Issue 2: The Deal with Development
Plus: More volunteers, a bad manager move, and develop-y links
COVER STORY: DEVELOPMENT IS STEWARDSHIP
The one where the staff development Substack talks about staff development.
I’ve been around church leaders who seemed to find the idea of “development” to be a bit of a nuisance. “What does ‘development’ even mean?,” I once heard a leader ask aloud, rather dismissively. It might be a good question. But the ambiguity shouldn’t lower the priority.
Because development is stewardship.
And I mean that two ways.
First, I mean that churches are good stewards when they intentionally develop their staff members. Whether a church has one staff member or hundreds, it is largely through staff members that the church’s ministry is sown and harvested, day after day. Of course sharpening staff members’ skills and maturing their spiritual lives should be among our highest priorities. A multiplied harvest comes from every staff member who is a little more wise, mature, or skilled than they were last month.
But secondly, when I say “Development is stewardship,” I also mean that individuals are good stewards when we seek our own development. Your leaders may not be intentionally developing you, or their development may be poor. But stewarding the talents, experiences, and knowledge God has given us requires increasing them. Finding development is a duty, not just a desire.
In both of these ideas, the Parable of the Talents applies. The Master has entrusted his servants with resources He expects to be invested and grown. The resources are the skills, wisdom, spiritual walks, experiences, expertise, spiritual gifts, and other gifts given to staff members. Finding ways to grow those resources is simply stewardship.
TO LEARN DEEPER…
The goal here is to convince you (or help you convince others) that development is not only noble or enjoyable, but also expected. Here are a few resources to dig deeper on development and what it can look like. (FYI: I earn a little bit when people buy something via Amazon links.)
Please read this all-you-need post from Ministry Architects: “Beyond Onboarding: Why are we so bad at church staff development?” This is the article to fire you up, to see what good development looks like (for you or others), and to pass on to church leaders (even anonymously!).
I appreciate this article’s quick reframing of the goals and methods of staff development. It helped me realize I gravitate toward Educational development – but there are two other categories to explore!
As usual, Seth Godin gets to the point. You could be developing yourself every day, simply by jotting down 5 quick notes.
Meanwhile, this Christian Leadership Alliance article goes longer but deeper – and directly ties development to stewardship. Its “four unconventional strategies,” for those who can help develop others, are gold.
Some solid podcasts: I stumbled on Jeremy Albrecht on Growth & Development for Leaders – very practical for growing yourself. (I haven’t yet listened to the follow-up on developing others.) The first 6 minutes of this 5 Leadership Questions episode discusses the state of church staff dev (spoiler: the state is not great). The rest of the podcast gets a little more detailed, for managers specifically.
And a book: I’ve just started Mindset for my PhD studies and can tell it’s revolutionary for this area. Lots of people are held back from seeking development by a “fixed mindset.” Could you or your coworkers be?
THE BLURBS
INCREASING VOLUNTEER SUPPLY
A key source of volunteers should be those who already receive.
One of the best places to recruit volunteers is right under our noses – among those already benefitting from the ministry. This is also a great discipleship move. “Serving deeper” may happen naturally (e.g., a women’s ministry participant becomes a table leader). But sometimes you need to make it happen. High schoolers could volunteer within their own Student Ministry, for instance. Children may not be able to volunteer in Children’s Ministry, but their parents are also beneficiaries of the ministry – so they should probably be asked to consider volunteering occasionally. Even in community ministries, it’s actually quite dignifying and developing for those who receive aid to be invited to participate in the effort.
Takeaway questions:
If your department uses volunteers at all, how many of those are currently (or once were) impacted by it?
How could you invite other “receivers” in the ministry to become part of the “giver” crew?
GOOD MEASURE
When managers are evaluated, are they evaluated on their managing?
I once noticed that a church asked for manager feedback on its yearly review form (so important!). But the review timeline started at the top. This meant each manager was reviewed by higher-ups before their direct reports actually shared feedback about their managing. So the managers weren’t actually reviewed on their managing.
This Wharton article lays out the case for sharing feedback on managers (which should be standard for churches, right?). Radical Candor has a slew of ways to draw this kind of feedback out of direct reports. And if you’re a manager, you should be asking for this kind of feedback (even if your church doesn’t do regular reviews).
Takeaway: Higher-level leaders have to measure – someway, somehow – how well their employees are managing people under them. Otherwise, one of the most important parts of a manager’s job description – managing – isn’t being evaluated.
OTHER DEVELOPMENT DROPS
A few things you might find useful
Staff Dev Verses: This For the Church article unpacks all the times New Testament leaders are told to avoid certain people / discussions. Fascinating, and feels timely to me.
Develop your time management: Regardless of your role, you can probably apply most of these 15 practical tips. Those in more pastoral roles can add 3 principles.
A great way to develop yourself is by running toward cringe moments. This long article in The Athletic is a lot of fun.
Tithely’s 2026 Church Staffing Playbook. From ratios to salaries to checklists, these kinds of reports are always interesting reads.
I’m about to take my team through Lead by Paul David Tripp. A lot of great, practical development here – and it’s written directly for church staff members.
“Organizations don’t lose great leaders because they are difficult. They lose them because they misdiagnose what makes them difficult.” (HBR article) Church staff might seem “difficult” for various reasons: character, chemistry, or something else. The “difficult” label could be dead-on; it could be a bad rap.
Thanks for serving on staff – it matters. See you in a few weeks.
–Benson
AFTERTHOUGHT (FOR THE CHURCH NERDS)
I talked the other day with a guy whose church staff has gone through plenty of positive changes. But people and processes of the past tend to have their positives, too… and those positives have left noticeable holes. I wonder: Do we recognize the passion that’s missing when that founding pastor with the “fiery personality” retires? Did we realize that switching from Sunday schools to home groups meant losing access to the benefits of “medium-sized community”? Etc. Audits and autopsies, even on “old wineskins,” might allow us to realize benefits we’ve lost. Then we can decide what to do about it (if anything).