How to Create a Healthy & Empowering Culture for Your Church Staff

The best way to have a healthy and happy congregation is to have a healthy church staff—not in terms of physical health, but healthy in terms of how they function as a team and lead the church (even if it’s from behind the scenes). Making this a priority can help your church grow and succeed.

As with any organization, the path to a healthy culture starts at the top. Leaders, this one is for you!

Have a clear vision and values

It should be easy to articulate your church vision and values. If it’s not, you need to take some time to carefully lay out what you want for your church and why. Leading a united church is much easier than leading one fraught with misunderstandings and discontent.

These values should characterize everything you do. Clarifying the type of culture you want at your church will make it easy to focus and make decisions.

What do you hold true for your church? How do you want to be known? What are some enduring values that your church should emphasize?

Prioritize open communication

Communication is essential. That means communicating clearly with your staff and creating a culture where your staff feels safe sharing their thoughts and opinions. No one can lead a church without support and guidance.

Allow your staff to gauge for themselves whether they agree with your values and be open to their suggestions. Listen to their feedback and take it to heart—whether it be positive or negative. Make sure honesty is valued among you, your staff, and your congregation.

It’s also important to give your staff the tools they need to both effectively communicate with the congregation and accept honest feedback from others.

Foster trust

Being able to depend on one another is a beautiful thing. It also lessens stress, because you know when someone says they’ll do something, they’ll do it. Trust builds relationships; without trust, your staff will find it difficult to function effectively.

Again, this starts at the top. Your staff and your members should trust you and you should trust them. Empower the people you work with by being confident in their abilities.

How often do you tell your staff how much you appreciate them? Are they comfortable relying on you and on each other?