February 8th, 2008
Firing A Volunteer
Posted by Church Video Ideas under Books, Churches, Consulting, Continuing Education, Media ministry, Random ThoughtsThis is a topic I’ve been thinking about blogging on for a while. Yesterday I had to ask one of my tech team members to step down and stop serving - so now this topic is fresh in my mind. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this. In my 12 years as a church staff member I’ve had to ask others to step down before, but it doesn’t get any easier. It’s something that I felt God was leading me to, but it’s tough to not feel like “the bad guy”.
What it boils down to is protecting the spirit, health and unity of my tech team and seeing the need for someone to grow and have a change of heart and mind before they can serve in a healthy way (for them and for the whole team). You would think with all the excitement at my church surrounding the new worship center and renovations that all would be fine and dandy, but life happens. Ministry is people and sometimes as a leader, you have to make tough calls to properly minister to the individual, as well as be a good shepherd of the team as whole.
If you haven’t read it already, I encourage you to read “The Heart of the Artist” by Rory Noland - it’s a classic that I refer to and give out often. I’m going to give a copy to the tech team member and ask him to read it before he returns. I hope to meet with him and discuss the book in the future. How have you handled situations like this in your ministry? What steps did you have the person take before returning to serve?
PERSONAL:
The craziness of the church-wide renovation continues. I spent most of this week disassembling and storing equipment in our old worship center. I’m writing this after another 16 hour day on Thursday. Today (Friday) is rest day! If you’re interested, you can see more pictures from this past Sunday HERE.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:55 am
thanks for posting the addltl pics. You won’t know what to do with yourselves once the transition is complete. Its never easy letting someone go, thanks for posting.
February 8th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
This is always such a tough call. How do you weigh your ministry to this one person with your responsibility to the church as a whole?
Here is my scenario. There is a guy who is involved with our team. There are some problems with him that normally would cause me to ask him to serve somewhere else, but I know that if I ask him to leave he won’t be back. I hate to cut him off from contact with Christians, but at the same time it is hurting what we are doing for the rest of the group.
So again, back to my question. How do you balance the need to minister to this one person with the need to minister to the group as a whole.
I know that the easy answer is to choose the group, and the spiritual answer is to say that someone who would walk away if they are asked not to serve shouldn’t be serving, but those answers don’t change the fact that I don’t want this guy to fall away from fellowship with Christians or from God.
February 10th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Yeah, I’ve had to fire two contract employees in the last six years. It’s never easy, and not fun at all. I recently had to give a third guy an ultimatum. He has a great attitude, but not so great aptitude. I told him to come in to train even when not scheduled, or he wouldn’t be on the schedule. He never came back. I still see him in church, though.
Hang in there, bro. God will provide.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:27 am
I think the most important technique I’ve learned is to place the responsibility of the issue on the volunteer. For example, I’ve had to fire volunteers for failure to show up on time, for moral failure issues (sex outside of marriage, alcohol abuse) and I will say things like “You’ve chosen to have sex outside of marriage and I’m sorry your choice precludes you from participating” or “I’m sorry you’ve chosen to continue to be late to our practices, but your choice is really affecting the rest of the team” That way, they know that they own both the problem, and ultimately the solution. You can’t feel badly for choices someone else is making despite having clear counsel to the contrary.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
[…] FYI - There has been some great discussion and comments on the frequency post, as well as the team leadership post. Go back and check them out. As far as the “Firing a Volunteer” post, I’ve been thinking about the whole refining of a team (this applies to any team at your church, not just the tech team). […]