friend, subscribe and please leave a review.
(19:24):
Hey, I want to connect with you.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, send me a DM or email me at hello@beckyburroughs.com.
If you are a Christian woman who leads and you are interested in one of my Leadership Boot
camps for Women in Ministry, this is a four week workshop or becoming part of a Kairos
(19:45):
Cohort, your long group coaching, send me a DM or an email for more information.
We'll talk soon.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
I used to think that most ministers had degrees in ministry.
(00:06):
But I mentioned in last week's episode, episode 53, that the Barna Group did a study in
2019 that found that 55% of ministers have entered ministry as a second career.
I fall within that category.
And I used to make jokes about it.
(00:27):
Well, first of all, I felt the need to apologize or to explain why I'm not formally trained in ministry.
But I don't do that anymore.
I used to consider myself a utility player because I've been on staff for 18 years and I've
held four different positions and I would joke, "I'm either a utility player or they don't
know what to do with me."
I don't do that anymore because I have finally have words to wrap around the difference between
(00:53):
a minister who has formal training in ministry and one who does not.
And these are the words, specialist or generalist.
If you are a specialist, you are someone whose education, training, experience and expertise
is in the very thing you're doing.
So men and women who have degrees in ministry and then work in a church, they are specialists
(01:16):
in ministry.
But those of us who have degrees in something else, who have experience in expertise and
training in another discipline, we may not be specialists in ministry, but what we do
have is a broad range of knowledge and skills across multiple disciplines.
(01:37):
And we are known as generalists.
Generalists are often good at problem solving because they've been exposed to a wide range
of experiences and they can be valuable assets in leadership positions and teams that need
critical thinking and versatility.
In today's episode, I'm going to suggest six things that you need to consider in your
(01:58):
role in ministry as a new or as a second career.
Let's dive in to today's episode.
Hey, friend, are you a people-pleasing conflict-avoiding leader?
Is your secret relationship with fear affecting your leadership decisions?
Do you want to learn how to build credibility and confidence or to navigate difficult conversations?
(02:23):
Do you long to manage your time without sacrificing your family or self-care?
Welcome to leadership becomes her.
I'm Becky Burroughs, your host and a minister and life and leadership coach with over 50 years
experience in leadership.
I firmly believe God has given you everything you need to lead well.
(02:44):
You have the toolbox.
You just need to learn how to use the tools.
So get comfy or start a mindless task.
You know how to pause or rewind if you need to.
Let's get started.
So whether you are young and new in ministry but you're a specialist because that's what
(03:07):
your degree is in or whether you are a generalist who is coming to ministry as a second career.
The first thing that I would suggest to you is manage your expectations.
I was working as a high school principal at a Christian school when this church recruited
me to be their administration minister and we were in negotiation so I called a friend
(03:28):
of mine who has been preaching for decades to talk to him about it.
One of my expectations was that it wasn't going to be that different from working at
a Christian school.
I actually said those words.
I said, I really think it's going to pretty much be the same.
Think about it.
A school has kids, parents, teachers, volunteers, administrators, a board of trustees, a church
(03:51):
has kids, teachers, parents, volunteers, ministers, and an elder.
And he said, yeah, yeah, but only if same means different.
He said, at your job, you can have a hard week, maybe some hard conversations or that parent
that blew up at you and you have the weekend to recover, including Sunday.
(04:12):
Maybe Sunday is a Sabbath day for you when you can worship and be spiritually fed.
In ministry, you can also have a hard week, maybe some hard conversations or that person
who blew up at you.
And on Sunday morning, the most important day of your work week, the day that all of your
work has been leading up to and you have that dread of seeing that person, wondering how
(04:37):
you're going to handle interfacing with them.
And there they are, front and center.
Sunday is not a Sabbath day for you.
It's not a day of rest of getting lost in worship.
There will be Sundays when you won't worship at all because of the duties you have that
day.
Well, just know that in many ways, ministry is different from anything else.
(05:01):
That was such an important conversation for me.
I took the job, but I had to learn to manage that expectation.
But I also had other expectations, which we do, especially when we come from the marketplace
or the corporate world into ministry.
Now I'm going to share with you some of my expectations, but know that a lot of mine were
administrative because I was leaving one administrative role in a school for an administrative role
(05:28):
at a church.
So, for example, one of the things I just assumed is that there would be an employee handbook.
But what I learned was some churches have them, some churches don't.
Some churches have a handbook they have been updated in years or a handbook that they don't
follow.
I expected there to be specific guidelines for office hours or how they wanted me to spend
(05:52):
my time during the day.
I expected the clock in and clock out when I went to lunch because I came from a school.
I came from an environment where I had about 20 minutes to scarf down my food while standing
in the lunch room, monitoring high school kids.
And then I transitioned to ministry.
And there was this expectation that I would leave every day for lunch.
(06:15):
And no one really cared within reason how long I was gone.
There was great trust as to how I would manage my time throughout the day.
It felt very laid back compared to where I came from.
And again, all churches are not like this.
Every church is different.
So those of you transitioning from one church to another, you need to find out how your
(06:37):
new church does things because chances are it's going to be very different from how your
last church did it.
I expected that everyone would have fair pay and benefits.
Now I came from a career in speech language pathology and I started out in the public school
system where you could go on their website.
It was public knowledge and you could see this chart and you go, "Okay, I've got this
(07:00):
many degrees.
I have this many years experience and you bring those together.
Boom, here's what I'm going to make.
It was common knowledge."
And when I transitioned to a private school, it wasn't like that.
It wasn't public knowledge, but the pay was standardized.
And you may or may not know the federal laws in the United States concerning employment
(07:23):
such as equal pay for equal work or not discriminating based on marital status or if your
pregnant or have children.
But unfortunately, those federal laws only apply to churches with 15 or more employees.
So if your church has 15 employees and they're not paying equitably for equal work, that is
(07:44):
a federal offense.
However, churches that don't pay their ministers equally for equal work regardless of
the number of employees may not be violating a federal law but they are being unethical.
And yet it is very, very, very common in churches for women to be paid less for equal work,
(08:05):
for single ministers to be paid less than married ones which is discrimination based on marital
status, for women to be paid less if the church knows that her husband has a great salary.
Now, I want to be clear about this.
All minister positions are not created equal nor should they be paid the same.
For example, it is standard for the lead minister to command the highest salary because of
(08:28):
the responsibility of that position for the whole staff and the whole church.
And it is very common for the executive minister or the administration minister to make the
second highest salary because of the level of responsibility that they carry.
The children's minister should make in the range of the student minister depending on
(08:48):
education and experience but all too often.
The student minister, if he is male, will make significantly more than the female children's
minister.
I wish I was making this up.
But I have been coaching women for a number of years now and I have lost count of the number
of stories I have heard.
(09:09):
One that immediately comes to mind is when a children's minister in her forties found
out she was making significantly less than a student minister in his twenties.
And when asked why she was told we let you do the mommy thing, what does that mean?
Because she was full time.
(09:29):
And she said, well, you leave every day to go pick up your children from school.
Now granted, this was quite a number of years ago.
This is before COVID.
Let me just say that.
But then when she began to say, well, am I not doing my job?
Oh, you're doing an excellent job.
Am I always ready for Sunday?
Oh yes, as far as we know, you're always ready for Sunday.
(09:51):
Have you had any complaints about me?
Absolutely none.
But in their minds at that time, that was justification for paying her significantly less than
a man half her age.
Now she didn't stay there very long.
Fast forward to today post COVID when everybody had to learn that, wow, you can actually work
(10:11):
from home.
In today's culture, it is not uncommon for men or women to send out a quick staff email.
My kids are off school today for this particular holiday.
So I'll be working from home, call or email me if you need me and nobody's pay is being
cut.
I have heard multiple stories of a female children's minister finding out she's making $20 or $30,000
(10:35):
less than the male minister.
I know of single ministers who make significantly less than married ministers.
And the reason they were given is, well, he has a family.
That is illegal.
That is unethical.
But it's going on in our churches.
But here's the deal.
These are not bad men making these decisions.
(10:57):
Keep in mind, churches do not have an HR department.
And it is the responsibility of the HR department to protect both the organization and each individual
employee.
And as a result, the decision makers and the churches may not understand the need for
having someone on staff who is not only knowledgeable in HR laws and fair practices, but is holding
(11:23):
the organization accountable to that.
But what I'm not saying is just resign yourself to oh well, this is just the way it is in churches.
Remember, as someone who's coming in new, who has fresh eyes, as someone who's coming in
with experience, working in an environment, were hiring, and onboarding, and salary, and
benefits, are standardized, you bring a unique perspective.
(11:45):
So as you develop relationships with church leaders, look for opportunities to plant seeds,
gently suggesting how things could be done differently so that they're fair and equitable.
But don't expect immediate change.
But if you say nothing, you can expect nothing to change because silence suggests complicity.
(12:05):
Let's say you find out that you've been paid significantly less than your male counterpart.
Let's say it's 20,000 less.
Don't expect when you come in and bring it to their attention that you're aware that
they're going to go, "Oh, okay, we're immediately, effective immediately.
We're going to increase your salary equal to $20,000 a year or more."
Churches aren't sitting on that kind of money to make those kind of snap decisions with.
(12:27):
But what you can reasonably ask is you can say something like, "I'm aware that you might
not be able to correct this situation now."
But let's talk about how we can move toward correcting it.
And then discuss a schedule that might make sense to both you and the organization realizing
you're going to have to be patient.
(12:48):
Because they didn't get in this situation overnight.
It's hard to turn that tide, but it can be done.
I've seen it done at my very own church.
Number two, leverage your experience and your expertise.
To leverage means to use something to its maximum advantage and you bring fresh eyes.
You'll see things the rest of them don't see or they've trained themselves not to look
(13:10):
at.
So share what you are noticing.
At our church employees tend to stay a long time.
So consequently, our onboarding process was stale.
It needed updating.
But we didn't realize it until we recently hired three new ministers.
And then a few weeks later, we asked them what they were seeing with their fresh eyes.
Thankfully, they shared what their onboarding experience was like, giving us the opportunity
(13:35):
to make some needed changes.
So regardless of any influence for change that you might or might not have with the church
at large, feel empowered to leverage your expertise and your
experience in the ministry that you oversee.
For example, let's say that the church as a whole, the staff as a whole don't do a good
job honoring volunteers.
(13:57):
You can still honor volunteers in your ministry.
Or maybe the church, the ministers as a whole may not communicate well with the church,
but you can communicate well in your ministry.
Maybe the ministers as a whole do not value input from members as you think they should.
You can create a team within your ministry that exists to give you valuable input.
(14:19):
Number three, be curious.
You know, sometimes you don't have to actively plant seeds.
Sometimes the easiest way to open their eyes to what they're not seeing is by being curious.
And it's helpful to begin your question with something like, I'm curious or help me understand
because it doesn't feel as accusatory.
So for example, I'm curious.
(14:40):
I see that we don't use a time clock.
So what is the expectation for office hours?
I'm curious when I leave the office, am I supposed to let anyone know where I'll be?
I'm curious.
Can someone show me how to or can you help me understand why we do something in this way or
with this timing?
I would love to know how ministers handle the situation.
(15:02):
And some of these questions that you ask out of curiosity could be a result of poor
onboarding, but they could also be things that you are seeing with your fresh eyes.
Number four, ask for what you need.
If you need a particular training, if you need to be taught how to do something, if you need
a coach or a mentor, or you need to know how to network with other ministers in the area,
(15:25):
or you need something for your office, whatever you feel you need to function in this new
role, ask for what you need.
The answer may be no, or we don't have the budget, or we can't do that this year, but if you
don't ask, the answer is already no.
And by asking, you have planted a seed.
One thing I have done many times is I understand there's no budget for that this year, but how
(15:48):
can we work toward that next year?
And asking the question is planting the seed.
I talk about seed planting a lot, and I got the idea from Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 when
he said, "I, Paul, plant, appalos, waters, and God gives the increase."
And here's the significance of that.
Let's say I want something, or I feel I need something, and I'm told there's no budget
(16:11):
for it.
If I feel strongly about it, I could hammer that idea and drive everyone crazy until I got
what I wanted.
Or I could view myself as a seed planter.
That's it.
My role as a generalist is to plant seeds.
I see something that's not done well.
I make a suggestion.
I offer to be useful in that suggestion, and then I let go of it for a while, and give God
(16:32):
the opportunity to work on that person's heart if he chooses to.
And when I do that, I'm not attached to the outcome.
It's something I learned in my training as a coach to guide my client toward a solution,
but not to be attached to what they ultimately decide to do.
It's also a great practice for trusting God at work.
(16:53):
Number five, seek relationships and support.
You know, one of the things that's different for you as a minister is you now work where
you go to church.
So it's very, very, very easy to have all of your relationships, your friendships here.
It's very easy for the church to become your whole world for you and your family, and
that is a mistake.
(17:13):
Make sure that you also have important relationships outside of the church where you work.
Make sure you're networking with other ministers outside of your church context.
Those relationships are so important as these people are those who will understand your
world.
So you're going to be looking for ministers with whom you can share who will understand
(17:34):
you and encourage you.
And number six, embrace your role as a new minister or as a generalist.
You know, ministers who have been around for a while, specialists, they have their own
lingo.
Words that they use that have great meaning for them, that have the rest of us scratching
our heads wondering what in the world they're talking about.
When I first came on staff 18 years ago, we had a large ministry team and the majority of
(17:58):
them had degrees in ministry.
So in staff meetings, they would throw around words like, you know, we're going to be
"Missional vs. Attractional" or they would talk about hermeneutics or exegesis with no
thought to explain to the rest of us what in the world they were talking about.
So obviously in those meetings, I had nothing to contribute.
I didn't feel comfortable asking all the questions that I had.
(18:21):
It can be intimidating being surrounded by specialists.
But if you're new in ministry or you have come to ministry as a second career, having studied
and gained your experience in expertise in something else, you are probably not a specialist
in ministry.
Those of you who are new or on your way to becoming a specialist, you just need more experience
(18:42):
in expertise.
So ask for what you need.
And those of you who are coming to ministry as a second career, you are a generalist,
own it, embrace it, be proud of it because as a generalist, you have a broad range of
knowledge and skills across multiple subjects or fields that will be beneficial to specialists
(19:03):
and to ministry in general.
I hope this has been helpful to you.
Hey, let's do this again next week.
It is my prayer that this podcast inspired you, blessed you or made you think.
If so, please share it with a friend, subscribe and please leave a review.
(19:24):
Hey, I want to connect with you.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, send me a DM or email me at hello@beckyburroughs.com.
If you are a Christian woman who leads and you are interested in one of my Leadership Boot
camps for Women in Ministry, this is a four week workshop or becoming part of a Kairos
(19:45):
Cohort, your long group coaching, send me a DM or an email for more information.
We'll talk soon.
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