Sharing Your Passion with Your Team

by Ken Godevenos, MBA, CCP, CHRP

I remember feeling very frustrated in ministry once. At the time, the staff and lay leaders appeared satisfied with the status quo, while I believed our church could do creative and radical things for God. Hiding my face in my hands, I asked, “Lord, how do I get them to see the need, catch a vision, and believe in the possibilities?”

Numerous church leaders are faced with similar anguish during their career. They are frustrated with the perceived commitment of their own staff. Can that change? If so, how? And what, really, is passion?

Passion in Christian Service Means…

Wanting to make a difference somehow. While that difference might never become renowned, it will impact others (regardless of numbers) for eternity. Furthermore, it will please God to the point where He will say, “Well done — you’ve given it your best!”

Doing things for which you are either loved (preferably) or hated. Either is better than having people be indifferent to what you’re doing for the Lord. If they are, it might mean what you’re doing isn’t making the difference you hope it is.

Trying every way we can to communicate the love and gift of God to mankind. Also, the difference both make to one’s life right here and now, and in eternity.

Being stirred to action by a real love for others because we recognize in them — whoever they are, without exception — the very breath (spirit) or pneuma of God Himself.

Considerations in Sharing Your Passion

Make sure it’s of God. Just because your church’s vision and mission might be of God, your own personal passion for them might not be. If you’re generally passionate, getting very excited about a lot of things, then it’s possible that you’re just being you rather than having a deep, burning desire to do God’s work in this way. The more sincere the passion, the more contagious it is. Examine your own heart, and also your motives for wanting your passion to catch on.

Live your passion alone! If your passion is to catch on, it must be seen and felt by your team, even if no one else is on board yet.

Constantly communicate the reasons behind it. Reiterate often the need and the approaches that could be used to fulfill the vision and meet the need. Use personal stories and experiences — including some of failure — to get this across.

Pray. Do your part, and let God do His. Praying for others to serve Him with passion is responding to Matthew 9:38: “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” That includes your staff.

Identify and celebrate certain staff actions and successes as evidence of their passion. Parents, teachers and supervisors are often told to “catch someone doing the right thing” and reward them. Sometimes, individual staff will do things they themselves don’t recognize as being an expression of their (sometimes latent) passion. With your help, they might see that it is — and together you can build on that.

Don’t offend or use guilt to promote false passion. The use of guilt is never recommended for those who are under our oversight. It’s even less effective in bringing about real passion. Many of our church workers today get disappointed, burned out or frustrated with their ministry and efforts because either their calling was misinterpreted or their acceptance was not freely determined, genuine and/or personal.

Consider your recruiting practices. There’s an adage among human resources professionals that says the best time to fire someone is before you hire them! Similarly, hiring sincerely passionate Christ-followers makes it much easier to share your specific passion with them. Review your recruitment and placement policies, processes and tools, strengthening your assessment of passion in any future job candidates.

I recently met with a successful friend of long standing. In a serious moment, he said, “Ken, I want out of what I’m doing. I’m tired of making decisions daily that affect the lives of people, both positively and negatively. I want to sing in the choir, not be the director any longer.”

Was my friend, at age 60, losing his passion in applying the talents God had given him when originally wiring him up? Perhaps — but as I told him, God doesn’t believe in retirement, nor does He allow us to bury our talents as long as we have breath. My friend realized he needed new ways to employ his skills in Christian service and to stay passionate.

I can’t imagine working or living without passion. We might work with some who do, but we must do all we can to help them reach their potential while never backsliding in ours.

Ken Godevenos has served on and/or chaired several church boards. He is a human resources and church consultant, mediator and executive director of SCA International (www.scainternational.org). Call 905.853.6228 or visit www.accordconsulting.com for more information.

Question of the Month

Q: I feel we’re losing out on what our seniors could be offering our church family community, but we’re having a hard time getting them involved. Is there anything we could be doing?

A: Seniors are your church’s secret volunteer resource weapons, yet many simply warm pews, waiting to be engaged. Try these tips:

Pick your seniors. Look to connect and engage seniors that have been leaders in business or the community, or are social leaders among their peers now. They’re easier to attract, and they’ll do the rest of the recruiting for you. Go through your list and see who those might be. If you don’t have a list, find one such senior to help you put the list together.

Identify the benefits of involvement. Involved seniors gain a sense of contributing to the church’s growth and welfare and relying less on others to plan things for them. They gain a sense of worth, value and increased security via a greater feeling of independence. Staying active and involved keeps seniors mentally and physically healthier longer. Research also indicates mortality rates are much lower than for those not involved in productive activities. Finally, as seniors’ volunteering has them interact with other groups, they gain a better understanding of what the whole church body is about, their role, and how working together helps achieve the church’s mission.

Identify the benefits of seniors’ involvement for others. Provided they’re positive and accepting of others, involved seniors set excellent examples for leaders, others and youth.

Get youth and seniors together. One organization got their youth to volunteer time with a senior who didn’t have family nearby.

After training and mutual agreement, young people visit the seniors, develop a mutually positive relationship, and then start working on planning an outing or event for the senior and one or two of his or her friends. Eventually, this works into larger groups, with specific goals for ministry in line with the church’s mission.

There’s a world to be reached, and a big portion of it is seniors. Church leaders have a great opportunity to create a culture of seniors reaching seniors for the Kingdom.

Send your questions to Ken Godevenos at kgod@accordconsulting.com. They will be addressed either directly or through this column, always honoring requests for confidentiality.