In my first article of this series, I shared the catalyst for writing to this topic: a number of coaching clients who were either in the process of being fired by their churches…or were considering “firing themselves” from a position that did not fit them. As my mind cycles through a lifetime of growing up in church, visiting hundreds of churches, coaching and consulting with dozens of pastors, as well as my own ten years on church staff, it strikes me that, when it comes to firing someone from a church position, just about everything I’ve seen ends badly. Does it have to?

In my first article, I explored the challenge that churches rarely know what they really want in a position. They understand the felt need acutely, but the larger strategic need is usually vague—and so hiring becomes a game of Russian roulette. While there are a few winners in that game, those who lose…lose badly. And in the church world, many never recover. We must to better than that!

I’d like to use this article to address a second challenge: churches rarely invest in the personal and professional development of their staff. And this isn’t a problem specific to churches; in this respect churches mirror the dysfunctional patterns of the corporate world. But, as is unfortunately typical, the marketplace is waking up to this dilemma and beginning to address it before the church. And the irony is that the church is where people actually come for care. Fortunately, the fix is not complicated, and this article will explore one essential mindset and two practical actions to help bridge this gap.

Mindset: Hire the Person, not the Position.

Recognize this? It’s the same mindset from my first article. In that one, I used this mindset to promote hiring on the basis of a person’s potential, beyond the position itself. Now, I’d like to apply this mindset to the practice of investing long-term in our people. And that’s the obvious connection: if we hire people we want “on the bus” for the long haul—those with the character, chemistry, and competency that dovetail with our church’s culture—then it makes sense to help them become everything God means them to be.

This conviction flows out of the realization that the “school of hard knocks” isn’t the only, or the best, way to grow. The church’s great commission is to make disciples—in other words, to help people come quickly and accurately into the full measure of God’s design for their lives. Shouldn’t that apply to every person on church staff? From part-time receptionist all the way up the line to the top dog, it must become top priority to not just keep all the programs running smoothly but to develop our leaders to their maximum potential.

Action: Create a Professional Development Plan. 

“Continuing Education” begins on day one of employment…and continues until the last day of employment. The strategic church leadership team will help each employee discover his or her areas of strengths and weaknesses—both personally and professionally—and develop a plan for leveraging those strengths, compensating for weaknesses in a healthy way, and intentionally developing latent talents that will empower that person’s spiritual destiny. This will not happen by accident. And it surely won’t happen by merely attending the most popular conference-of-the-month.

The plan can be strategically dialed in through a combination of relevant assessments (StrengthFinder, spiritual gifts, and personality should all be standard issue for all employees), historical evaluation, peer input, and safe relational conversation with your direct report. From these results, prioritize what needs attention most and then create (and fund) an annual plan for professional growth and development.

Action: Coach Your Staff to Personal Growth.

I began with the professional development side—but equally if not more important is the personal development side. And that’s your responsibility too, church leader. We don’t just grow in skills for doing—we are meant to grow in character and emotional maturity. And this dynamic is best managed via the mechanism of coaching and mentoring.

What weaknesses and habits have historically hindered this person’s excelling…either in leadership, in relationship, in spiritual maturity, or whatever? We know that God has a purpose for each human; our spiritual enemy also has a strategic purpose—to marginalize and cripple our God-given mission. Whether those potential pitfalls are moral or theological or relational or social or financial…when the church hires a person, it assumes some (not all) responsibility for stewarding God’s image in that person. Weekly or monthly coaching will harness that stewardship and accelerate each person’s journey of becoming everything God intends.

We started this conversation with the idea that firing people in the church generally results in relational carnage…but it doesn’t have to. Article one argues for strategic hiring practices as part of the solution to destructive firing practices. This article contends that when we assume responsibility for helping our people grow, the need to fire people will be drastically reduced. Our next two articles will address other crucial concerns: the need for effective accountability and the frequent need to realign people according to their emerging giftedness and the shifting needs of the church. And yes, we’ll even discuss how to fire a person when necessary.

Jerome Daley, ACC, DPM, is a leadership coach and business consultant, specializing in training, professional writing, and soul care. The author of six books and former publisher of Christian Coaching Magazine, Jerome’s passion is simple: helping leaders of all stripes live out a purposeful life. Jerome is a former pastor and an engaging speaker. He is married to Kellie and loves having three teenagers; they make their home in Greensboro, NC, where Jerome enjoys hiking, cycling, rock climbing, and most anything that takes him outside. Learn more at www.purposecoach.net.