1

MOTIVATING STAFF TO MISSION –

AN ANALYSIS OF CHURCH STAFF TEAM LEADERSHIP

By

OWEN L. TARANTINO

A PROJECT/DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE

FACULTY OF COVENANT THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MINISTRY

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

2009
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MOTIVATING STAFF TO MISSION –

AN ANALYSIS OF CHURCH STAFF TEAM LEADERSHIP

By

OWEN L. TARANTINO

A PROJECT/DISSERTATION SUBMITTED
TO THE FACULTY OF
COVENANT THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY

Graduation Date May 15, 2009

Dr. Robert W. Burns, Faculty Advisor

Dr. Donald Guthrie, Second Faculty Reader
Rev. James C. Pakala, Library Director
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to discover how pastors lead their paid staff toward

mission. Staff teams of churches are larger and lead pastors of churches need to learn how to

more effectively lead their teams if the church is going to accomplish its mission.

This study utilized a qualitative design using semi-structured interviews with four pastors

in the Presbyterian Church in America and two pastors from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

The review of literature examined scripture, Christian literature and secular literature, regarding

how leaders lead staff teams. The interviews and analysis of seven lead pastors focused on three

areas: how to build trust, what understanding of relational systems would be helpful in leading a

team and finally, how personal spiritual growth impacts the way lead pastors effectively lead a

paid church staff team.

Regarding how to build trust, the findings of this study revealed that trust is established

as a leader practices five areas of leadership. These areas are consistency of character,

motivating the team toward a clear vision, developing good communication, mutual accountability

and building an atmosphere of authentic joy. Additionally, during the interviews it was uncovered

that it was often through difficult situations that church staff teams were strengthened and trust

was built.

Regarding the importance of understanding of relational systems, the findings reveal that

this is vital for effective leaders to understand relational systems. The literature and the research

showed how complex associations and connections need to be taken into account by leaders if

they are going to be effective.

This study concluded that the spiritual health and vitality are essential for lead pastors to

be effective. The literature and the interviews demonstrated that leaders who are effective at

leading staff teams have consistent and vital times in bible study and prayer. The leaders

interviewed practiced spiritual disciplines on a regular basis.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... x

CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 1

Statement of Problem and Purpose......................................................................... 4
My Personal Need for This Study ............................................................................ 5
Significance of the Study......................................................................................... 5
Significance for Lead Pastors: Those Who Are Overwhelmed With Leadership
Responsibilities .................................................................................................... 6
Significance for Lead Pastors: Those Who Face Significant Frustration............... 7
Significance for Lead Pastors: Those Facing Difficulty in Leading Paid Staff Teams
Toward Mission.................................................................................................... 8
Significance for Team Members........................................................................... 9
Summary: Significance ...................................................................................... 10
Definition of Terms ................................................................................................ 11
CHAPTER TWO – LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 13
Overview ............................................................................................................... 14
Effective Leadership: Building Trust ...................................................................... 16
Building Trust: Literature Review Introduction .................................................... 16
1. Building Trust Through Consistency of Character .......................................... 17
2. Building Trust Through Clear Understanding of the Mission ........................... 20
3. Building Trust Through Effective Communication ........................................... 24
4. Building Trust Through Mutual Accountability................................................. 27
5. Building Trust Through Authentic Joy............................................................. 30
Summary: Building Trust.................................................................................... 32
Effective Leadership: Understanding Systems ...................................................... 33
Understanding Systems: Relational & Emotional Dynamics .................................. 33
Understanding Systems: Anxiety and Change ................................................... 37
Effective Leadership: Personal Spiritual Growth.................................................... 39
Personal Spiritual Growth: Prayer and Self-Reflection ....................................... 42
Personal Spiritual Growth: True Humility............................................................ 43
Personal Spiritual Growth: In the Midst of Struggles........................................... 44
CHAPTER THREE – PROJECT METHODOLOGY .................................................. 47
Design of the Study ............................................................................................... 47
Sample Selection .................................................................................................. 48
Data Collection – Interviews .................................................................................. 50
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 51
Proposed Interview Guide ..................................................................................... 51
Introductory Questions: ...................................................................................... 52
Trust / Understanding how leaders can develop trust......................................... 52
Understanding Relational Systems .................................................................... 52
Personal Spiritual Growth................................................................................... 53
Other Interview Considerations .......................................................................... 53
Researcher Bias and Assumptions .................................................................... 54
Study Limitations................................................................................................ 54
Summary: Project Methodology ......................................................................... 56
CHAPTER FOUR – FINDINGS ................................................................................ 57
Overview ............................................................................................................... 57
Participant Descriptions......................................................................................... 58
Introduction: Findings ............................................................................................ 59
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Introductory Questions .......................................................................................... 60

Overall Team Leadership Structure and Leadership Role ..................................... 60
Mission of the Church............................................................................................ 62
Building Trust ........................................................................................................ 63
Trust Built in the Midst of Struggles.................................................................... 64
Trust Built in the Midst of Failure ........................................................................ 66
Trust Built Within A Shared Ministry Approach ................................................... 68
Summary: Building Trust.................................................................................... 70
Understanding the Relational System of the Team................................................ 70
Summary: Understanding the Relational System of the Team ........................... 74
Personal Spiritual Growth...................................................................................... 75
Overview............................................................................................................ 75
Spiritual Growth: Team Responsibility................................................................ 75
Spiritual Growth: Personal Practices .................................................................. 76
Spiritual Growth: Staff Team Practices............................................................... 77
Spiritual Growth: Impact on Their Leadership..................................................... 78
Summary: Personal Spiritual Growth ................................................................. 79
Summary: Findings ............................................................................................... 79
CHAPTER FIVE – DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................... 81
Overview ............................................................................................................... 81
Summary of the Study........................................................................................... 81
Introduction ........................................................................................................ 82
Overview............................................................................................................ 83
Building Trust ........................................................................................................ 84
Biblical Reflection and Response ....................................................................... 84
Building Trust Through Struggles ....................................................................... 86
Building Trust Through Consistency of Character .............................................. 88
Building Trust Through a Demonstration of Humility........................................... 89
Building Trust Through Relationships................................................................. 93
Building Trust Through Engaging the Team in Questions .................................. 95
Summary: Building Trust.................................................................................... 96
The Importance of Understanding Relational Systems .......................................... 97
The Ability to Understand Relational Systems.................................................... 97
Understand How Anxiety Works Within a System ............................................ 100
The Skill to Promote Change within A Staff Team Relational System .............. 102
Summary: The Importance of Understanding Relational Systems.................... 103
Personal Spiritual Growth.................................................................................... 103
Personal Spiritual Growth: Overview................................................................ 104
Spiritual Growth Impact Leadership ................................................................. 104
Structured Spiritual Growth Disciplines ............................................................ 105
Summary: Personal Spiritual Growth ............................................................... 108
Discussion and Recommendations ..................................................................... 108
Recommendations for Further Research and Practice ........................................ 109
Final Summary .................................................................................................... 110
Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 113
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my family for helping me through this course of study.

My wife, Melissa has encouraged me every step of the way. My children, Laura,

Alysse and Trent have been patient and loving in this pursuit. Their love, grace

and patience is a daily reminder of God’s love and grace.

I am also grateful to my church family. Hugh Barlett, the session of Chesterfield

Presbyterian Church and the other staff have provided for me this great opportunity to learn and

grow. I am thankful for the time of study that was granted to me and the help along the way.

Bob Burns, my advisor has also been a great encourager to me during this dissertation

writing. I could not have done this project without you, Bob. Thank you!

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973,

1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.

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CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION

In his book Real Leadership, Dean Williams states, “All groups must

maintain their sense of mission and core values if they are to survive.”1 The

ability to keep any organization consistent in carrying out its mission and faithful

in maintaining its core values is a growing challenge for leaders in every

organization. This study seeks to understand the important role a leader can play

in keeping paid staff teams focused on their mission within a church team

context.

Paid church staff teams are difficult to lead for a variety of reasons. There

are spiritual, relational, strategic, and cultural challenges that church staff team

leaders face on a regular basis. In The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes

and Barry Posner highlight the challenges faced by leaders as they lead people

toward their goals. They say:

Whether we call that ability vision, a dream, a calling, a goal, or a personal

agenda, the message is clear: leaders must know where they’re going if
they expect others to willingly join them on the journey. They have to have
a point of view about the future envisioned for their organizations, and
they need to be able to connect that point of view to the hopes and
dreams of their constituents.2
Church staff team leaders need to know how to motivate their paid staff team to

the mission as they seek to understand what their community needs within their

specific calling as a church.

1
Dean Williams, Real Leadership : Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest
Challenges (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2005),150.
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The Bible makes it clear that God blesses and values good leadership. In

1 Timothy 5:17, the Apostle Paul says, “The elders who direct the affairs of the

church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is

preaching and teaching.”3 Good leadership is important because, as we see this

verse, it honors God and grows His Kingdom. Effective leadership is essential if

churches are going to grow and develop.

Don MacNair states this truth in his book on leadership, “For a church to

be healthy, it needs healthy leadership. In my experience, leadership is one of

only a few keys to being a church that God blesses.”4 However, what does it

mean to have “healthy leadership?” What definition of the term “healthy” needs to

be understood by an effective leader? These questions need investigation and

discussion if we are going to be effective leaders of staff teams.

In the book of Acts, principles of healthy leadership are found. For

example, Acts 6 shows the development of the leadership team in the New

Testament church. The physical needs of the widows provided a crisis in

leadership, and the leaders restructured their focus so that they would maximize

their effectiveness. The passage says,

So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be
right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on
tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be
full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’

2
James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 3rd ed. (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 2002), 33.
3
All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV).
4
Donald J. MacNair and Esther L. Meek, The Practices of a Healthy Church : Biblical Strategies
for Vibrant Church Life and Ministry (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R Pub., 1999), 107.
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The Godly response of the leaders provided an effective solution to the

crisis in the church and moved the ministry forward. This example of leadership

in the church reminds all leaders of the important responsibilities they carry.

The business world also provides examples of effective leadership. Dean

Williams compares and contrasts what he calls “real” and “counterfeit” leadership

in this way:

Fundamentally, real leadership gets people to confront reality and change

values, habits, practices, and priorities in order to deal with the real threat
or real opportunity the people face. It facilitates improvement in the human
condition. Counterfeit leadership, on the other hand, provides false
solutions and allows the group to bypass reality.5

“Real” leaders, according to Williams, have in some significant way learned to

identify and face the challenges of their organization. These leadership strategies

and practices are vital for the success of any organization.

The church also needs “real” leaders who are able to lead staff teams

more effectively. The importance of having healthy staff teams cannot be

overstated. In fact, one major conservative denomination reported the following

striking news:

The Southern Baptist Convention is a denomination in decline. Half of the

SBC's 43,000 churches will have shut their doors by 2030 if current trends
continue. And unless God provides a miracle, the trends will continue. The
denomination's growth rate has been declining since the 1950s. The
conservative/fundamentalist takeover 30 years ago was supposed to turn
the trend around; it didn't make a bit of difference.6
Church leaders need to recognize that evangelical churches are in decline and in

need of effective leadership to bring them on course.

5
Williams, Real Leadership, ix
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This study is a response to the need for leaders to be gripped with the

calling to lead their church from a place of decline to a place of growth and

mission. If church leaders can understand how to build trust, gain better insight

into their own church team system, and continue to grow spiritually, they will be

able to lead more effectively in the mission to which God has called them.

Statement of Problem and Purpose

How can pastors lead paid staff church teams toward their calling and

mission? How do lead pastor develop trust in teams, understand the systemic

dynamics that impact teams, and implement spiritual growth principles that focus

teams toward their mission? Pastors need to develop the ability to lead teams so

that their churches will be better equipped to face difficult challenges.

All pastors who lead paid staff teams need to learn how to more effectively

lead their teams.7 Therefore, the purpose of this study was to research how

experienced and effective church team leaders motivate their paid staff teams

toward mission. In order to address the purpose of this study, the following

research questions were explored:

1. What are best practices for team leaders to build trust within a church staff
team?

2. How does understanding the dynamics of organizational systems help a

team leader lead?

3. What personal spiritual growth principles enable team leaders to lead from
a foundation of grace?

6
Christine Wicker, “The Great Evangelical Decline” June 3, 2008
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-wicker [author of The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The
Surprising Crisis Inside the Church].
7
Alan J. Roxburgh, Fred Romanuk, and Leadership Network (Dallas Tex.), The Missional
Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass,
2006), 10.
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My Personal Need for This Study

I have faced quite a few challenges in my own experience as a pastor and

a leader of a staff team. The way that I lead and seek to build trust within my

team has directly impacted the team’s effectiveness in accomplishing its mission.

The more I have understood the dynamics of our team unit – with all of its

spoken and unspoken influences – the better I have been able to steer my team

toward action. I have also observed that the more I grow spiritually and help

others to grow, the more we are able to accomplish what God calls us to do.

However, I face numerous difficulties in my leadership effectiveness. In my

ministry context, there are staff members not in tune with the mission of the

church. There is also a growing personal frustration and a host of challenges that

I face as I try to navigate my team toward our mission. This study has been a

great help to these leadership challenges that I face.

Significance of the Study

There are three broad areas of significance that this study sought to

address for lead pastors as they seek to become more effective leaders of their

paid staff team. The leadership challenges addressed for lead pastors are: the

tendency for leaders to become overwhelmed with the many leadership

responsibilities that they face; the frustration that is often found in leadership

roles; and finally, the difficulty leaders face to effectively lead their paid staff team

toward a specific mission. In addition to the significant that this study has for lead

pastors, it is also has significance for those who are members of staff teams. The

importance for staff team members was also discussed in this study.
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Significance for Lead Pastors: Those Who Are Overwhelmed With

Leadership Responsibilities

Ronald Richardson addresses some key questions to Pastors facing leadership

challenges. He says:

How do we minister to all of our parishioners and continue to be a

responsible family member? How do we deal with personal challenges
and continue with ministry in a hopeful way? How do we avoid becoming
overwhelmed or burned-out? How do we avoid becoming personally
unwell, getting caught up in major conflicts with others, or failing to provide
positive leadership in the many critical circumstances of life we all face?8

Pastors are called to be teachers, counselors, preachers, motivators, and

team leaders. Many pastors find themselves in difficult church settings where

they are leading and developing a large staff. It is common for pastors to be

frustrated with their team and become overwhelmed and burned-out.9

Ronald Heifetz a leading author in the area of leadership says, “Leading

these communities required extraordinary self-examination, perseverance, and

courage.”10 John Kotter says, “Leadership is a hot topic today because people in

corporations, institutions, and congregations are trying to figure out what their

organizations need from them.”11 Pastors who lead paid staff teams face these

types of challenges. These lead pastors need to learn and grow in effective team

leadership in the midst of the overwhelming responsibilities that they face.

8
Ronald W. Richardson, Becoming a Healthier Pastor: Family Systems Theory and the Pastor’s
Own Family, Pastoral Care and Counseling Series (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005), 1-2.
9
Out of the many examples drawn from the literature on this topic two resources are noted for
further study. They are: The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero and Warren Bird and
The Missional Leader by Alan J. Roxburgh and Gred Romanuk
10
Ronald A. Heifetz and Martin Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the
Dangers of Leading (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002), 10.
11
John P. Kotter, Leading Change (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996), 17.
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Significance for Lead Pastors: Those Who Face Significant Frustration

The authors of The Leader’s Journey say, “The first step toward mature

leadership is learning to think in a different way about how people in a living

system affect each other.”12 Leadership skills and insights are crucial to team

dynamics and cohesiveness. Without these skills, leaders will face a life of

frustrations and setbacks. Leadership frustration robs the team of its ability to

function well, and the team is often unable to accomplish its goals. It is crucial

that pastors address this problem.

In the preface of one work on the challenges faced by pastors, the authors

state,

Houses of worship are, however, only as healthy and vital as their

leadership – the pastors and others who are in clerical authority – and
here there is a clear cause for concern. Our studies and other surveys
have pointed to a serious condition of “clergy burnout” Nearly one-third of
persons in pastoral ministry have, at one point or another, thought of
leaving this ministry.13

Pastors need to learn how to avoid “burn-out” and frustration – especially as it

relates to leading their paid staff team.

Books on leadership often describe common challenges faced by leaders.

One work on leadership compares the challenges faced by Sir Ernest Shackleton

on his 1914 voyage to the Antarctic with modern day leadership issues. The

author speaks about how difficult it is for leaders to remain optimistic when faced

with difficult changes. He says, “Many people may have a difficult time identifying

with Shackleton’s boundless optimism, and his enthusiastic belief that things

12
Jim Herrington, R. Robert Creech, and Trish Taylor, The Leader's Journey : Accepting the Call
to Personal and Congregational Transformation (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003), 49.
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would somehow work out in the end…(but) before you can instill optimism in

others, you first need to find it in yourself.”14

Pastors are often depressed and hopeless about the course of their

ministries. What often results is unwillingness for pastors to effectively lead their

paid staff teams and even their volunteer teams. In recent years it has become

difficult to recruit, train, and maintain organizational leadership.15 In a work on

this subject, one author says, “The clergy today faces mounting challenges in an

increasingly secular world, where declining prestige makes it more difficult to

attract the best and the brightest young Americans to the ministry.”16 He then

quotes the pollster George Barna, who calls ministry “one of the most frustrated

occupational groups in the country.”17 Barna is correct saying that it is difficult to

recruit and maintain paid and volunteer teams. Within the church setting, an

underdeveloped paid staff team means an inability for the church to reach its

calling or mission.

Significance for Lead Pastors: Those Facing Difficulty in Leading Paid Staff
Teams Toward Mission

Pastors must develop their ability to lead their teams toward mission if

their churches are going to effectively face the challenges of ministry.18 It is

13
Richard Stoll Armstrong and Kirk W. Morledge, Help! I'm a Pastor! : A Guide to Parish Ministry
(Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), ix.
14
Dennis N. T. Perkins, Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of
Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition (New York: Amacom, 2000), 42.
15 nd
Harry Westing, Church Staff Handbook: How to Build an Effective Ministry Team, 2 ed.
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1997), 70.
16
Larry Witham, Who Shall Lead Them?: The Future of Ministry in America (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2005), 2.
17
Ibid.
18
Kenneth H. Blanchard, W. Alan Randolph, and Peter Grazier, Go Team!: Take Your Team to
the Next Level (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler), 5-11.
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difficult to effectively lead paid staff teams toward mission. The authors of The

Leader’s Journey capture this at the beginning of their book:

An effective leader – one who can galvanize individuals and groups, and
who has the potential to help transform society – is a person who has the
capacity to know and do the right things. Easy to say, perhaps, but not so
easy to do. For most of us, effective leadership is a learned skill.19

As pointed out above, the task of leading any team toward specific mission is a

learned skill that lead pastors need to develop.

In Chuck Miller’s work on leadership, he encourages his readers to view

leadership as a “natural resource” saying,

We as a society are becoming more and more aware of the importance of

preserving our natural resources. We in the church must become more
committed to preserving and developing the priceless resource we have in
the leaders God gives us.20

In order to do this, Miller encourages churches to examine their process of

leadership development and to be aware how to best find, train, and develop

leaders in a church context in both leadership principles and personal spiritual

formation.21

Significance for Team Members

Leadership is universal. Chris Lowey underscores this when he states,

“Everyone is a leader, and everyone is leading all the time – sometimes in

immediate, dramatic, and obvious ways, more often in subtle, hard-to-measure

ways, but leading nonetheless.”22 This study will help team members become

more unified, effective, and focused on mission. The study will identify behaviors

19
Herrington, The Leader's Journey, xv.
20
Chuck Miller, The Spiritual Formation of Leaders: Integrating Spirituality and Leadership
Development (Xulon Press, 2007), 5.
21
Ibid.
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and practices that often are missing from the team. Team members will

understand that their spiritual growth will allow them to more effectively impact

their community for Christ as they investigate this study.

Good teamwork is especially important for leaders of any organization.

This is highlighted in the introduction of a book on how to take your team to the

next level. Ken Blanchard says:

“People in organizations today are increasingly being called upon to work

in teams. This is because the work of organizations has become
amazingly complex and changes occur constantly. More and more,
companies around the world are using teams to deal with this dynamic
world of work.”23

There is significance for team members to understand how they best can

participate on a team and respond properly to leadership. In specific, paid staff

team members need to learn behaviors and practices that promote unity and

effectiveness.

Summary: Significance

The significance of this study has been to help pastors as they lead paid

staff teams toward mission. It has been stated above that leaders face many

challenges, including, becoming overwhelmed, frustrated and the challenge to

effectively lead their teams toward mission. This study has set out to address

these concerns for lead pastors. In order to address these concerns, pastors who

lead paid staff teams must understand how to build trust among members of their

team, how the team operates systemically, and how they as lead pastors, need

22
Chris Lowney, Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That
Changed the World (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2003), 17.
23
Blanchard, Go Team!, 1.
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to pursue inner spiritual formation and growth in order to be effective in leading

their paid staff team.

Some pastors excel at leading paid staff teams and developing ministries

within a team context. They easily develop trust and have keen insight into their

staff team dynamics. Some pastors may also focus on personal growth and

development of their inner spiritual life. This study has investigated those who

succeed in these areas, and it has identified some of the practices that build

effective teams.

Churches, like any organization needs teams that function well – as they

address the complex challenges of the world. Unified church teams honor God

and provide a conduit for teaching, training, discipleship, counseling, and

evangelism. It is anticipated that this study is not only significant for lead pastors

but also for team members. As mentioned above, team members need to learn

how to be a more effective part of a team.

Definition of Terms

Lead Pastor – a pastor serving a local church with responsibilities of leading and
developing a paid staff team

Mission – the purpose of a church toward effectively winning people to Christ,

helping them grow in Christ, and sending them out to reach others
for Christ. This is consistent with the calling Christ gives us in
Matthew 28 – or the “Great Commission”

Missional Church – a phrase to describe a church that is concerned about

reaching out to the community around them and seeks to find new
ways to meet the needs of the community, communicate effectively
the gospel of truth, and live out the reality of the Gospel of grace in
every part of life.24

24
Roxburgh, The Misional Leader, xv.
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Paid Staff Team – key ministry leaders within a church responsible for particular
ministry area(s) and who are compensated by the church for their
work.

Relational System – the connections, dynamics, and intricacies of interpersonal

relationships within defined arbitrary boundaries.

Systems Theory – the study of the complex interactions of entities within a

context of relationships in defined arbitrary boundaries. Effort is
made to list the elements and relational rules associated with those
elements within the defined arbitrary boundaries.

Technical Change – a process of bringing about solutions to problems in

organizations that looks to address change by applying current
know-how by those in authority.25

Adaptive Change – a process of bringing about solutions to problems in

organizations that looks to address root issues. Adaptive solutions
often look at how processes themselves need to change or the
players in a process need to find new ways of approaching
systemic problems in an organization. (In contrast, “technical
change” addresses surface issues.)26

Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) – Biblically conservative denomination

formed in 1973, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The PCA has
over 1300 church congregations in the United States and is know
for its Calvinist beliefs and strong commitment to missionary work.

Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) – Biblically conservative denomination

formed in 1980, headquartered in Livonia, Michigan. The EPC has
over two hundred churches in the United States.

Biblical Christianity – those who follow the belief that the bible is inerrant and
true. Those who follow this view teach in the actual life (including
the true virgin birth and the miracles of Christ), death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.

25
Heifetz, Leadership on the Line, 14-15.
26
Ibid.
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CHAPTER TWO – LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of this study was to research how experienced and effective

team leaders motivate their paid staff teams toward mission. To that end,

examination was done on selected available literature, both biblical and secular,

on the issue of leadership, with the intent of discovering how the principles and

practices of effective leaders can be applied to the church setting. In this

literature review emphasis was placed on the overlapping ideas brought out in

the books and how these ideas are reflected in actual practice in different

leadership situations.

“The best leaders get to live on,” claims the opening line in a recent book

on leadership.27 The author continues,

Think for a moment about the leaders you respect – whether they lead
countries, organizations, communities, or families – who continue to live
on because of the way they have shaped your thoughts and beliefs. Even
though you may not notice it in the moment, the most effective leaders
forever alter the course of your life.28

There are many books, tapes, articles, and blogs available that attempt to

shape the view of effective leadership. Selection of the literature in this review

was made to locate sources that seek to instruct readers on how to lead

effectively and have a lasting impact on those they lead. In particular, literature

was selected that connect with leadership situations within a church setting.

27
Tom Rath, Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow (New
York: Gallup Press, 2009), 1.
28
Ibid.
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Church growth expert Carl F. George highlights the importance of effective

leadership in his book How to Break Growth Barriers. In this work, published in

1993, the author says, “An effective leader accomplishes the work through

others. The task is too great for one person. It is more important for the leader of

a growing church to produce other leaders than to perform personal ministry.”29

The literature review that follows shows that the mission of a church will only be

accomplished if there is effective leadership in place.

Overview

The literature indicates that if church staff teams are going to accomplish

their mission, leaders need to grow in three main areas.30 First, staff team

leaders need to understand how to motivate their team by building trust. This

literature review demonstrates how important it is for a leader to have the trust of

the team in order to be effective. One author says, “Trust plays an important part

in achieving influence. If other people perceive you are too calculating or

interested in influence for your personal benefit rather than for organizational

work, they will be wary, resistant, or go underground to retaliate later.”31 Trust is

the currency used to effectively lead according to Allan Cohen and David

Bradford. The literature shows that this is true for the corporate world as well as

for church leaders.

29
Carl F. George and Warren Bird, How to Break Growth Barriers: Capturing Overlooked
Opportunities for Church Growth (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1993), 23.
30
This is seen in many books on leadership. For example, in the introduction of The Leader’s
Journey by Jim Herrington, Robert Creech and Trisha Taylor, the authors say that we need to
look at leadership in a different way. They point to at least three distinct sections of study for
effective leaders – the first section speaks of the problems leaders face, the second section
speaks of the call to personal transformation and the third section they examine the “inside-out
process” at work in leadership situations (pages xvi & xvii).
 15

Second, team leaders need to be able to understand the dynamics of their

team from a systems perspective. In Jim Herrington’s book on leadership within

the church, we read,

In this book, you learn about living systems: a different way of thinking
about leadership that each of us encountered in recent years, and that
changed how we see our role as leaders…Leadership recognizing that a
group of people is actually a living system requires a different way of
thinking.32

Leaders need a new “way of thinking” that will help them understand their

team as a system. The understanding of these dynamics provides insight to

leaders. This literature review will show evidence that a good understanding of

team dynamics is central to the way a leader leads and ultimately to the impact a

leader can have to motivate a team toward its mission.33

Third, the literature says that leaders need to understand and implement

spiritual growth principles for themselves and for their team members if they are

going to be effective in leading their paid staff teams. One author describes the

importance of spiritual growth this way,

The overall health of any church or ministry depends primarily on the

emotional and spiritual health of its leadership. In fact, the key to
successful spiritual leadership has much more to do with the leader’s
internal life than with the leader’s expertise, gifts, or experience.34

31
Allan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford, Influence without Authority (New York: J. Wiley, 1990),
23.
32
Herrington, The Leaders’ Journey, xvi.
33
See Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Church; Heifetz and Linsky, Leadership on the Line;
Herrington, Creech and Taylor, The Leader’s Journey; Richardson, Creating a Healthier Church;
Gilbert, Extraordinary Leadership.
34
Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Church, 20.
 16

The literature will show that a leader who is spiritually healthy and growing in a

dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ will lead their team better.35

Effective Leadership: Building Trust

The literature on leadership emphasizes at least five things that need to

be present in order for leaders to develop trust in their staff team. First, the

literature says that the leader must demonstrate consistency of character.36

Second, leaders must understand clearly their mission. Third, in order for the

team to develop trust between the team members and the leader, there must be

effective communication. Fourth, trust requires mutual accountability among the

leader and the team members. Finally, for teams to experience trust, the

literature shows how authentic joy needs to be fostered and promoted by the key

leader.37 The following pages will discuss some of the places in the literature

where these topics are found.

Building Trust: Literature Review Introduction

Those who study and write about leadership claim that, at a foundational

level, leading effectively involves building trust. For example, Patrick Lencioni

says, “Trust lies at the heart of a functioning, cohesive team. Without it,

teamwork is all but impossible.”38 Trust, according to Lencioni, is a vital

ingredient to build an effective, growing team that is striving toward their mission.

35
See Miller, The Spiritual Formation of Leaders; Kahl, Leading from the Heart; Peterson, The
Contemplative Pastor; Blanchard, The Heart of a Leader.
36
see Lee Iococca’s, Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
37
Many of these principles can be seen in James Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge and Dean
Williams, Real Leadership.
38
Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 2002), 195.
 17

In a study of more than fifty thousand churches, Thom S. Rainer also cites

that effective leaders are those able to build trust within their team. Rainer

reports that only a few of the churches could be considered growing and

impactful. He identified several factors for growth, including the role of the senior

leadership team to build trust within their team. 39

Other authors point to trust as a foundational principle of leadership. The

authors of the book Strengths Based Leadership say, “It seems that followers

have a very clear picture of what they want and need from the most influential

leaders in their lives: trust, compassion, stability, and hope.”40 Trust is the first

quality mentioned in this section on what is vital for effective leadership.

Influential leaders develop trust as a primary way of leading, according to Rath

and Conchie.41

The following review show that in the literature on leadership at least five

characteristics are referenced as important to the development of this trust.

1. Building Trust Through Consistency of Character

The five areas that are mentioned above as vital for building trust begin

with consistency of character. In the literature we see how people want to follow

those of sound character. For example, in The Leadership Challenge, the

authors report: “In almost every survey we’ve conducted, honesty has been

39
Thom S. Rainer, Breakout Churches: Discover How to Make the Leap (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 2005), 30.
40
Rath, Strengths Based Leadership, 82.
41
Ibid, 82-85.
 18

selected more often than any other leadership characteristic; overall, it emerges

as the single most important factor in the leader-constituent relationship.”42

In other works on team dynamics, trustworthiness is referred to as

character. The opening of the book The Ascent of a Leader says: “Character –

the inner world of motives and values that shapes our actions – is the ultimate

determiner of the nature of our leadership.”43 According to the authors,

leadership is not just about what we do, but about why we do it.44 Leaders’

motives and inner life are important and will ultimately shape the way they lead

and how we are perceived by others. The authors of The Ascent of a Leader call

trust the “The first rung” of being an effective leader.45 They say that team

members are willing to follow because they believe that the leaders’ inner

motives are for their good and for the good of the others.46

In a chapter on how character comes first in leadership, Jack Kahl

remarks, “Before a great team is built, however, the trust of the people who

would join it must be earned. Of course, trust is the bedrock of any interpersonal

relationship – why should it be any different when it comes to the relationships

between leaders and their teams?”47 Kahl describes the way that leaders need to

examine many areas of their inner life – or character – if they are going to build

trust on their team.

42
Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge, 32.
43
Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and Ken McElrath, The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary
Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence (San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass
Publishers, 1999), 1.
44
Ibid.
45
Ibid, 61-74.
46
Ibid, 63-64.
47
Jack Kahl and Tom Donelan, Leading from the Heart: Choosing to Be a Servant Leader
(Westlake, OH: Jack Kahl and Associates, 2004), 13.
 19

The need for consistent, good character is further developed in

Leadership on the Line by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. They discuss the

difficulties that leaders face in making change in a community, saying that such

leadership requires “extraordinary self-examination, perseverance, and

courage.”48 To face the issues and challenges that exist within an organization,

Heifetz and Linsky emphasize that lasting change can only be accomplished by

leaders who are strong and effective, dealing courageously with the difficult

challenges of leadership. They state that depth of character is challenged by

these difficulties, especially when people are confronted with loss.49

The concept of consistency of character in the development of trust is

described in a slightly different way in Kouzes and Posner’s investigation of

leadership. They say, “What we found in our investigation of admired leadership

qualities is that more than anything, people want to follow leaders who are

credible. Credibility is the foundation of leadership.”50 This highlights the

importance of a leader’s character as one who can be trusted. Credibility and

trust go hand in hand according to Kouzes and Posner.

Other literature on leadership such as The Leader’s Journey, offers

another description of the importance of character in building trust. The authors

say, “An effective leader—one who can galvanize individuals and groups, and

who has the potential to help transform society—is a person who has the

48
Heifetz, Leadership on the Line, 10.
49
Ibid, 13.
50
Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge, 37.
 20

capacity to know and do the right things.”51 Leaders of sound character,

according to the authors are able to build trust on their teams.52

The above literature has shown that good character is connected to

building trust. Leaders who have consistency of character, according to the

literature reviewed, have team members who trust them.

2. Building Trust Through Clear Understanding of the Mission

The literature shows that trust is developed through leaders understanding

clearly the mission of their organization. For example, one author affirms this by

stating, “All groups must maintain their sense of mission and core values if they

are to survive.”53 Authors use different words to describe the concept of mission.

Bill Hybels says, “These days so much is being written about the technical

distinctions between vision, mission, and purpose that some leaders feel

compelled to have separate statements for each.”54 He goes on to conclude,

To avoid this kind of mess, leaders should remember this simple rule.
When a leader is casting vision publicly, the goal is to help people know,
understand, and remember the ‘main thing.’ Call it vision, purpose,
mission, or whatever. But people better be able to walk away saying, ‘I
know the main thing.’55

The responsibility for a team to know the “main thing” or the mission is the

responsibility of the leader, according to Hybels.

Similar comments on the importance of mission in the development of

trust are noted in other works. For example, according to Kouzes and Posner:

51
Herrington, The Leader’s Journey, xv.
52
Ibid, 6-8.
53
Williams, Real Leadership, 150.
54
Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 44.
55
Ibid, 45.
 21

Whether we call that ability vision, a dream, a calling, a goal, or a personal

agenda, the message is clear: leaders must know where they’re going if
they expect others to willingly join them on the journey. They have to have
a point of view about the future envisioned for their organizations, and
they need to be able to connect that point of view to the hopes and
dreams of their constituents.56

As this statement shows, if trust is going to be built, leaders need the ability to

understand and connect their mission with those in their organization.

Oz Guinness refers to the mission of a church as a calling. He says,

“Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we

are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special

devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and

service.”57 Guinness says that this personal calling of God summoning us to

service is not only for an individual but for the growth and impact of the Kingdom

of God. He claims that “The call of Jesus runs counter to all these modern trends

because it is inescapably a corporate calling…We are not summoned to be a

bunch of individual believers, rather to be a community of faith.”58 According to

Guinness, in order to develop trust on a team, lead pastors need to know how to

discern and express their God given calling and mission.59

Other literature studied also indicates that in order to build trust, church

leaders need to relate their mission to the call of following Christ. According to

Chuck Miller, as lead pastors understand and articulate a clear vision rooted in

Christ’s calling, trust will be built in their leadership. He writes:

56
Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge, 33.
57
Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life (Nashville,
Tenn.: Word, 1998), 29.
58
Ibid, 96.
59
Ibid.
 22

When we come and follow Jesus in response to His invitation, we are not
following after a goal, an enterprise, a vision, a mission, or a job
description. We are following a Person, the Person Jesus, and our
following is all about a developing, ongoing, lifelong relationship with Him.
Passion and vision are of value, but their value is secondary to our focus
on Christ.60

He continues to encourage leaders to look to Christ as they lead the

church – not in a dogmatic way, but in a way that flows out of a relationship with

Christ. According to Miller, Lead pastors who lead from these principles are able

to develop trust on their teams by guiding others in the mission of the church.61

Dan Allender also speaks of the importance for leaders to understand the

foundation of their calling in order to lead missionally lead their teams in an

atmosphere of trust. He states,

The purpose of all life is to present every person mature in Christ. Each
human being is meant to become like Jesus – and to mark others’ lives
with a beauty that draws them to Jesus. The scope of that calling is so
enormous as to be beyond comprehension. It means subsuming every
dimension of life from how I eat and drink to how I vote under that one
goal.62

Allender claims that every leader needs to be able to lead from this

foundation and calling of helping others grow in Christ. He says that clearly the

stakes are high, if leaders do not clearly understand their mission, there will be a

void of trusted followers.63

This is also reflected in a work by George Morrow. He says, “If men don’t

have a vision of what God is doing in a church, they will not invest themselves.

60
Miller, The Spiritual Formation of Leaders, 67.
61
Ibid.
62
Dan B. Allender, Leading with a Limp: Turning Your Struggles into Strengths, (Colorado
Springs: Waterbrook Press, 2006), 144.
63
Ibid.
 23

They will see it as a club, not a cause.”64 The above literature shows us the

importance of leaders clearly understanding their mission in order to build trust in

their church and their staff team.

According to the literature, leaders need to clearly articulate and lead their

organizations toward a mission if they are going to build a trustworthy

environment. The literature points out that if organizations are to move forward,

they need leaders who clearly have their mission in mind and who call others

toward action and change. Kouzes and Posner assert in The Leadership

Challenge:

Call it what you want – vision, purpose, mission, legacy, dream, aspiration,
calling, or personal agenda – the point is the same. If we are going to be
catalytic leaders in life, we have to be able to imagine a positive future.
When we envision the future we want for ourselves and others, and when
we feel passionate about the legacy we want to leave, then we are much
more likely to take that first step forward.65

This work states that leaders build trust by growing in their ability to understand

and take the steps forward toward the mission.

In Aubrey Malphurs’ book on leadership, he stresses the important role

that understanding mission must play in the lives of trustworthy leaders:

One of the primary responsibilities of the senior pastor is to see that the
mission is being accomplished. I believe that this is an aspect of what Paul
meant in 1 Timothy 5:17 when he described elders as those ‘who direct
the affairs of the church,’ which involves recruiting and training the best
staff possible along with adopting the best methods to see that the church
realizes its mission (ministry means). The board must see that the senior
pastor accomplishes this.66

64
David Murrow, Why Men Hate Going to Church (Nashville: Nelson, 2005) 159.
65
Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge, 105.
66
Aubrey Malphurs, Leading Leaders: Empowering Church Boards for Ministry Excellence
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), 41.
 24

According to Maphurs, in order to develop trust, lead pastors must ensure that

their church is accomplishing the mission before them.67 This is done, through

clearly understanding the missional responsibilities before each congregation.

The literature has shown that trust is built as leaders clearly understand

their mission. Furthermore, the literature has shown that understanding the

mission of a church is rooted in corporately following Christ.

3. Building Trust Through Effective Communication

According to the literature review, leaders need to be effective in their

communication if they are going to build trust on their team. For example, one

theme that continues to come up in the literature is the importance of effective

communication during meetings. Patrick Lencioni wrote an entire book about how

leaders need to examine their communication in the context of meetings. He

says,

Bad meetings, and what they indicate and provoke in an organization,

generate real human suffering in the form of anger, lethargy, and
cynicism. And while this certainly has a profound impact on organizational
life, it also impacts people’s self-esteem, their families, and their outlook
on life.68

This author indicates the leaders’ effectiveness in communication, as evidenced

within both their group and individual meetings, directly relates to the leaders

ability to build trust on their teams.

The importance of effective communication is also found in Daniel

Goleman’s work Primal Leadership. Goleman’s says speaks about effective

67
Ibid, 40.
68
Patrick Lencioni, Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable-- About Solving the Most Painful
Problem in Business (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 253.
 25

communication – especially as it relates to communicating emotions. He points to

the need for teams to communicate emotions and empathy. He says,

No matter what leaders set out to do – whether it’s creating strategy or

mobilizing teams to action – their success depends on how they do it.
Even if they get everything else just right, if leaders fail in this primal task
of driving emotions in the right direction, nothing they do will work as well
as it could or should.69

The way leaders regulate and communicate about their own emotions and the

emotions of the team is vital to the development of trust in any organization.

Trust is built as a team communicates in what Goleman calls “frank feedback” or

the ability to communicate the emotions of the team. 70

Goleman further relates this to a leader’s ability to build trust through

communicating empathy. He claims that:

Research in the field of emotion has yielded keen insights into not only
how to measure the impact of a leader’s emotions but also how the best
leaders have found effective ways to understand and improve the way
they handle their own and other people’s emotions. Understanding the
powerful role of emotions in the workplace sets the best leaders apart
from the rest.71

According to Goleman, leaders who are able to communicate empathy effectively

will provide an environment of trust and growth for their team.

Other literature also shows that trust is found in environments where

effective communication creates empathy. In their book First Break All the Rules,

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman have a pertinent discussion about “What

Great Managers Do.” They say that managers are able to ask and understand

the following six basic questions:

69
Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, Primal Leadership : Realizing the
Power of Emotional Intelligence (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002), 3.
70
Ibid, 162.
 26

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?

2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing
my work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a
person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?72

According to the authors, these probing questions need to be addressed

in order for a team to create trust through effective communication in an

atmosphere of empathy. They claim that the extent to which healthy

communication addresses and answers these six questions will provide an

indication of how effectively the team will meet the challenges it faces. According

to the authors, this will promote the growth of trust with those in authority over the

team.73

Nonverbal communication is trust issue that raises much discussion in the

literature. For example, David Caruso and Curt Coffman say,

Nonverbal information is often the basis for successful social interaction.

This information consists of gestures, voice tone, and facial expressions. If
we focus on a person’s words alone, we are at serious risk of
misunderstanding the underlying message.74

Leaders must understand how people communicate in light of their emotions.

Good communication will be present and trust will be established, according to

the authors, in an environment where people effectively express and understand

emotions.75

71
Ibid, 4-5.
72
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest
Managers Do Differently (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999), 59.
73
Ibid, 59-61.
74
David Caruso and Peter Salovey, The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How to Develop and
Use the Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 40.
75
Ibid.
 27

In his book about the Starbucks organization, Howard Behar discusses

how personal commitment to improve communication created trust in their

organization. He says, “Developing people requires attention and conversation

every day. Get to know your people…Great leaders don’t wait for people to come

to them. They go to them.”76 Good leaders, according to Behar are proactive and

find ways to communicate with their teams. This personal commitment to the

team, according to Behar will build trust on the team.77

Ken Blanchart also says that good communication is a catalyst to build

trust within a team. In his book about how to build team leadership he states:

Whenever we share information with someone, we create an implied

agreement of trust. We trust that the person will handle the information
responsibly. Additionally, when we share information – particularly
information of a sensitive nature – a powerful message is sent to the
recipient. This unspoken message says that we value the person and trust
him or her to act responsibly.78

According to the above literature, effective communication builds trust within

teams. The literature shows us the complex nature of effective communication
and the results that follow – namely trust.

4. Building Trust Through Mutual Accountability

In order for leadership to build trust, the literature claims that there must

be mutual accountability. Patrick Lencioni describes the importance of

accountability this way:

Accountability is a buzzword that has lost much of its meaning as it has

become as overused as terms like empowerment and quality. In the
context of team work, however, it refers specifically to the willingness of

76
Howard Behar and Janet Goldstein, It's Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life
at Starbucks (New York: Portfolio, 2007), 151.
77
Ibid.
78
Blanchard, Go Team!, 27.
 28

team members to call their peers on performance or behaviors that might

hurt the team.”79

Lencioni goes on to describe the type of accountably that is helpful for a team.

He says, “A good way to make it easier for team members to hold one another

accountable is to clarify publicly exactly what the team needs to achieve, who

needs to deliver what, and how everyone must behave in order to succeed. The

enemy of accountability is ambiguity…”80 Leadership, according to this author,

needs to “instill accountability on a team…”81 in order for the team to be healthy

and for trust to be built.

The importance of developing trust through mutual accountability within a

team is discussed in slightly a different way by Dan Allender. He says:

For many leaders [there] is a deep sense of isolation and loneliness that
comes with realizing that others will never understand them or richly enjoy
them…All leaders are lonely, but few are lonely for good reasons. The
phrase ‘It is lonely at the top’ is true, but it doesn’t distinguish legitimate
loneliness from self-inflicted isolations. There is a fine line between the
two.82

In Allender’s work, he describes the challenge of accountability for church

leaders because they are often in situations where there is great isolation and no

accountability. Leadership, according to Allender, needs to see this challenge –

especially in church situations and work against isolation if they are going to be

trustworthy.

The need to develop trust by maintaining accountably in leaders is

described as one of the ten qualities of “breakout churches”. According to Thom

79
Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, 212.
80
Ibid, 214.
81
Ibid, 215.
82
Allender, Leading with a Limp, 111.
 29

S. Rainer, “The leaders of the breakout churches don’t mind accountability. But

they detest micromanagement…Senior pastors of the breakout churches are not

micromanaged. And they don’t micromanage the people who work with them.”83

They are however, according to Rainer, effectively kept accountable to their

goals and vision. The process of developing mutual accountability and oversight

develops trust within the church, according to Rainer.84

Author, Stephen A. Macchia states, “The need for accountability is great,

and yet too few churches and individuals have accountability structures in place

that are capable of producing fruit that lasts”85 In his section on administration

and accountability, he reports that most church leaders are not part of a structure

where there is any significant accountability. He encourages “assessment and

evaluation” and says, “The assessment and evaluation process begins with your

own personal disciplines, similar to what I have shared above. But it does not

end there. Leaders need others in their sphere of influence to offer them honest

input into their lives.”86 He goes on to describe three different forms of evaluation

that he has instituted on his team. He says,

“the assessment and evaluation of the senior pastor and any staff
members employed by the church is a must. If you do not have a structure
in place to do so, I urge you to act swiftly to correct this situation.
Everyone benefits from meaningful assessment and evaluation.”87

According to the Macchia, the benefits from mutual this type of mutual

accountability include the development of trust within the team.

83
Rainer, Breakout Churches, 102.
84
Ibid.
85
Stephen A. Macchia, Becoming a Healthy Church: 10 Characteristics (Grand Rapids: Baker,
1999), 170.
86
Ibid, 173.
87
Ibid, 174-175.
 30

The above literature reviewed underscores the reality that teams need

mutual accountability in order to develop trust. According to the literature, it is

important that team leaders do not isolate themselves from accountability. The

team will trust the team leader more if there is mutual accountability.

5. Building Trust Through Authentic Joy

The literature reviewed for this study show how team members who

experience authentic joy trust their leaders more. For example, one author

claims, “Employees who are having fun at work might well be exhibiting the

single most important trait of highly effective and successful organizations.”88 The

importance of creating trust by experiencing joy on a team is underscored by

Pastor Bill Hybels. Pastor Hybels states that he only hires people whom he

likes.89 He describes the way he builds his team: “[I was counseled] never to

invite a person onto my team who doesn’t have a positive emotional effect on me

the minute he or she walks into my office.”90 He highlights the importance of

building a team where there is authentic joy present. He further claims that too

often, church-based teams do not hire those who fit best relationally within the

team. This, according to Hybels leads to which leads to leaders becoming

disconnected from their team and trust is lost.91 Conversely, those teams who

enjoy being together, according to Hybels, have a high level of joy and trust.92

88
Anne Bruce and James S. Pepitone, Motivating Employees A Briefcase Book (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1999), 89.
89
Bill Hybels, “Church Leadership Conference.” Lecture, Willowcreek Church, South Barrington,
IL, April 4, 1999
90
Hybels, Courageous Leadership, 84.
91
Ibid.
92
Ibid, 84-90.
 31

Thom Rainer speaks how leaders of “breakout churches” consistently

need to be gripped with the joy of serving Christ. He says,

If I could make one recommendation to hurting and struggling leaders, it

would be to immerse themselves in the stories of great faith in the church.
Read Hebrews 11 again and again…the difference in the breakout church
leaders, however, is their unshakable faith that God will bring victory.93

This book highlights the need for those serving in leadership positions to trust

God to bring about great things in the church – including joy. Rainer helps

leaders understand that part of the role of leadership is direct their team to

encouraging passages like Hebrews 11. As team leaders remind their team of

those who had great faith, Rainer says confidence and joy will be produced

within a team. This joy will promote a level of trust on the team.

Rainer continues the discussion about joy and fun on a team later in his

book. He says, “Leaders were passionately serious about the work to which God

has called them. But they did not believer that serious ministry and fun were

mutually exclusive. They [the leaders] told us repeatedly that ministry is a

joy…Purpose in their lives and ministries engendered joy, fun, and laughter.”94

Rainer also points to Jim Collins work titled Good to Great where Jim states, “it

was striking to hear [the good-to-great leaders] talk about the transition era, for

no matter how dark the days or how big the tasks, these people had fun!”95

Rainer noted that this same observation was confirmed in his research as he

talked with key leaders of church ministries – that joy was an essential ingredient

to the growth of trust on any team he studied.

93
Rainer, Breakout Churches, 85.
94
Ibid, 108.
95
Ibid, 107.
 32

The literature showed that joy is an important part of team dynamics. With

joy, the literature says, there will be trust and effectiveness on teams.

Conversely, a lack of joy produces distrust and disunity among team members.

Summary: Building Trust

In this section on trust, the literature review showed that trust is a

foundational component of effective leadership. The review showed that there

were several elements identified in building trust. First, the literature said that the

leader must demonstrate consistency of character. Second, leaders must

understand clearly their mission. Third, in order for the team to develop trust

between the team members and the leader, there must be effective

communication. Fourth, trust requires mutual accountability among the leader

and the team members. Finally, for teams to experience trust, the literature

showed how authentic joy needs to be fostered and promoted by the key leader.

The review demonstrated that pastors who lead paid staff teams must

develop trust in order to be effective in their leadership role. This study of the

pertinent literature showed us the five areas of trust and how leaders who grow in

these five areas build trust within their teams. The materials also showed that

leaders who are able to build trust are considered to be effective in their

leadership.

Next, this review will examine the importance of lead pastors

understanding of relational systems of their teams. Pastors who direct paid staff

will be more effective in their leadership as they understand the systems that

exist on their teams.

 33

Effective Leadership: Understanding Systems

The literature claims that those who are effective in leading teams have a

great sense of understanding relational systems that exist within their team.

Edwin Friedman claims that system theory, or what is sometimes called “family

theory,” has great significance for the leadership of the church. He says, “Family

theory can be applied to all work systems, depending primarily on two factors:

(1) the degree of emotional interdependency in that relationship system and (2)

the extent to which its business is ‘life’”96 Friedman directly applies this to a

church setting and says, “Of all work systems, however, the one that functions

most like a family is the church or synagogue.”97 The author writes how church

systems parallels family systems and he impresses the importance for leaders to

understand the dynamics of family systems and to apply this to the church.

The literature indicates two ways leaders need to understand how their

staff team functions as a system. They are: understanding relational and

emotional system dynamics and understanding how anxiety and change

influence organizations. The literature review focuses on these areas of

understanding for effective leaders.

Understanding Systems: Relational & Emotional Dynamics

In his book How Your Church Family Works, Peter Steinke explains the

importance of understanding the church as a complex relational system. He

says:

96
Edwin H. Friedman, Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue (New
York: Guilford Press, 1985), 197.
97
Ibid.
 34

Our expectations of Christian community far exceed those we hold for

other communities to which we belong. So it should be. Yet, as Bonhoeffer
suggested, we may not ‘bear in mind enough’ the ‘invisible, often
unconscious’ processes that seed disruption in our midst.98

The literature above shows the importance of lead pastors understanding the

relational system that they engage in if lead pastors are going to effectively lead

their paid staff team.

Other literature reviewed claimed that within every community and team,

there are “invisible and unconscious” processes that work to promote or hinder

the group’s goals.99 Author Aubrey Malphurs says that staff team leaders must

engage their team members in a discussion of how the relationships “work”

together. Malphurs claims that the unspoken bonds, commitments, and

interdependencies all need to be addressed in order for a leader to effectively

lead his staff team. Since the church is an “emotional unit,”100 it is important to

understand how the church family works.

In the book The Emotionally Healthy Church, Peter Scazzero discusses

the importance of understanding relational systems from an “emotional”

perspective. He says,

Something is desperately wrong with most churches today. We have

many people who are passionate for God and his work, yet who are
unconnected to their own emotions or those around them. The
combination is deadly, both for the church and the leader’s personal life.101

98
Peter L. Steinke, How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional
Systems (Herndon, Va.: Alban Institute, 2006), xiv.
99
Ibid.
100
Malphurs, Leading Leaders, xvi.
101
Peter Scazzero and Warren Bird, The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship
That Actually Changes Lives (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 37.
 35

Scazzero emphasizes that if Pastors are not leading with an understanding of the

“relational system” that is around them; they will face many dangers and thus

become less effective in leading their team.

Aubrey Malphurs addresses the same issue:

Serving on a church board in the twenty-first century is a leadership

intensive enterprise. It’s not for the timid or faint heart (2 Tim. 1:7). It
requires courage to take necessary risks, stand up for what you believe,
address difficult issues, oppose the cynics, accept responsibility, and
preserve in difficult times.102

Part of that courage, Malphurs points out, is the ability to see your church and

your staff team for who they are and how they function. As lead pastors do this

they will be able to more effectively lead their teams.

In the book How Your Church Family Works, Peter L. Steinke addresses

how leaders are to think of their church as a “system.” He says, “The concepts

portrayed in system thinking offer us means through which to make visible and

specific what is unseen and confusing.”103 He goes on to point out that leaders

need to think about “human interactions” in a new way to build their “awareness”

of what is healthy and what is not healthy within our church system.104 Steninke

emphasizes the need for lead pastors to understand the dynamics of their teams

in order to be effective leaders.

Other authors communicate the importance of understanding the church

as a system. Jim Herrington says:

But if you want to harness the power inherent in a living system, if you
desire to grow in the capacity to lead without compromising your

102
Malphurs, Leading Leaders, 57.
103
Steinke How Your Church Family Works, xv. [Comments from author of paper: This is an
awkward sentence – but a direct quote from the book.]
104
Ibid.
 36

principles, you must learn to see your world anew—with a systems

paradigm. You must learn to be able to see what is going on around you,
observe the anxiety, note your own part in it, and manage yourself amid
the pressure.105

According to Herrington, leaders are to see the world anew. They are to see what

is going on around within the context of relationships and relational dynamics if

they are going to be effective leaders.

In a study on what makes a healthy church author Ronald Richardson

says,

One of the keys to functioning in a healthy manner as a church is for the

leaders to look at the church as a system rather than as a collection of
isolated people. Every church is more than a collection of individual
members. People in the church, as in any group, are intricately
interconnected. They exist in a system that is much bigger and more
powerful than the individual members. Each person both influences and is
influenced by everyone else.106

Richardson states that these “interconnected” relationships are important

for us to understand in church contexts. He points out, “Some of these include

the cultural, the structural (who has what offices and performs what jobs),

communication, decision-making, and economic systems.”107 However,

Richardson points out that “it is the emotional system that is the most difficult to

detect and to understand, let alone to try to change.”108 The author also says that

effective leadership must have a good understanding of the emotional dynamics

of their team and know the difficulties that exist within their team.

105
Herrington, The Leader’s Journey, 47.
106
Ronald W. Richardson, Creating a Healthier Church: Family Systems Theory, Leadership, and
Congregational Life Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling Series (Minneapolis: Fortress Press,
1996), 26.
107
Ibid, 29.
108
Ibid.
 37

Richardson’s work helps leaders in churches to understand the emotional

systems that exist within the church and their part in influencing these systems.

He says, “It is essential that leaders in a church be aware of how the emotional

system operates in their own congregation. They need to be aware of the part

they play in the emotional system and how they can become a more constructive

force for improving the emotional life of the church.”109

Understanding Systems: Anxiety and Change

The literature studied offered insights into the understanding of how the

church works together as a system that is filled with anxiety. Steinke comments

about how leaders can help understand and stabilize an anxious system, Steinke

says:

If groups can be affected by marching orders – clear or confused –

congregations can be equally influenced by the steady and calm presence
of their leadership. The leader’s self-command can stabilize the whole
system, despite the pervasive anxiety that exists in and infiltrates the
community. In practice, the nonanxious presence of congregational
leaders has a positive effect. It leads to less friction, more imagination,
and healthier functioning. A person’s presence as a leader is incredibly
valuable to the welfare of the congregation. How a person handles his
anxiety, the anxiety focused on him by others, and the anxiety seeping
into the system is vital to the welfare of the congregation. Leadership,
often thought to be about action, is more about interaction.110

According to Steinke, leaders are called to play significant roles in

understanding and stabilizing their system so that the community is able to move

forward. A committed understanding of how the church functions and what

causes disequilibrium (or anxiety) is vital to a leader’s effectiveness.

109
Ibid.
110
Peter L. Steinke, Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm and Courageous
No Matter What (Herndon, Va.: Alban Institute, 2006), 34.
 38

In his book Generation to Generation Friedman also makes a connection

between leadership effectiveness and the ability for leaders to understand and

maintain their system. He says, “

What is vital to changing any kind of ‘family’ is not knowledge of technique

or even of pathology but, rather, the capacity of the family leader to define
his or her own goals and values while trying to maintain a nonanxious
presence within the system.111

A key part of leadership, according to Friedman, is the ability leaders have to see

their system and not respond with anxiety when faced with the need for change.

Maphurs highlights how effective leaders are called to address such

questions as why the church family resists change and how a church staff team

can best understand their own interdependencies and patterns of relating.

Malphurs also says that leaders should understand their role in bringing change

to their leadership team.112 This understanding of a leader’s role in their church

leadership system, according to Malphurs, will need to be understood before

leaders can effectively lead their team toward change.113

Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky reference the role of anxiety and change

when they speak of change as loss. They say, “people don’t resist change, per

se. People resist loss.”114 Leaders, according to these authors need to

understand that team members resist adaptive change because it confronts them

with loss. Most teams, according to this work, will welcome technical changes,

but resist leaders who bring about new solutions to problems organizations

111
Friedman, Generation to Generation, 2-3.
112
Malphurs, Leading Leaders, 62-64.
113
Ibid, 65-66;122.
114
Heifetz, Leadership on the Line, 11.
 39

face.115 Effective leaders, according to these authors, are those who are able to

understand the dynamics of change within their staff team.

The literature has shown that leaders must overcome anxiety and be able

to bring about change within their team. The books cited have shown us that this

understanding of the dynamics of staff teams is vital to the effectiveness of all

leaders.

Summary: Understanding Systems

The literature cited above showed us that it is important for leaders to

understand how systems work within a church culture. In specific, the literature

directed toward business leaders and lead pastors reflects the need for all who

lead staff teams to gain a greater understanding of system theory as it relates to

their team. According to the literature, leaders need to gain greater understand of

how their teams work relationally and emotionally. Leaders also need to address

how anxiety and change work within a team setting if they are going to be

effective leaders.

Next, the literature selected for this study demonstrated that personal

spiritual growth is important for effective leadership. The following discussion will

show how many authors point to spiritual growth as an essential ingredient in

effective leadership – especially within a church context.

Effective Leadership: Personal Spiritual Growth

The literature studied showed that effective church leadership is always

accompanied by personal spiritual growth. In specific there were two areas that

were uncovered in the literature which produce spiritual growth. These areas are:

115
Ibid, 11-15.
 40

the practice of prayer and reflection and the development true humility as leaders

face struggles and difficulties. These areas of spiritual growth were studied in this

review.

Personal Spiritual Growth: Introduction

The literature shows the importance of the spiritual health of leaders.

Scazzero states, “Christian spirituality, without an integration of emotional health,

can be deadly---to yourself, your relationship with God, and the people around

you.”116 This author writes that emotionally healthy leadership practices are vital,

not only for the continued growth of the team, but also for the ongoing spiritual

health of the leader. Scazzero claims that it is both vital and difficult for a leader

to experience personal spiritual growth.

The authors of The Leader’s Journey state continue to emphasis the

importance of spiritual growth in a leader’s life. The say:

The pastoral community is in trouble. Pastors are called on to lead, but

they face the same challenges that every other believer faces. Although
expected to assist others in their personal transformation, the pastor often
has no place to turn for the encouragement and mentoring required for his
or her own spiritual formation.117

According to this work on leadership, pastors have faced many obstacles in

developing their spiritual walk with Christ. However, these authors claim that

personal growth is an essential ingredient to effective leadership.

Henri Nouwen also comments on leadership and spiritual growth. He

says,

116
Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life in Christ
(Nashville, TN: Integrity Publishers, 2006), 7.
117
Herrington, The Leaders Journey, 5.
 41

The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women
of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God’s presence, to listen
to God’s voice, to look at God’s beauty, to touch God’s incarnate Word
and to taste fully God’s infinite goodness?118

Nouwen challenges leaderships to consider how they are growing

spirituality. Throughout his many writings, he claims that to lead any spiritual

community, leaders need to be fully engaged people of God connected to their

heavenly Father in confession and forgiveness.119 He further brings this point

home when he says,

Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well-informed

opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be
rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word,
Jesus, and they need to find there the source for their words, advice, and
guidance.120

The literature says that leaders need to exercise leadership in the church

in an environment of personal connection with the Lord. For example, author

Chuck Miller says that true biblical leadership comes only within a framework of a

vital walk with Christ and that spiritual growth is vital for every leader. He states,

Jesus invites us to come to Him – to establish a growing, dynamic,

ongoing relationship with Him. Then He invites us to take on His yoke - -
to commit ourselves to our relationship with Him and consequently to
relinquish our life and our concerns to His control.121

Miller’s work helps leaders see the invitation to a deeper spiritual life, if

they are going to lead effectively. The process of maturing in Christ directly

118
Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York:
Crossroad, 1989), 29-30.
119
Ibid, 45-51.
120
Ibid, 31.
121
Miller, The Spiritual Formation of Leaders, 36.
 42

impacts the ability to lead, according to Miller. He says effective Christian leaders

are people who can develop skills, insight, and character.122

Personal spiritual growth is often referred to as an “inside out process.”123

For example, in The Leaders Journey, we read,

Remember: personal transformation—becoming an effective spiritual

leader—is an inside-out process of growing obedience to Christ. It is
helped along by the presence of a safe community of coaches and peers
who offer grace and speak truth, but most of all it calls us to a reflective
life centered in the person of Jesus Christ.124

According to these authors, discovering how leaders can develop the inside

spiritual life is essential to their walk with Christ and effectiveness as a leader of

ministry teams.

Personal Spiritual Growth: Prayer and Self-Reflection

Richard Lovelace places great importance on prayer for leaders who need

to lead staff teams:

Missions cannot be effectively pursued without prayer, disenculturation

and theological integration. Realistic and effective prayer can only grow
out of a community oriented toward mission. Genuine Christian community
takes part of its motivation from shared consciousness of mission, grows
out of an expresses itself in prayer, and requires disenculturation and
theological integration.125

In Lovelace’s work, we see that prayer and spiritual growth are an essential part

of and effective leader’s life.

The literature also points out that true spiritual health requires some

specific personal skills. For example, In Heroic Leadership, Chris Lowney

122
Ibid, 63-70.
123
See Larry Crabb, Inside Out and Gordon MacDonald, Ordering Your Private World.
124
Herrington, The Leaders Journey, 12-13.
125
Richard F. Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal
(Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1979), 146.
 43

comments on the importance of self-reflection and self-awareness. He states,

“The good news is that everyone has the capacity to cultivate these leadership

skills by committing to the personal introspective investment that will develop

them.”126 True spiritual health will require self-reflection and time needed for

personal understanding.

One author provides a summary for the importance of spiritual growth. He

emphasizes personal prayer and reflection. He says,

Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well-informed

opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be
rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word,
Jesus, and they need to find there the source for their words, advice, and
guidance.127

The spiritual growth, according to this author involves an “intimate relationship”

with Christ.

The literature has shown that personal spiritual growth comes about

through personal prayer and reflection.

Personal Spiritual Growth: True Humility

The need for a leader to take these steps points to another important

quality that a leader must possess – humility. This quality has been discussed in

Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, where he speaks of a “level five leadership

quality.” Jim Collins states,

Leading from good to great does not mean coming up with the answers
and then motivating everyone to follow your messianic vision. It means
having the humility to grasp the fact that you do not yet understand

126
Lowney, Heroic Leadership, 96.
127
Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus, 31.
 44

enough to have the answers and then to ask the questions that will lead to
the best possible insights.128

Other works share similar insight. In The Leadership Challenge, we read:

“Humility is the only way to resolve the conflicts and contradictions of

leaderships. You can avoid pride only if you recognize that you’re human and the

need to help of others.”129 It takes a tremendous amount of healthy spiritual

growth and maturity to be humble.

Personal Spiritual Growth: In the Midst of Struggles

The literature studied claims that effective leaders are maturing in their

spiritual health through the myriad of struggles that are before them. Lead

pastors integrate their knowledge and practice of Christian principles with their

leadership style and commitment to Christ.

“To lead is to struggle”130, says the author if the insightful work titled

Transforming Leadership. Ford points out that “Leadership always involves

change, moving people from one point to another, from the old way of doing

things to new, from the security in the past to the insecurity in the future.”131 He

reminds us that “Jesus accepted conflict as another opportunity of developing His

disciples.”132 To learn from conflict as we lead, takes great humility and security

in Christ, according to Ford. The author ends this chapter on transforming

leadership, asking leaders to consider the following; “we can seek and learn from

him [Jesus] [to find] answers to such questions as these: Is my inner security firm

128
James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap-- and Others Don't
(New York: HarperBusiness, 2001), 75.
129
Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge, 347.
130
Leighton Ford, Transforming Leadership: Jesus’ Way of Creating Vision, Shaping Values &
Empowering Change (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1991), 251.
131
Ibid.
 45

in Christ, so that my own inner conflicts are being resolved?”133 Ford points out

that the spiritually growing leader is secure enough to find his security and hope

in Christ as he humbly leads through conflict – as God changes him and grows

him as a leader.

Summary: Personal Spiritual Growth

This literature identifies both the practices and the benefits that come to

leaders as they develop spiritual health and growth. It has shown that leaders

grow spiritually through the practice of prayer and reflection, living a life of true

humility and in the midst of struggles and difficulties. According to the literature

studied, effective leaders must be personally spiritually maturing in Christ.

Summary: Literature Review

The purpose of this chapter was to review literature to discover how the

principles and practices of effective leaders can be applied to the church setting.

The review of selected resources has provided insight into the importance of

effective leadership and has shown how vital effective leadership is for the

growth of any team. If leaders are going to accomplish the mission before them,

the literature has shown that leaders will need to build trust, understand the

dynamics of their team from a systems perspective, and become leaders who are

growing spiritually.

The next chapter will provide a description of the study that was

conducted with lead pastors to uncover best practices in leading staff team

toward mission. The next chapter will also provide a description of the design and

132
Ibid, 268.
133
Ibid, 271.
 46

implementation of the interviews that were conducted with those who lead paid

staff teams.
 47

CHAPTER THREE – PROJECT METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this study was to research how experienced and effective

church team leaders motivate their paid staff teams toward mission. In order to

address the purpose of this study, the following research questions were

explored:

1. What are best practices for team leaders to build trust within a church staff
team?

2. How does understanding the dynamics of organizational systems help a

team leader to lead the team?

3. What personal spiritual growth principles enable team leaders to lead from
a foundation of grace?

This chapter outlines the method that was used to examine these questions.

Design of the Study

In order to best understand the subject of this study, a qualitative method

was employed. “Qualitative studies are tools used in understanding and

describing the world of human experience.”134 Data was gathered through the

participants’ words and interactions. The researcher then analyzed the interview

data received from the participants’ points of view. Qualitative research assumes

that time will be spent with experts in a particular area of study who can share

their experiences about the phenomenon being studied.

Sharan Merriam describes qualitative study as “an umbrella concept

covering several forms of inquiry that help us understand and explain the

meaning of social phenomena with as little disruption of the natural setting as

134
Sharan B. Merriam, Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation (San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009), 1.
 48

possible.”135 This type of study employs methods that are used to study cultures

and cultural phenomena. Qualitative research emphasizes subjective experience,

seeks to uncover the essence of that experience, and takes into account

observations of specific “real-world” phenomena that need to be interpreted and

understood in the context of that experience. This method employs questions in

an atmosphere of trust and understanding so that real-life situations can be

discussed openly.

The qualitative method enabled the researcher to be the primary

researcher as well as the primary interpreter of the experiences of others. As the

information gleaned from the research interviews was evaluated, the researcher

developed a better understanding of the topic. Best practices were discovered

using this method.

The qualitative approach was selected for this study because it allowed

better analysis of the experiences of the research subjects. It also provided a

framework of transferable principles to guide other pastors who lead teams. The

personal interviews created opportunities for the researcher to investigate team

dynamics and see relational systems at work. The researcher gained insight into

the experiences of others and applied those insights to situations that others

face.

Sample Selection

Participants were selected from a pool of church staff team leaders who

have been effective in one or more of the areas of church staff team leadership.

135
Ibid, 5.
 49

Through the use of published statistical data from the Presbyterian Church in

America (PCA) records and through a reputational analysis drawn from

conversations with respected leaders in the PCA, participants from both the PCA

and the EPC were selected for this study.

There were five participants selected from the Presbyterian Church in

America and two lead pastors selected from the Evangelical Presbyterian

Church. All pastors were referred to the interviewer by respected informants as

effective staff team leaders. The informants who recommended these

participants were seminary professors and other PCA church leaders who are

well known in the denomination.

All participants worked in a church of at least five hundred members since

churches of this size typically have more paid staff. These pastors lead a paid

staff team of at least three full-time staff pastoral staff involved in leading ministry

areas of the church (as apposed to administrative staff).

All participants selected have served in their ministry position for at least

three years. This criteria was used because leaders needed to be established in

relationships of those on their team. Also, these leaders needed to be able to

have experienced significant leadership opportunities.

 50

Participants selected for this study came from different areas of the

country and represent differing styles of worship. All of the pastors interviewed

expressed a clear belief in the authority of Scripture, desire to utilize a biblical

foundation of leadership and teach a reformed, orthodox view of Christianity.

This study examined best practices for staff leadership. Some staff teams

are led by a Senior Pastor, while other staff teams are led by non-Senior Pastors,

such as an Associate Pastor. Most multiple staff teams have reporting structures

where Pastoral staff share responsibilities for team oversight. Since it is

impossible for an outsider to fully understand the exact reporting structure, all of

the interviews were with the Senior Pastor.

Each of these participants was initially contacted by email. A follow up

phone call was made to confirm the receipt of the email. After the participant

agreed to participate in this study a meeting place and time was established.

Data Collection – Interviews

Data in this study was collected through the recording of the interviews

with the participants. Participants were interviewed one-on-one and were invited

to share their experiences and thoughts openly. While it was preferred that the

interviews be conducted face-to-face, the logistics and travel costs required that

most of the interviews be conducted over the telephone. Each interview was

recorded and transcribed for later analysis.

The analysis of the interview involved several steps of examining common

themes and practices. Descriptions and anecdotal stories from the participant

were reported and evaluated.

 51

Each interview lasted approximately one hour. A semi-structured interview

process was employed. Questions from each area of the study were asked, as

well as other follow-up questions.

Data Analysis

Data gained in the interviews was analyzed through constant comparative

analysis. The researcher looked for statements and signs of behavior that

occurred or were repeated during the study. The process of constant comparison

"stimulates thought that leads to both descriptive and explanatory categories."136

Each interview was evaluated and compared with others. Common themes,

thoughts and reasoning were noted and codified. Conclusions were drawn as the

data was cross-linked and verified with other data.

This method of analysis depended upon the researcher’s understanding of

the data and the way that the participant’s experience was evaluated and

understood. The main purpose of the study was to understand the practices of

participants within the context of the study. The interviews provided a set of

common experiences that led to best practices.

Proposed Interview Guide

As previously stated, the researcher followed a semi-structured interview

process. The interview questions provided a framework for interaction with the

research subjects. These interview questions were not provided beforehand to

the participants.

136
Janesick, V. J. (1994). The dance of qualitative research design: Metaphor, methodology, and
meaning. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), 341.
 52

The following introductory questions clarified the organization and function

of the staff team, as well as the specific role of the staff team leader.

Introductory Questions:

1. Describe your staff team. How many staff members do you lead and what
is the overall reporting structure?
2. What is your specific role in leading your staff team?
3. Describe the mission of your church and how you articulate this mission to
your
team and your congregation.
4. How often does your team meet? Describe a typical week for your team
members.

The following questions were asked to each participant to help understand

how leaders develop trust within their organization.

Trust / Understanding how leaders can develop trust

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe a situation where you noticed that your team really trusted you
as a leader. What happened? Why?
2. Describe a situation where you noticed that your team did not trust you
completely as a leader. What happened? Why?
3. Describe a time when you started a new initiative to build trust within your
team. What did you do and how did it work?
4. What has changed about your leadership style in the last five years? What
have you learned about how you can build a more cohesive team? How
did you learn these lessons?

Questions were also asked regarding how each participant understood

their relational system in their staff team.

Understanding Relational Systems

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe an example of how your team functions as a unit. Who are the
players and how do they contribute and connect within your team?
2. Describe a time when anxiety “came over” your team. What did you do?
What do you wish you had done? Why?
 53

3. Tell me about a time when you were blinded by some “unseen forces” that
shaped your team’s actions or feelings. How did you respond to this
specific situation?

Finally, questions were asked in regard to personal spiritual growth. Each

participant was directed to speak about how they are growing as a follower of

Christ and how this impacts their team.

Personal Spiritual Growth

Discussion Questions:

1. How would you describe the purpose of practicing spiritual disciplines?137

Tell me how this works out for you in practice.
2. Tell me about a time when you were struggling spiritually. What did you do
to see this change?
3. What weekly practices help you stay vital in your walk with Christ? How
important is this to you? Why?

Other Interview Considerations

Many of the pastors interviewed had great demands on their time. Care

was taken to respect their time by communicating to them beforehand the time

needed for the interview. In addition, the researcher’s opening comments

included the assurance that any specific information about the subject’s staff or

ministry would be held in confidence. It was important to ensure that those

interviewed knew that care would be taken to respect their privacy. To that end,

the researcher also used pseudonyms for the pastors and their staff. Through

this process, confidentiality was maintained, and those interviewed were able to

speak freely about their specific ministry experiences.

In addition, in order to preserve confidentiality care has been taken to delete the

interview files – both audio and electronic files. Any identifiable factors were

137
Herrington, The Leaders Journey, 142.
 54

carefully removed or changed from the results to protect the confidentiality of

those interviewed.

The results of this study were not provided to those interviewed but is

available to all those who request it.

Researcher Bias and Assumptions

Since the researcher has never served as a senior pastor, he was limited

in understanding of the situations and pressures that senior pastors face in

leading churches. The researcher’s interpretation was biased upon his own

experience as an Associate Pastor in a particular church context.

Participants were only selected from large churches. The results of this

study would likely have been different if had it included participants from smaller

church settings.

Lastly, since participants were paid church staff leaders, the research did

not include interviews with volunteer leaders. This study could be repeated in a

similar way with volunteer helpers. If volunteers were interviewed and their

comments studied, it would likely produce significantly different results.

Study Limitations

This study was limited to lead pastors who were considered “successful”

in leading their teams. This was determined by references from denominational

statistics and other leaders’ recommendations. Pastors interviewed were limited

to those who have a growing church, with a defined mission and healthy staff

team relationships. A growing church is reflected in both numerical growth and a

reputation for developmental maturity of the congregation. Information about staff

 55

team leadership could certainly come from pastors who were not part of the

selection criteria.

This study focused on questions regarding the way the participants build

trust within their teams, the way they see and interact with their teams as

systems, and the way they keep their spiritual vitality active and growing. There

were areas identified in the literature. A limitation of this research is that there

many other areas dealing with the leadership of teams that go beyond the scope

of this study.

The conclusions of this study were limited to the ways in which the

subjects led their teams toward the specific calling of their local church. The

research did not address the manner in which this calling or mission was defined.

In addition, a characteristic of all qualitative research is that the study is limited to

the experiences of the selected pastors and is not immediately generalizable to

the broader population. The conclusions were dependent upon the experiences

of those pastors selected to participate in the research.

The researcher interviewed pastors who lead staff teams of at least three

members. Some of the results may not be immediately transferable to those lead

pastors who lead fewer than three or many more than three.

All of the subjects interviewed were lead pastors of the PCA. Therefore,

the results of this study may not be as applicable to those in other

denominations. The focus of the study on people from the PCA narrowed the

focus of the participants’ experience base. In other words, if other denominations

were included, the study may have had different results.

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Summary: Project Methodology

This chapter described the methodology was used in the qualitative study

of how to effectively lead staff teams toward mission. The design of the study and

the interview questions have been outlined, along with a description of the criteria

used in the selection of those interviewed. The researcher bias and assumptions

along with the limitations of the study have also been described. The next

chapter details the findings acquired from the interviews.

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CHAPTER FOUR – FINDINGS

Overview

The purpose of this study was to understand best practices for leading

staff teams toward mission. In order to gain a greater understanding of how

teams are effectively led, interviews of seven pastors who fit the aforementioned

criteria were selected. All those selected were lead pastors who lead paid staff

teams of more than three full time pastoral staff.

In an attempt to gather a broad range of perspectives, those selected

came from different areas of the country and from differing styles of worship. All

of the pastors interviewed had an expressed commitment to the Bible as the

authority for their teaching, leadership and practices in the church.

All of the participants were extremely willing to talk about their ministries.

As mentioned above, contact with these leaders was first made via email and

then followed with a phone call. Most of the pastors contacted had been involved

in doctoral work and understood the process and need for this type of research.

The response from those interviewed was warm and inviting. An

explanation of the project was discussed at the start of the interview as well as a

discussion of why they were selected. Permission was also gained to record the

conversation and the length of time needed for the interview was discussed.

(Each interview lasted no longer than one hour.)

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All of the interviewees expressed surprise that they had been chosen to

participate in a study about leadership. Many of the pastors interviewed didn’t

feel adequate to answer questions about the best way to lead a team. At some

point during each interview, those interviewed appeared to feel inadequate to

have been selected for this project. Many of them asked for the interviewer to

describe again by what criteria they were selected for this interview.

All of those interviewed cared a great deal about the purity, peace, and

progress of the church. It was evident during the interview process that the

interviewees and their churches had a great desire to build staff teams that

honored Christ and carried out His cause more effectively. In addition, all the

leaders interviewed shared a sense that leading a team was difficult and that it

was a learning process. These leaders all knew that there was no “formula” for

leading a team and communicated this during the interview many times.

Participant Descriptions

Name Church Description Notes / Church Style and Context

How many weekly attend “Bill” leads a growing church that
(an average?) is in the south. Their style of
1200 worship is somewhat formal.
How many years has the There are many young people
“Bill”
Pastor been there? 20 who attend and the church which
continues to be a great teaching,
outreach and family centered
ministry.

How many weekly attend This church has exploded with

(an average?) growth in the last 8 years. The
1900-2000 pastors work as co-pastors and
“Dan” How many years has the share leadership responsibilities.
Pastor been there? 8 The church is located in a college
town and reaches out to many
churched young people.

“George” How many weekly attend

(an average?) “George” leads a more formal
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800 church. Worship is more

How many years has the traditional and the style of ministry
Pastor been there? 20 would be considered relational but
structured. The ministry continues
to grow and develop in programs
and outreach.

How many weekly attend “Nelson” leads a very relational

(an average?) church. The ministry is unique in
“Nelson”
950 that they have started many
How many years has the daughter churches.
Pastor been there? 14
How many weekly attend This church is formal in structure
(an average?) but claims to be relational in
566 practice. The pastor of this church
“Stephen” How many years has the has been given a lot of power, by
Pastor been there? 12 the Session, to set the direction
for the staff team and mission of
the church.

How many weekly attend “Ryan” leads a very relational

(an average?) church with many gifted leaders
1200 Adults and teachers. He has served in
“Ryan”
1000 Children the church for many years and
How many years has the has great credibility with his staff
Pastor been there? 20 team.

How many weekly attend “Daniel” leads a very relational

(an average?) church with more of a corporate
450-650 feel to leadership. Many systems
How many years has the are in place to help direct, train
“Daniel” Pastor been there? 10 and encourage his leaders.
“Daniel” is a relational leader but
also very concerned with weekly
attendance and giving
consistency.

Introduction: Findings

The purpose of this study was to research how experienced and effective

church team leaders motivate their paid staff teams toward mission. In order to

address the purpose of this study, the following research questions were

explored:
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1. What are best practices for team leaders to build trust within a paid church
staff team?

2. How does understanding the dynamics of organizational systems help a

team leader lead?

3. What personal spiritual growth principles enable team leaders to

effectively lead from a foundation of grace?

In order to investigate best practices for the above questions, lead pastors

were interviewed within a semi-structured interview process. Introductory

questions were asked about their church and their leadership responsibilities.

Questions were also asked about how these leaders develop trust within their

staff team. In addition, those interviewed were asked to reflect on their team

dynamics and how their team functions as a system. Lastly, the participants were

asked to reflect on their own spiritual disciplines and how these practices

influence the effectiveness of their leadership. The following results were

compiled from these interview questions.

Introductory Questions

Introductory questions were asked about general topics of their ministry at

the start of each interview. These initial questions were focused on the

responsibility that leaders have as they lead their paid staff team. First, questions

were focused on how they structured their staff team oversight. The results of the

questions are as follows:

Overall Team Leadership Structure and Leadership Role

All of those interviewed were asked about the structure of their staff team.

The oversight structure that was described by these lead pastors involved both

formal and informal connections. Five of the pastors interviewed described a very
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formal structure of accountability staff leadership. The other two pastors

described a much less structured – a more informal – approach toward their

leadership.

Two examples of more structured approach follow. Bill said,

I meet with the director and pastors…once a week…there are 11 people in

that meeting…each of those heads [of ministries] is then connected to an
elder so that the session actually has a co-chair over those ministries. So
the direct reports who come to me, all of them have also a co-chair, an
equal authoritative figure from the session, a lay leader, I mean an
elder…so those elders meet with those co-chairs, the directors and
pastors.

Lead Pastor Stephen spoke in a similar way about the formal structure of

his staff team. He said,

We have essentially reporting through different pastors. So I have four

direct reports to me…two of whom are Associate Pastors. Then our
Director of Media reports to me and my assistant reports to me. Under
those two Associate Pastors, though, we have a whole tree of reporting
relationships [setup].

Stephen spoke about the specific meetings and meeting times in a well defined
way.

Other pastors described a more informal approach. For example, Lead

Pastor Daniel described the reporting structure of his church this way,

Well, we do it very different here at [Church Name]…The way we work is

that he [another lead pastor] and I, along with another pastor and then our
Director of Operations…meet about every week [with our staff]…so we
have those meetings on a weekly basis, pretty much.

Daniel continued to talk about the informal structure and meeting times he has

with those he leads. He said that the church has never been a place of “strict

structure” as the leadership “doesn’t operate well in a highly structured

environment.”
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The other lead pastor who described a more informal approach toward

oversight was Ryan. He said,

We have nine-teen staff members. And I meet with the key leaders of
each of the main areas of the ministry. I try to get with them at least once
a week, but certainly two times a month. My role is not so much to cover
their goals, but to relate to my staff.

He continued the discussion by describing how the culture of his church was

informal because it was called to reach out to the “unchurched.” This informal

structure, according to Ryan, influenced the way he led his paid staff team –

even to the point that he did not have a set weekly schedule to meet with his

team.

Mission of the Church

Other initial questions were focused on how the lead pastors interviewed

understand and articulate the mission of the church. Six of the participants

interviewed were asked about the specific mission of the church. These six lead

pastors responded with similar responses. They all described a very clear

mission and articulated the vision of the church with great clarity and skill.

For example, Lead Pastor Stephen said,

We have a Mission Statement…they’re called mission principles and so

it’s fleshing out under five headings the DNA – we call it [church name]
DNA – because it’s our own philosophy of ministry. And the mission that
the Lord has called us to…is clear because together we have created this
document and agreed upon it and then empowered me to lead in
executing the mission. So, I hire the best staff team that I can to be able to
do that. That’s the goal anyway.

Pastor Bill also indicated that the mission of his church was well

documented. He said,
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I’m called to do and in charge to execute a strategic plan. Obviously,

again, as we’re governed by the Book of Church Order…There’s a variety
of ideas that war constantly included in that strategic plan, but we’ve really
boiled to two or three things that I’m executing every day and that’s to
constantly remind us of our mission and vision and constantly keep in front
of them the direction we’re going.

These two examples above are good representative examples of how the

pastors interviewed expressed a defined mission in the form of written

documentation.

In addition to questions concerning the structure and mission of the church

questions were also asked about how leaders built trust in their organization. The

following section provides the some of the responses by the lead pastors in

building trust.

Building Trust

The purpose of this study was to understand how lead pastors can

motivate their staff team toward mission. The literature review showed that

effective leaders were those who were able to build trust on their teams. In this

section, effective lead pastors were interviewed about how they built trust on their

team, how they understand the relational systems of their team and how these

lead pastors remain spiritually vital in their walk with Christ. This section provides

the responses to questions associated with building trust on the team.

Questions were asked about how trust was built on the team to every

participant in the study. In addition, those interviewed were asked to share

situations that provide insight into the way their paid staff team learned to trust

them.
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The findings showed that pastors related to how trust was build in several

different ways. Trust was built, according to those interviewed, in the midst of

struggles, in the context of failures and as team leaders practiced a shared

model of leadership. The following pages outline these interview findings.

Trust Built in the Midst of Struggles

One of the common themes from the interviews was that trust was built on

their staff team through struggles. Numerous stories and comments were

provided on this topic. Without exception, the pastors all expressed that trust was

built during times of crisis, struggles and conflict.

For example, George shared about how he has lost a close friend. Several

months after he experienced this significant loss, he said, “I felt free to share [my

grief] with the younger guys. I think they came out of that feeling very affirmed

and feeling like I trusted them in a new way particularly because I had lost my

closest friend [and I was able to talk with them about this.]” He explained that in

the midst of this trial, his team was brought closer to him and to each other.

Other pastors shared about difficult decisions that had to be made, and

they noted that those struggles created trust. The process of working through

difficulties that teams faced, like what should be done about an outdated and

unusable building and staff conflicts, were spoken about in the interviews as

ways trust was built.

For example, Pastor Ryan related the following situation,

People [in the congregation] weren’t sure what our future was because
there was no place in [the city] for us to meet…but the staff trusted us to
get through it and trusted God to raise the desire on the part of our
congregation to sacrifice for it. It was one of those things that seemed
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impossible to happen, and it happened, bigger and better than any of us

could have imagined. And it was good for our staff to see that – our
leadership through that crisis, so to speak.”

Lead Pastor Ryan said that in the midst of this trial trust was built on his team.

His story showed us that his team knew that they could rely on each other more

when they faced other difficult situations.

Lead Pastor Daniel also related a story of conflict and trust in a difficult

ministry situation. He said, “We had a new guy come in, and I’ve had to sit him

down and say ‘You’re doing your job just fine, but you’re not becoming part of the

team. You’re not sacrificing with us. You’re not showing up at things that aren’t

necessarily your job. You’re not literally rolling up your sleeves and pitching in

with things.” Pastor Daniel evaluated it as “a bit of a generational issue, and it

was a bit of a personality issue,” as he spoke about this conflict with the team

member. “As a result of this conflict and confrontation from the pastor,” Daniel

said, “he actually received it really well and has made a lot of significant changes,

and I think he would say those are position changes for him and his ministry.”

Other pastors interviewed shared similar stories of how trust was built

through conflict. Pastor Bill said,

It’s kind of a negotiator’s nightmare to actually pastor a staff of people. It’s

much easier to pastor a congregation because they’re tithing to you to do
a good job for them, to preach the Gospel, to marry them, to bury them, to
administer the sacraments…that group is, in some ways, much easier
than the paid staff because they are there to actually do a job that you can
discern whether they’re doing it or not… the way you build the best trust
and the quickest trust is you do the hard thing.
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What is displayed by the example above is an example of how trust is built

through not only experiencing difficult situations, but also lead pastors need to do

“hard things”, according to Pastor Bill.

Other “hard things” that pastors related were situations with ministry

disappointments and when anxiety came over a team. For example, Nelson

shared how anxiety came over his team during a building expansion project. He

said

[As a ] Session and as a staff team, we had gotten to the point where we
really believed we needed to go into a huge building program – twelve-
million-dollar building program. We suddenly found out that the
congregation wasn’t ready. So that was highly unexpected. And so the
staff really had to deal with that…We had to talk through how are we going
to lead the sheep forward…So this team just sort of pulls together and
does it.

Trust Built in the Midst of Failure

Of the seven pastors interviewed, five of them pointed to significant

failures as a key part of building trust in their teams. The pastors interviewed

claimed that as they made mistakes and admitted or owned up to these

mistakes, greater trust in the team was built.

For example, Lead Pastor Bill said, “The toughest moments are letting

people go…do it properly [and] people really believe that you’re there for their

best.” However, at times, Bill said he had made mistakes about how he handled

situations of staff transitions. Yet, he claimed that as he “owned up to this

mistake, the team trusted him more.” And another result was that the team was

more able to communicate their failures.

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Trust built in the midst of personal failure was also commented on by Lead

Pastor Nelson. He said:

Handling failure is one of the best ways that you develop trust. And it’s
odd, but it’s really what Jesus said when He was asked,”Who’s the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”…How I handle my failure and critique
from them when I mess up…If they [the staff] have to walk on eggshells
around me…If they can’t walk up to me and say, “That was not wise. I
really disagree with that.” Then there’s not trust [in the relationship].

Trust, according to Nelson, comes about in the context of “failure and critique”.

Three other pastors interviewed, pointed to significant failures as a key

part of building trust in their teams. Another example came from Pastor Stephen.

He said,

I had a staff person tell me they couldn’t work with me any longer and took
another position at another church and left and it caused a real difficult
time with my session. Thankfully, not with any other staff [left] but it did
cause a real difficulty with me…that was the biggest gut check that I’ve
had certainly in ministry in evaluating my own heart and my own
leadership style and whether or not this particular place was the best
place for me. It was deeply painful for [me]…yet it was a great bonding
time for us [as a team].

Stephen went on to explain how he knew that he had made some mistakes and

admitted to the team about these mistakes, trust was built with the staff team

members who remained.

Trust is built, according to those interviewed, in the midst of personal

failure. This was also highlighted by Lead Pastor Daniel. He related a situation

about one of his staff workers that is relevant here. He said there was a person

who had made some mistakes about they way they had handled a particular

volunteer on a team. He said, “The staff person had to humble their pride and the

staff person had to lose some face and go to their team of volunteers and ask for
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forgiveness.” This was a difficult process for the staff member, yet Daniel said it

produced a great deal of trust in that team.

We have seen that those interviewed pointed to personal failure as an

important part of building trust on a team. The findings show that as staff

members are able to admit their mistakes – especially a lead staff, trust will be

built on the team.

Trust Built Within A Shared Ministry Approach

The lead pastors interviewed offered personal examples of how those they

lead developed trust in them as pastors delegated responsibilities to the staff.

This practice of shared leadership was a common theme from all of the

participants as they reflected on how trust was built on their team.

All of those interviewed shared similar insight. They said that as they

encouraged their staff to take leadership and ownership of the ministry, there

was great impact in the way their team trusted them. In fact, when presented with

the question “When you lead, how is trust developed on your team?” six of the

seven pastors interviewed claimed that as they practice a shared leadership

model greater trust was developed.

For example, Lead Pastor Nelson said, “As a Reformed Church….we

believe the elders run the church. So one of our decentralizing ideas was ‘how do

we get it out of the omni-competent pastor?’” He discussed how to involve all the

church leadership in the ministry, observing that, “It kind of forces everybody [the

elders and staff] to grow up and come to meetings if you’re the one who’s making
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the call.” In this process, Nelson said, the leaders you lead will become more

trusting in you – “because you trust them to do their job.”

Pastor Nelson also related that he felt the PCA needed to re-examine its

view of shared leadership. He said, “I’ve watched PCA churches. We say we

believe in Presbyterian government by elders but form hierarchical staff. And it’s

made me ask ‘How did we do this?...Oh, it fits a business model.’” He then

asserted that we should not follow a business hierarchical model for staff teams.

He felt that the church staff should be working together and “all coming to the

Session with our burdens and ideas and [it will be]…pretty exciting.” When this

happens, according to Nelson, those you lead trust you more and are willing to

move the ministry forward with greater ability.

Pastor Daniel also shared about the way trust was built on his team

through shared ministry experiences. He said, “The staff here are used to a

culture of multiple leaders, and it’s just sort of the culture we have here. We do a

lot as a team. We make decisions as teams.” Making decisions as a team

seemed to permeate his leadership style and practice and fostered, according to

Dan, great trust in him and his leadership.

Others who were interviewed also noted their approach to shared

leadership and how this built trust on their team. Lead Pastor Stephen said, “The

Lord has called me to be and do - and in being an encouraging presence within

the staff team, to help them execute the vision. I don’t see myself primarily in an

execution role. I see myself in an articulation of the vision role.” He continued to

share how major decisions are made as a team. He said,

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I don’t think in a major initiative I would just show up in a meeting with

those other three individuals [from the staff team] and just spring
something on them. It has probably emerged organically, and I’ve had a
conversation with this person, and maybe they’ve had a conversation with
one of the others. So, there’s usually a buy-in at several different levels in
an overall organic process.”

Here again, trust is built, according to Stephen through a shared ministry model,

exercised in the context of relationships.

Summary: Building Trust

The lead pastors interviewed described how trust was built in times of

struggles, in the midst of personal leadership failures, and in the context of

ministries that have a shared ministry model. Pastors related their own

experiences and thoughts about how their team develops trust.

The next section will look at the findings from those interviewed about the

importance of understanding the relational system within their paid staff team.

These findings will provide a backdrop of understanding for how pastor relate to

and understand their team from a systems perspective and relate it to the

effectiveness of lead pastors.

Understanding the Relational System of the Team

The literature review showed that effective leaders were those who had a

clear understanding of systems within their team. All seven lead pastors in this

study were asked about their understanding of relational systems on their team.

They were also asked to connect how their understanding of systems would

enable them to be more effective as a lead pastor. The following findings show

how these lead pastors interviewed understood the relational systems on their

team and how it related to their effectiveness as a leader.

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Lead Pastor Daniel said that, “One of the phrases we use around here is

‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ So, we all do well together. We all rise. If we don’t do

well, we all sink. So he’s [staff person] just gonna have to develop the mindset

that he’s in this with all of us now, and we’re all in this with him.” Daniel claimed

that as his team understood these team dynamics, the team was more effective

in reaching the goals of the team. He also claimed that as he promoted the team

to work together in this way, his leadership would grow in effectiveness.

Other pastors interviewed pointed to how they were sensitive to the

relational systems in their team. For example, Stephen said, “When we’ve had

some [anxiety] this year or heading into October…when the economy started

tanking. It could get a little tense, but even then we just sort of talked it through

around the table.” Here, Stephen said that he tried to show not only sensitivity,

but also that his team needed to process together the unspoken feelings and

dynamics that existed on the team. Stephen Alsom claimed that his

understanding of team dynamics (or relational systems) helped him effectively

lead his team through anxious times.

Lead Pastor Ryan provided a similar example about anxiety within his

team. He said that in staff meetings, he encourages his team to be honest and to

share how they are feeling so that he can understand the dynamics his team. He

said:

I’m trusting my team to come up with what’s wrong. When I say in a

meeting, ‘What’s wrong?’ and everybody kind of looks out the window, I
go ‘That’s unacceptable.’ You guys have got authority over your areas for
a reason. Are you guys hurting? Do you need to talk about it? What
environment do we need to talk? And I think the team dynamic is – they
have to have a place where they’re safe to talk.
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However, in one particular meeting no one said anything, according to Ryan.

There was a “great sense that I had that the team was anxious about something.”

He then related that he “took the time to speak with each team member to find

out what was going on and I made sure I knew the source of the anxiety [so] I

can address it.” In this process of seeking to understand the relational system

dynamics, Ryan said the team “coalesced” closer together and he implied that he

felt more effective as the team’s leader.

Others interviewed shared how they felt that their staff members, at times,

find it difficult to understand their own feelings. For example, Lead Pastor Daniel

spoke about a team member who disrupted a staff meeting with concerns and

fears about a particular ministry area. He said,

I think part of it was him [the staff member] trying to figure out why he was
so angry. I mean, he said to me right after it happened, he said to me
within the hour…”I’m not really sure where all that anger came from.” And
he’s not an angry guy. He’s really a sweet guy. So my initial response was
“I don’t know either, Brother, but we’ve got to get to the bottom of that.”

Daniel spoke about how he helped this staff member analyze and deal with his

anger, as well as helping him to reconnect with the team. What resulted,

according to Daniel, was a team member who was helped to understand the

unseen forces at work in his life and the team seeing that the lead pastor was

able to help sort out difficult relational dynamics that exist on the team.

Lead Pastor Nelson talked about the need to understand relational

systems on his team in a different way. He felt that teams should be able to

honestly evaluate how they follow leaders. He went on to explain that the team

leader should not communicate to his team a set vision for the church and say
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“here’s the vision.” Instead, the leadership needs to “get on our knees all together

and look at the body and look at the bible and come with recommendations that

seem to be good stewardship in light of the culture in which we find ourselves.”

He said, “That would be more effective as we lead our team and more ‘honest’ as

we deal with the many challenges within our team system.” In this way, Nelson

pointed out, the team would be able to be together in understanding the relational

dynamics that exist within the team and his leadership of the team would be

more effective.

One pastor related in the interview how he tries to address bad ministry

dynamics within his paid staff team system. Lead Pastor George said,

We had a ministry that was not functioning well. It was losing money and,
more significantly, there was conflict in the ministry – among team
members – and it was having its impact on the rest of our staff. It took a
long time for that ministry to end but our staff knew that I was committed to
making a wise decision and hung in there with me while this ministry
continued, until it finally ended appropriately. We tried to end it in a way
that caused as little pain to people as possible. That was a hard
situation….Issues were not being handled well relationally and that was
driving people down and was not honoring to Christ. So, as I picked up on
things that I was not experiencing personally…I realize that this was the
cause of a measure of grief [in our system].

George says that he had to have a greater understanding of things he was not

“experiencing personally”. Upon reflection of this situation, George said that in

the midst of this difficult situation, the staff team knew that he was effective as a

leader to know and address needs within the church – even if these needs were

difficult.
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Lead Pastor Bill described how he believed his effectiveness as a leader

was increased when he addressed a difficult relational issue on the team. He

said,

Recently I had to let our [paid staff worker] go…He had been with us
forever. I had to work with him for a year on issues that were hurting the
staff. And so we worked for a year on it…I thought he was getting better.
Behind my back, he was not. They [the team] didn’t tell me because they
thought I was on his side, which I was. I was trying to save him. He’s a
dear friend. We’d been here [many] years together…they saw that loyalty
to him and read that as ‘You’d rather have him hurting us than to have us
just alone without him.’ I wasn’t there, but that’s what it was perceived as
because I just allowed it [to] go on. And nobody talked to me about it. So I
came back from a sabbatical and asked everybody, ‘why is there a weird
spirit on the floor? You can discern that in a heartbeat. So everyone kind
of turned their back turned their head. They wouldn’t talk.

Bill summed up his account of this situation by stating that in the end the team

learned to communicate better and believe that he would do the right things – no

matter who was involved in hurting the team. In addition, Bill said that in light of

this situation, he was more committed than ever to address the “unseen forces”

or relational systems that exist within the team.

Summary: Understanding the Relational System of the Team

Those interviewed showed how their significant experiences of

understanding the relational systems within their church and staff teams, related

to their effectiveness as a lead pastor. The pastors interviewed shared their own

experiences of relational systems and how they believe these have helped them

to be more effective as leaders.

Next we will examine how these lead pastors shared about their own

spiritual growth. This next section will show how spiritual growth in Christ has

contributed to the leadership effectiveness of those interviewed.

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Personal Spiritual Growth

Overview
The third section of interview questions dealt with the personal spiritual

growth practices of the pastors. Questions were asked to theses lead pastors

about how they remained spiritually vital, in spite of their busy schedules and the

many difficulties pastors face.

All of those interviewed were asked specifically about how they felt their

own spiritual growth impacted their ability and effectiveness as a leader. In

addition, all of the lead pastors interviewed made a direct connection with how

their spiritual growth impacted their ability to lead their team

Spiritual Growth: Team Responsibility

Six of the seven lead pastors interviewed addressed the question of

spiritual growth from a team perspective – that the entire team was responsible

for growing together spiritually. Two of the lead pastors interviewed shared that

they felt the staff they lead were ultimately responsible for their own spiritual

growth.

This concept was articulated by Lead Pastor Daniel. He said: “On the top

of everybody’s job description, the first thing we have at the top of the list – that

you’re responsible to shepherd your own soul, [and] your own heart. We want to

be a resource but we’re not responsible for your spiritual growth.” He went on to

say that this also applies to him, and that he needs to be involved in “growing

spiritually every year more and more.”

One lead pastor said that the team needs to be like a “brotherhood”. Lead

Pastor Bill said,

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I couldn’t work with colleagues. I want to work with what the Bible says –
brothers. I want Peter in me to be rebuked by the Paul of [my co-
workers]…and what I’m afraid, like Peter was, I want them to walk in my
office and say, [Bill], you’re leading barnabas astray…Everybody ought to
have the right to do that with the Senior Pastor. But listen, in the PCA
Church, if your numbers are up, if attendance is up and giving is up,
nobody is going to ruffle your feathers. What’s wrong with that picture?

Bill referred to mutual accountably and partnership as vital to his own leadership

effectiveness. He continued, “You see the Bible show[s] you the weakness of

men and we have arguments over whether or not we should share our

struggles…Are you kidding me?” According to Bill, those who lead must be open

with their struggles and have a team who can help them grow in Christ.

Spiritual Growth: Personal Practices

The participants were also invited to share their own personal spiritual

growth practices. Each pastor had an opportunity to detail their own spiritual

practices and how often they followed this plan. All seven of the interviewees had

quick and ready answers to the question about their own spiritual disciplines.

The lead pastors interviewed all seven said that they followed a specific

structural approach in their spiritual growth plan. Most described a daily practice

that they use to help them walk with Christ. They all talked about how they follow

a very clear pattern and set plan for their own spiritual growth. One referred to

these practices as “feed[ing] my soul from the Word and prayer.” Another

referred to their life as structured but not filled with “pietism and legalism.”

Those interviewed pointed to the formal structures and personal patterns

in their spiritual lives. Lead Pastor Bill said, “Worship is my main thing. It always

has been. I have a deep love for worship, and so, for me, my personal spiritual
 77

life – the lens through which I think about it – is worship…I use…my own little

daily liturgy.” Others followed a more popular pattern such as “Spurgeon’s

devotional.”

Other specific types of spiritual disciplines included the daily reading of a

psalm, praying the Lord’s Prayer, daily devotionals, prayer books, journals,

sermon series, key theological books, and other formal guides to enhance

devotional life. Five of the seven of those interviewed shared that consistent

study of the Bible was essential to their spiritual growth as well. Two of the

pastors also shared that listening to other pastors preach was very helpful for

their personal spiritual growth. And finally, one shared that their daily devotional

life included time with their spouse in prayer or fellowship.

In another type of personal spiritual growth, Lead Pastor Bill said that

“personal therapeutic counseling was very helpful in my spiritual walk with Christ.

When I was on sabbatical, my wife and I saw a counselor…” Bill claimed that this

opportunity helped him a great deal in his spiritual life and as a leader of his staff

team. In fact, Bill said that he continues to routinely seek counseling with a

professional Christian therapist.

Spiritual Growth: Staff Team Practices

Spiritual growth was also connected toward staff team fellowship and

learning the occurred within the staff team. Staff team worship was mentioned by

three of the seven pastors interviewed. For example, Lead Pastor Daniel said:

In our staff meetings every other week, we worship…We read scripture

together. I usually teach for about ten minutes and we sing the worship
songs…so we try to have a spirit here that is focused on Christianity with
integrity, not just the doctrine or the theology but we really try to have that
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go someplace in our lives. I think that makes it a little bit easier to be on

the growth side of our walk.

Daniel claimed that his staff team provided encouragement and help in his

personal spiritual growth.

Lead Pastor Ryan pointed to a biblical mandate of personal and corporate

repentance as a significant part of his spiritual disciplines. He said that it was

important to stay “faithful to a daily repentance.” He went on to say that he

surrounds himself with men to help him in this process. “I’ve got a half-dozen

elders who walk with me all the time and we meet weekly. They oversee my

spiritual life. If I’m screwing up, if I’m drinking…they bust my chops.” Spiritual

connections and accountability from Ryan’s team were very important to his own

growth and effectiveness as a leader.

The need for close accountability relationships was echoed by others. For

example, one pastor shared how he felt that he could approach the guys he

leads with his own struggles: “I have [accountability] with [staff member] and

[other staff member]. We’ve been through a lot together and so we have a real, I

think we have a very transparent relationship, sharing our struggles.”

Spiritual Growth: Impact on Their Leadership

When asked about how their spiritual lives impacted their leadership,

some pastors said that as they walk with Christ, they are able to be more open

with their own struggles. Nelson said,

You see the Bible showing you the weaknesses of the men, and we have
arguments over whether or not we should share our struggles. Are you
kidding me?...The goal is that you are to be a band of brothers, not a
bunch of bosses…So we cry over each other’s needs and failures and
pray.
 79

Others shared that they felt their walk with Christ had great impact on how

they lead. Daniel said, “I think, for the pastor, you just have to love Jesus.

There’s no substitute for that, because you wouldn’t pastor if you didn’t, and you

wouldn’t love people if you didn’t…and you don’t know that if you don’t spend

time in the Word.” Daniel went on to share more personally, “So if I’m not

attentive to the sin patterns of my life…if I’m not attentive to how I’m loving my

wife or not loving my wife or being a Dad or not being a Dad…all the stuff that

everybody else has to deal with. If I’m not looking at that through the paradigm of

the Gospel, how can I expect anybody else to?”

Summary: Personal Spiritual Growth

The spiritual growth of pastors has great significance to develop leaders.

All seven of the pastors in this study claimed that they had a vital and growing

walk with Christ. They also said that they followed specific personal and staff

team spiritual growth practices. In addition, they all claimed that their walk with

Christ impacts they way they lead their paid staff team.

Summary: Findings

The purpose of this study was to research how experienced and effective

church team leaders motivate their paid staff teams toward mission. In order to

address the purpose of this study, seven lead pastors were interviewed and

asked about their practices as leaders of paid staff teams. To investigate best

practices selected lead pastors were interviewed within a semi-structured

interview process.
 80

The findings above have shown the pertinent information gathered from

questions asked about best practices for building trust, understanding relational

systems and growing in spiritual vitality. These findings were presented from

transcripts of seven interviews with five lead pastors from the PCA churches and

two lead pastors from the EPC churches.

The next chapter discusses the results and recommendations from both

the literature review and the findings of this chapter. The next section will also

provide some discussion on other studies that may be conduction to advance

further study of best practices for effective leaders.

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CHAPTER FIVE – DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Overview

The purpose of this study was to understand best practices for leading

staff teams toward mission. In chapter two, the literature review showed how a

broad range of writings discussed best ways to lead a staff team. The literature

revealed a variety of opinions in the study of team development and staff team

leadership. Chapter three described the way effective lead pastors were selected

and interviewed for this study. Chapter four reported the significant findings from

the interviews as it related to lead pastors building trust on their paid staff teams,

understanding relational systems and growing in spiritual vitality. This chapter will

focus on the findings and recommendations from the study and literature review.

Summary of the Study

This study is a response to the need for more leaders to be gripped with

the calling to lead their church out of decline toward a place of growth and

mission. Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk, a pastor and an organizational

psychologist respectively, report: “Missional leaders must learn how to discern

what God is doing in, through, and among all the movements of change in which

a congregation finds itself.”138 In order for a church to accomplish its calling, it

needs effective leadership and team development. If pastors are well equipped to

lead their staff teams, the church will have a greater impact on the world and a

closer connection to its mission.

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Introduction

Churches have different foci. Some churches are focused on reaching the

lost in their community. Other churches have a commitment to international

missions. Still others feel called to reach local college students. While different

churches share common elements, an effective leader will need to discern and

communicate the specific mission of the church. This needs to be accomplished

with clarity and skill.

This study has been about how lead pastors can effectively lead their

churches toward the goals that God has set before them. The mission of a

church will be greatly influenced by the senior pastor. Carl George says,

As deep and wide as the senior pastor’s vision is, so goes the
organization. If the senior pastor, like Moses, spends time with God on the
mountain, the plans that come to the church board will be durable. Mission
comes from prayer, from the written Word of God, and from discussion
with God’s people.139

This illustrates the fact that a pastor needs to take time to discover the mission of

the church. However, lead pastors also need to lead with excellence and with

great insight into the best practices for leading staff toward mission.

In order to understand best practices in the area of team leadership, I

interviewed seven pastors who lead staff teams. A set number of questions were

asked in three main areas. These questions were asked in the context of an

interview where the lead pastor’s experience and practices were discussed. The

interviews were conducted with pastors who responded to an email request

138
Roxburgh, The Missional Leader, 24.
139
George, How to Break Growth Barriers, 152-153.
 83

directly from me. All seven interviewed knew that I was interviewing them for a

Doctor of Ministry dissertation.

The study also included a review of relevant literature. I sought books that

spoke directly to pastors who lead paid staff teams. While there are many books

on this topic that are written from a Christian perspective, I found that some of

the most helpful books were written for secular business leaders. It was

especially helpful to find books that spoke about team dynamics. I also looked for

books that identified how spiritual growth impacts the effectiveness of leaders.

It is important to note that there is a great deal of overlap between what is

relevant for those who lead in the church and what is relevant for those who lead

secular organizations. In fact, many secular books embrace biblical values like

servant leadership and humility.140

My focus for this study was on the practices and the skills that pastors

need to develop in order to lead the church. Specifically, I looked at what insight

can be gleaned from the interviews and from the literature review to help lead

pastors become better leaders of their paid staff team – to enable their team to

reach their mission.

Overview

The following main areas were discussed during the interview: First, the

interviewees talked about how trust was built in their team. Secondly, they

addressed the relational dynamics of their team. Thirdly, they revealed how their

own spiritual growth practices impacted the way they led their team. All of these

140
See Kahl, Leading from the Heart (Choosing to be a Servant Leader) and Collins, Good to
Great.
 84

questions were discussed in a confidential and friendly manner, and other sub-

questions were raised to help clarify the discussion.

Building Trust

This study provided insight into the importance of building trust within a

staff team. Trust is a foundational currency which teams need in order to operate.

The literature showed that building trust involved several aspects. It also

demonstrated that leaders need to have consistency of character, motivate the

team toward a clear vision, develop good communication, exhibit mutual

accountability, and build an atmosphere of authentic joy. All of this needs to be

done in the context of relationships of authenticity and love.

Through this study, I have concluded that several areas that are essential

if trust will be fostered on teams. Trust was built through struggles, lead pastors

demonstrating consistency of character, through humility, relationships and by

lead pastors asking good questions to those they lead. All of these topics are

discussed below.

Biblical Reflection and Response

As I reflected on the literature and the interviews I was reminded of how

the Apostle Paul led the Ephesian elders in the first century. Scripture tells us

that Paul developed a ministry in the city of Ephesus. The church’s impact for the

cause of the gospel – its mission – was greatly influential in bringing the gospel

to Asia. In fact, the Ephesian church is one of seven that is mentioned in the

book of Revelation. This indicates how important this church had become during

the first centuries.

 85

The relationships that Paul developed with these church leaders were

deep and significant. To gain insight into how effective Paul was as a lead pastor,

one can turn to the book of Acts:

When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived the whole time
I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served
the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested
by the plots of the Jews. You know that I have not hesitated to preach
anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and
from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they
must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”141

Scripture tells us that upon Paul’s departure, those he led broke down in

tears and sorrow. Paul’s deep connection as a lead pastor among those in the

church of Ephesus is a model to all of us who lead. Paul shows humility, love,

deep commitment, and connection, along with being a great motivator of his

team toward the mission to which God had called them.

It is clear that Paul was blessed by God to build trust with those leaders.

This, simply stated, is the goal of leadership – to be able to have people trust you

enough that they will follow you and be able to accomplish the mission of the

organization. One author describes this type of leadership as “the kind of

leadership that keeps our world from falling apart and improves the human

condition”.142 This is the kind of leadership we see in Paul and is the type of

leadership I saw with those I interviewed.

The following outlines some other ways I concluded that trust was built

and leadership developed on paid staff team. The results that follow below come

141
Acts 20:18-21.
142
Williams, Real Leadership, 3.
 86

from both the literature reviewed and from the interviews I conducted for this

study.

Building Trust Through Struggles

As I have reviewed literature about leadership and have interviewed seven

lead pastors, I continue to be encouraged by the impact a pastor can have on his

congregation. Good leadership makes a great difference within a church. One

pastor described how his church has planted several daughter churches. He told

me about some of the mistakes he and his elders made during this process.

However, despite all of these mistakes, God kept the team together in the midst

of great trials and difficulties. As the lead pastor, this man continued to humbly

lead his team toward the mission God had for them, in the midst of significant

struggles.

This is an important reminder for all who lead church staff teams. We will

face trials and difficulties, yet these can be some of the best teambuilding times

in ministry. The pastors I interviewed indicated that they frequently witnessed an

increase in trust between team members as they faced difficulties together. One

pastor said that during great challenges they faced over the church’s facilities,

there was great potential for discouragement and disillusionment on his team. He

said that his team “trusted me [the lead pastor] to get through it and [they] trusted

God.” What resulted from times of difficulty was a team that depended on the

Lord and trusted each other more. These difficulties shaped the team to be more

prepared for other difficulties and more open to see God work in their midst.
 87

Other pastors explained that their staff had challenges with specific team

members. He went on to explain a situation where a team member was under-

functioning. In the midst of a difficulty like an underperforming staff member, the

entire team looks at the actions of the lead pastor. The team needs to know that

even through this type of difficulty, the problem with one staff member will not

compromise the mission of the team. And, the lead pastor can be trusted to act in

an appropriate way.

One pastor noted that healthy staff teams address their problems. Lead

pastors need to be brave enough to tactfully speak to the underperforming team

member and either let him go or help them to develop into an effective team

member. The team will notice what happens and there will be great opportunities

for trust to be built during this process. If a staff team sees that the leader will

confront team members with their issues – in love and patience – but with clarity

of conviction, they will trust the leader more.

In a book by George Barna, one leader states, “An effective ministry team

exhibits discipline on three planes: spiritual, physical and mental…Effective

teams realize that failure may be a step toward success.”143 I believe the lead

pastors I interviewed helped to verify these statements. The staff teams of those I

interviewed were disciplined, and many understood at a deep level that failure

and difficulties could help them grow. This reality is one of the most important

elements of building trust within a team. A lead pastor needs to take this into

143
George Barna, Leaders on Leadership: Wisdom, Advice, and Encouragement on the Art of
Leading God's People The Leading Edge Series (Ventura, Calif., U.S.A.: Regal Books, 1997),
225.
 88

account as he strives to lead his paid staff team toward its God-given mission in

spite of the difficult challenges that they face.

Building Trust Through Consistency of Character

Many of the pastors interviewed pointed to consistency of character as a

significant part of the way they sought to build trust and lead their team. One

pastor referred to Matthew 18:4, where Jesus said that we are called to be

“humble as a child.” That pastor then said that his calling is to be the “chief

repenter” within his staff team. In other words, he was called to lead the way in

humility and repentance before those he leads.

This attitude captured the essence of how the character of a leader fosters

the building of trust. The literature speaks to the importance of humility and

consistency of character. One author reminds us, “Humility is the only way to

resolve the conflicts and contradictions of leadership. You can avoid excessive

pride only if you recognize that you’re human and need the help of others.”144

The interview data agreed with the above quote, revealing that an

important part of building trust is based on the pastor’s character. There is no

substitute for godly, consistent character. This vital aspect of trust comes not

from programs or structures that leaders put in place, but from their reliability and

their humility. Effective lead pastors have the respect of those they lead. Their

teams seem to know that their leader is an individual who loves the Lord and

loves them. Consistency of Character was seen to be vital in developing trust

within a church staff team.

144
Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge, 347.
 89

Building Trust Through a Demonstration of Humility

These participants were surprisingly eager to talk with me about their

personal ministry experiences. I have very little personal connection with most of

the pastors interviewed, so it could have been difficult for them to discuss their

staff teams and their own personal practices. The level of humility that many of

the pastors exhibited was noteworthy.

The literature shows that many pastors are overworked and relationally

undernourished. Nearly every pastor interviewed for this study was friendly,

open, honest, and forthright. They all showed great humility about both their

success and their ministry knowledge.

The pastors were told that their names and specific situations would not

be disclosed in this paper, and that I would not compromise their leadership

position in any way. Not one pastor shared with me any concern about

confidentiality, and most of them already understood the process of interviewing

and confidentiality. Some were candidly humbled and surprised that they were

selected. Nelson said, “I’m just wondering how did I get the privilege of even

being interviewed? I can think of a whole lot of people you would get a lot more

from.” This demonstration of humility was sincere. I believe that as effective

practitioners of ministry leadership they did not even realize the skill that they

had.

The pastors interviewed worked in large churches. All of the

congregations represented had more than five hundred members, and the

congregations represented had more than one thousand people in weekly

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attendance. Part of the selection criteria was that the interviewees must lead at

least three staff members. Many pastors interviewed led more staff members

than the minimum criteria specified. Yet all seven of these pastors were able to

remember times when their ministry was not going well. They shared

experiences with me about the great work of God in their churches and

demonstrated humility as they talked about their setbacks. Many also were

seeking to grow personally and professionally as a leader.

Jack Kahl states, “The leader must always be searching, probing, and

hunting for ways to innovate and bring value to customers.”145 While this is

written from a secular viewpoint, what he communicates is true for every leader.

Lead pastors are not an exception to this. They, too, need to continue to learn

and grow as they lead their team. This takes a tremendous amount of humility,

honesty, and a teachable spirit.

I saw this attitude clearly in some of the men I interviewed. They each

communicated to me their strong desire and need to continue learning and

growing as a leader. For example, Nelson said, “I have the holy, holy privilege of

stewarding a legacy of extraordinary ministry of the Spirit here.” Others reflected

similar humility and appreciation of the task before them. For example Lead

Pastor Ryan said, “You’re going to have to love the church the way Christ loved

the church, and you’re going to have to take the hit a lot, and you’re going to

have to sacrifice a lot.” Many of them pointed to the difficulties in ministry as they

spoke about their team. I interviewed men who have a level of maturity and

145
Kahl, Leading from the Heart, 42.
 91

experience commensurate with their position. I saw this as vital for directing a

church staff team toward the mission of the church.

The task of leading a church staff team is extremely difficult. There are no

instructions or well-defined steps to take that will make a person into an effective

leader. Lead pastors need to be humble, teachable, and flexible as they learn

how to direct their teams.

While the literature highlights this reality, there is no substitute for the first-

hand observations of those in places of leadership. Throughout the interviews, I

heard of the struggles and successes that the subjects experienced in their

ministry leadership positions. Although each interviewee would be considered

“successful,” all seven of them shared numerous difficulties they faced in their

leadership positions.

The experience and wisdom of these pastors was evident from the start of

the interview process. For example, Bill has been serving as the lead pastor of

his church for more than twenty years. He said:

I can’t talk about any of these practical things [as a leader] without talking
about theology. I think theology drives life. I think the Gospel drives life.
And so, in my mind, if you don’t have a Gospel-driven church, you can try
all the principles in the world that you want, and I just don’t think it’s going
to work. So I think [it is important to have] a Gospel ethos, where the
church culture is relational, as opposed to programmatic, and where the
staff team is all on the same page as far as the understanding of grace.

I believe strongly in the principle behind what Bill communicates here. We must

be centered on God’s grace as we lead.

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Many times during the interviews, I saw how forgiveness and grace played

an important part in a leader’s effectiveness. This is highlighted in the New

Testament as well. Colossians 3:12-14 says:

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe

yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and
patience.13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may
have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.14 And over all
these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Nelson shared, “Large churches tend to turn around large personalities.

The only personality around which any church should turn is the Master’s. So it’s

my job to make sure that the church turns around one personality, and it ain’t

mine.” This response provides insight into the danger of serving as a lead pastor

of a large church. Because of the continued challenge to remain faithful to the

calling, many of the pastors I interviewed sought ways to remain faithful to their

calling and to remain humble. The interviewees all had a sense that they needed

to remain true to their calling as a compassionate, humble, gentle, and patient

leader. This is important for any leader if they are going to build trust on their

team.

In his devotional book on leadership, Ken Blanchard states, “People with

humility don’t think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less.”146

There is a clear connection between humility and building trust. The lead pastors

interviewed for this study revealed that ego was not a driving factor in their

leadership goals. According to Blanchard, “Leaders need to come from behind

their curtains of infallibility, power, and control, and let their ‘very good’ side –

146
Kenneth H. Blanchard, The Heart of a Leader (Tulsa, Okla: Honor Books, 1999), 46.
 93

their humanity – be revealed. Folks like to be around a person who is willing to

admit his or her vulnerability, ask for ideas and let others be in the spotlight.”147

Building Trust Through Relationships

The literature and the interviews showed that relationships were also an

important part of building trust on a paid staff team. Many of the research

subjects emphasized the importance of being “relational.” What they meant by

this phrase, however, reflected a variety of interpretations. Although pastor may

perceive that he is strong on relationships, his staff may not agree. In fact, many

people, including pastors, have misperceptions of their relational ability. Many do

not understand what it means to truly have friendships that are mutual and

supportive.

This study did not comprehensively explore how to have good

relationships with staff. However, it did provide some insight into the need to

have positive, consistent relational connections with those you lead.

Every one of the pastors interviewed met with their staff in relational

settings. The lead pastors interviewed all understood that part of building trust

and being effective as a leader meant that they must take time to relate not only

to their staff members, but also to the staff members’ families.

One pastor said, “I should know his wife, his children, their pets, and

everything else I can about those I lead.” This emphasis on relational

connections seemed to be an important part of building trust on his team.

Another lead pastor said that the problems he experienced with a staff member

he had to release, were at least partly due to the fact that this staff member was

147
Ibid, 47.
 94

not open to relational connections with him. What resulted, he said, was distance

in the relationship. This created dissatisfaction on both sides and eventually this

led to a lack of trust. Ultimately this led to this staff member’s dismissal. This

account reminds me of the importance of good relationships of trust and

connection. Without good relational staff team dynamics, staff teams will drift

apart.

Although people often talk about how to have effective relationships, no

single relational ingredient stood out in the interviews or the literature. However,

both of these sources point to the fact that leaders need to invest a lot of effort in

relating to their team. This means that in order to be an effective staff leader in a

church setting, time will need to be budgeted for connections with staff.

All of the information in this study leads me to conclude that it is not

enough to have a one-hour staff meeting with those you lead. Many of the

research subjects meet not only in staff meetings but also over a meal with their

staff members on a regular basis. This is vital if trust is going to be built within a

church staff team.

The interviews showed that these lead pastors spent time in various

relational settings with their team members and with those team members’

families. Staff teams need time together in different types of environments and

settings if they want to build trust and enjoy strong working relationships. Some

pastors said that they meet one-on-one with every staff person they lead. Others

said that they took time to meet with the entire family once a month. Whatever
 95

the frequency or setting, there was a significant effort put into connecting with the

team outside the church walls.

Lead pastors need to consider how they are pursing those they lead. Do

they know about their hobbies and interests? Do they know the family pressures

that their staff members face? Do they take time to understand the joys within the

ministry that their staff members experience? These are just some of the topics

that we need to address if we are going to lead teams effectively and have our

team trust us.

I believe that lead pastors need to find ways to build trust within their

teams. They need to be able to take the time and make the effort to relate to

those they lead in ongoing real relational connections if trust is going to be built.

Building Trust Through Engaging the Team in Questions

The literature showed that some of the best leaders are able to ask good

questions. This is noted in a classic book on how to ask questions by Michael

Marquardt. The author says:

Three questions have been found to be especially helpful in building

relationships with staff: How can I help you; what would you do; and
thirdly, what would someone else do? Good leaders regard every
encounter as an opportunity to coach. A key skill of coaching is the art of
questioning. Asking incisive questions inspires people to think, to discover,
to search.148

Some of the pastors interviewed said that one of the best things they do to

promote trust with those they lead is to ask them how they can help. Asking good

questions is part of learning what your staff is feeling and what they need. It

takes effort to ask the right questions and to understand what is truly happening
 96

within the lives of those you lead. One pastor emphasized this by saying, “[I’m

called as a leader] to invest in and get to know them [my staff]…I need to ask,

how are they growing in grace?” He went on to describe a ways that he invests in

his staff by asking them good questions over a broad range of topics.

I believe that those who lead staff teams need to be good students of

those they lead. As leaders ask good questions and seek to really understand

the heart of those they lead, trust will be developed. Signs of care and personal

connection will promote a healthy team dynamic and strengthen the commitment

of the team to each other and to the mission.

Summary: Building Trust

We have seen that throughout this study trust was a vital ingredient of

effective leadership. Most of the lead pastors interviewed for this study had a

keen notion of how to build trust in their teams. The trust that they had

developed, made a difference in their effectiveness and overall impact of their

ministry as they led their team toward mission.

We have also learned that if trust is going to be developed, lead pastors

need to know that God can use struggles to build trust on their team. Trust will

also be fostered as leaders demonstrate consistency of character. In addition,

leaders also need to demonstrate humility as well as develop their relationships

with those they lead – especially their paid staff ministry team. In addition, we

saw that the ability to ask good questions will promote trust within a team. All of

148
Michael J. Marquardt, Leading with Questions: How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by
Knowing What to Ask, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005), 119-20.
 97

these qualities were found to be important as lead pastors developed trust on

their paid staff teams and led them toward mission.

The Importance of Understanding Relational Systems

The literature review and the interviews all established the need for lead

pastors to be able to understand the team dynamics of their staff team. I have

found it helpful to not only read about this importance but also interact with those

who have a keen ability to discern team dynamics.

There were several areas that I felt correlated with the literature review

and with the interviews conducted. These are skills that I believe lead pastors

need to master in order to be effective. These skills are as follows: the ability to

understand relational systems, to understand how anxiety works within a system

and the skill to promote change within a staff team relational system. All of these

qualities were characteristics of the effective leaders interviewed for this project.

The Ability to Understand Relational Systems

In one sense, all of the aforementioned themes pertain to the leader’s

ability to accurately understand the system of their staff team. The complex

nature of system theory within a church is well defined by Edwin H. Friedman. He

says,

All clergymen and clergywomen, irrespective of faith, are simultaneously

involved in three distinct families whose emotional forces interlock: the
families within the congregation, our congregations, and our own.
Because the emotional process in all of these systems is identical,
unresolved issues in any one of them can produce symptoms identical,
unresolved issues in any one of them can produce symptoms in the
others, and increased understanding of any one creates more effective
functioning in all three.149

149
Friedman, Generation to Generation, 1.
 98

The pastors interviewed all seven had some ability to understand the “families”

that they are involved in. However, it seemed that continued work in this area

was a must for continued success as a leader of a staff team. I found that if a

lead pastor does not continue to understand the relational systems in which they

partake, their effectiveness as a leader will be diminished.

Pastors must improve their understanding of the forces that can “move”

each part of their team, as well as the way the team elements (members) will

move and react to each other. This skill is important for all leaders, and it is

particularly important for church staff team leaders.

I believe this to be true because of the amazing number of relational

connections that can exist within the context of a church staff team. Members of

a team can work together. They can have children who play together. They

worship together and study the bible together. They also may interact socially.

The leader needs to take into account all of these complex associations and

connections.

During the interview process, I found that most of the pastors interviewed

had a great sense of the relational systems within their teams. Most of them told

stories demonstrating that they had some sense of how their team dynamics

work. However, one pastor seemed to stand out in stark contrast. I sensed that

he had little interest or concern for the relational dynamics of his team. Perhaps

he felt too overwhelmed by other pressures in ministry, but it was clear to me that

he did not have the same level of sensitivity to his team dynamics.
 99

This came out in my interview with him when he spoke about a document

that directs the mission of the church. He said, “The mission that the Lord has

called us to…is clear…so I hire the best staff team that I can to be able to do

that. That’s the goal anyway.” It seemed that there was a large emphasis –

almost a mechanical emphasis – on executing a document and finding players to

fill the necessary positions. Other comments he made caused me to be

concerned that he is unaware of the relational system around him. For example,

when I asked him to share about a time that his staff team did not trust him, he

was speechless. The notion that those who report to him did not fully trust him

seemed to catch him off guard. I am not sure whether this is just blindness to

relationships in general or if this is specific to his relationships with those on his

staff team. However, what was clear to me was the difficulty that he had

discussing the relational dynamics of his team.

Some of the pastors I interviewed had great insight into their team

dynamics. They seemed to provide insight into what their team members thought

and felt about their own leadership styles and limits. Others, like the pastor

mentioned above, had a more difficult time. I believe that the most effective

pastors will have an increasing awareness of their team dynamics. Lead pastors

need to listen to those they lead and hear what they are saying about their lives,

their responsibilities, and their struggles.

In The Leaders Journey, we are given some key steps to understanding

systems in our workplace. The authors say:

Learning to think systems means learning to ask and answer two

questions: ‘What is my role in keeping this problem in place?’ and ‘How
 100

can I change my role?’ Thinking that the problem is out there somewhere
actually is the problem…The second step in being able to respond
differently is the ability to see what is happening with clarity. Objective
observation of the emotional processes at work in the system is a major
change in itself.150

The extent to which a leader is effective is, I believe, directly related to his

ability to see his staff team with objective clarity. Lead pastors need to take time

to see the interconnected “emotional processes”151 at work on the team. This

takes skill and training, but it is vital to success in leadership.

Understand How Anxiety Works Within a System

Some of the literature states that developing the ability to see systems

clearly in your organization will result in “becoming a calm leader.”152 I noticed

that many of the pastors I interviewed exhibited calmness in their style of relating.

In fact, almost every pastor seemed to be able to articulate very difficult and

emotional situations with clarity and calmness.

For example, one pastor spoke about the death of his closest friend on his

staff team. He related this with emotion, but with great calmness. He discussed

how it negatively impacted his leadership and how his team dealt with these

deficits in his leadership. He said that it was very difficult for him and that many

people were disappointed in him during this time. In our conversation, he

communicated how he responded to this difficult time with calmness.

Effective lead pastors know their systems well and can monitor their own

emotions as they interact with and respond to their systems. Additionally,

effective lead pastors have the ability to calmly discuss some of the most difficult

150
Herrington, The Leaders Journey, 50.
151
Ibid.
 101

situations that leaders face. They show great leadership as they process how

best to handle situations – neither overreacting nor underreacting.

The authors of the book The Leaders Journey provide insight into lowering

anxiety. After listing some of these ideas they say, “These are effective means

for lowering your own anxiety and allowing time to gain perspective to diffuse the

anxiety of a system. These actions increase the likelihood of a thoughtful

response that reflects the values and beliefs held by those in the system.”153 The

authors also compare these concepts to anxiety that occurs in the family setting.

The authors write, “Many of the problems and difficulties that a family

experiences are the result of chronic anxiety in the family system.”154 To help

with these problems they encourage us to “relinquish the position of over

functioning, [so that] we clear the way for our under functioning spouse and

children to meet us halfway.”155

This is an important concept to remember if we want to develop trust on

our teams. We must be able to sense the anxiety within our system and address

it by not over-functioning. To be effective, a leader needs to know that God can

use – indeed often uses – difficulties and struggles to build great trust on a team.

The leader needs to be aware that the team is examining their actions and

decisions during these times of crisis. The team needs to be able to trust the

leader to make the right decision in light of a difficult situation and to interact

within the system with calmness.

152
Ibid, 67.
153
Ibid, 67-8.
154
Ibid, 110.
155
Ibid, 119.
 102

The Skill to Promote Change within A Staff Team Relational System

Both the literature and the interviews addressed methods for leading and

effecting change. Some authors encouraged leaders to understand the difference

between adaptive change and tactical change.156 This study has established not

only the need for change, but also the need for people who know how to lead a

church through change.

Effective leaders bring about change by addressing the situation and by

addressing the underlying assumptions and practices of the church that are

impacting the situation. Daniel, one of the pastors interviewed, said that when he

wanted to change one of his church’s programs, he not only had to address the

specifics of that change (the tactical issues) but also the underlying assumptions

and principles that were in place. “That’s the way we do things here” was just one

of the many comments I received from him. In order for a leader to be effective

and to be able to develop the ministry goals and the mission, leaders need to be

aware of the need to bring about adaptive change. Most of the pastors I spoke

with either directly or indirectly described the ways that they bring about adaptive

change.157

For example, Nelson said that in a crisis that occurred during a church

plant, he had to address the leadership of the church in a new way. He had to

show that he was willing to change the way he approached challenges – with

adaptive solutions. What resulted was not only a course change in how the

ministry starts and supports new churches, but also a new model for his church

156
See Roxburgh, The Missional Leader, 98.
157
See Heifetz, Leadership on the Line.
 103

leadership team. The leaders of the church developed a new approach to the

many of the challenges they faced. And, as Nelson reported to me, there was a

sense that the church would be able to address other challenges in adaptive

ways because the pastor led his staff team in a new direction, and it was

successful. These adaptive changes are important reminders of how a lead

pastor needs to respond to a crisis. Pastors need to seek opportunities to lead

their congregations and staff teams in new ways, dealing with underlying

assumptions and practices.

Summary: The Importance of Understanding Relational Systems

The literature and the interviews have shown how important it is for lead

pastors to understand relational systems within their team. I have concluded that

effective leaders are those who are able to carefully and accurately understand

the relational system dynamics on their team. In addition a healthy understanding

of how anxiety works within a team was also identified as vital to leadership.

Lastly, the ability a leader has to promote, manage, and understand change

within his staff team system is directly correlated to the effectiveness of a team

leader.

Next we will examine the way a pastor needs to grow as a follow of Christ

in order to be effective in their leadership of their paid staff team.

Personal Spiritual Growth

The book The Leadership Challenge states, “Leadership development is

self-development.”158 Books like this one point out the important truth that we

need to be personally growing healthier if we are going to be effective leaders.

 104

The pastors I interviewed shared their own practices for sustaining their spiritual

growth. They were all asked questions about their personal spiritual growth

practices and how these practices impact the way that they lead others.

Personal Spiritual Growth: Overview

The literature review and the lead pastor interviewed showed that

personal spiritual growth was a key ingredient to effective leadership. Effective

leaders were those who remained in a vital walk with the Lord. Also, this study

determined that leaders who were growing in their spiritual lives were those who

had a specific structured approach to their spiritual discipline.

Spiritual Growth Impact Leadership

The pastor’s spiritual life impacts the way he leads. If he can lead from a

“full cup,” there will be great opportunity for trust to be built and teams to be

nurtured. This finding is significant because it shows that lead pastors need to

stay connected with the Lord. They need to remain humble and faithful in

practicing spiritual disciplines as they grow in appreciation of the bountiful grace

we have in Christ.

James Wilhoit says, “There’s a deep yearning within us for wholeness,

and we find wholeness in the life of holiness…true piety leads to service, but

false piety leads to self-protection. True piety produces depth of soul; false piety

yields shallow hypocrisy.”159 As leaders, we need to long for true holiness and

piety. I believe that only then will be able to lead effectively.

158
Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge, 344.
159
Jim Wilhoit, Spiritual Formation as If the Church Mattered: Growing in Christ through
Community (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 161-162.
 105

This truth was seen not only in the literature reviewed for this project, but

also in the interviews conducted. As pastors reflected on times when they felt

distant from the Lord they also related that their leadership effectiveness was not

as strong. For example, one pastor said that he was “caught up in feeling sorry

for himself…and this consumed me.” During this time, he said that he did not turn

to the Lord in prayer or point his team to the Lord. The leader reflected on the

fact that he needed to remain in a vital walk with the Lord if he is going to be able

to lead God’s church toward mission.

Structured Spiritual Growth Disciplines

It was fascinating to me that every pastor spoke about a very specific plan

they had in place to assist them in their spiritual formation. It may be that these

lead pastors have been asked this question before and were trained in answering

questions about their spiritual growth plans. However, I sensed more than rote

answers here.

One author describes spiritual growth in the preface of his book this way:

Most Christians are aware of their need to grow. Some come to this point
because they possess a hunger and desire to know God and his ways
better. Others are interested through a problem or crisis that has driven
them to seek his paths. We believe that getting to know God more deeply,
growing emotionally, and having better relationships are all matters of
spiritual growth.160

In this study, I sensed that the research subjects were aware of their need for

spiritual growth because they desired to know God in a deeper way. I also

sensed that they were aware of their need change the way they addressed their

spiritual issues.
 106

In my findings these lead pastors had learned that in order to remain

effective as leaders, they need to be committed to consistent spiritual growth and

input. Many of them have worked out a course of action for their growth over

years of experience. For example, one pastor said, “I’ve journaled for thirty years.

I buy a hardbound journal, dated, so it keeps me accountable. If I see a lot of

blank pages, then I know I’m really not spending good time with the Lord.”

Another added, “It’s been my practice to read through the Bible every year, and

I’ve used various means to do that.”

These pastors spoke of consistency in their spiritual disciplines. Those

interviewed communicated to me that they have daily prayer and bible study

times. These devotional times were all apart from their sermon preparation and

most often done alone. The practices that were communicated have helped them

to shape what I believe is an important pattern for spiritual growth – and for

effective leadership of a staff team.

Lead pastors, in order to be growing in their walk with Christ, must have a

workable plan of action to which they are daily committed. Leaders need to plan

time for prayer and bible study and have tools in place to accomplish this. The

pastors interviewed used a variety of methods and tools, but all seven of them

had a plan of action that seemed genuine, well planned, and effective to lead

them down the path of good spiritual discipline.

It is clear that personal spiritual growth does not come in the package of a

self-righteous, legalistic attitude. Those interviewed showed that they struggle

160
Henry Cloud and John Sims Townsend, How People Grow: What the Bible Reveals About
Personal Growth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 9.
 107

with their devotional lives. However, they also spoke of how this is a very high

priority for them. Many Christians have consistent devotional lives but do not

grow closer to God. One key ingredient that seemed present in almost everyone

interviewed was that of honest humility before God – a humility characterized by

the realization that they cannot do all that God requires of them and that they

need God’s help if they are going to grow spiritually.

One pastor shared a very personal story of how inadequate he felt in the

area of prayer. He said that his prayer life was dull and often nonexistent.

However, in the last few years, he has sought out an older man who has a vital

and active prayer life. He asked this man to mentor him in the area of prayer.

This lead pastor said that now he is starting to gain a greater appreciation for

prayer and is able to consistently go before the Lord in prayer. This type of

humility and honesty is a significant part of what God wants for us as we lead His

people. Lead pastors need to examine their shortcomings and seek help when

necessary. They need to be open to correction and mentoring in areas where

they are weak as they set a structured devotional plan in place.

Some of those interviewed shared how dissatisfied they were with a

particular area of their spiritual life. I asked them how they sought help from the

Lord and from others to address this issue. Many had set plans in place to

address their need.

I believe this pattern for growth has great impact and correlation to the

effectiveness of a leader. One author describes this dynamic in the following

way:
 108

God calls you to be dissatisfied. You should be discontent, restless, and

hungry! The Christ life is a state of thankful discontent or joyful
dissatisfaction. That is, I live every day thankful for the grace that has
changed my life, but I am not satisfied. Why not? Because, when I look at
myself honestly, I have to admit that I am not all I can be in Christ. I am
thankful for the many things in my life that would not be there without his
grace, but I will not settle for a partial inheritance!161

The connection with spiritual growth and its impact on effective leadership

is evident in both the literature and the interviews. Some pastors reported that

they would be unable to effectively lead if they were not walking closely with the

Lord. One pastor said, “It seems to work really well for me [his spiritual

disciplines]. I feel fed, like I’m growing spiritually every year more and more. I feel

like I can minister out of a full cup with people.”

Summary: Personal Spiritual Growth

Spiritual growth is an essential part of the life of any effective leader. This

study has concluded that lead pastors need to not only understand this, but also

embrace some sort of consistent spiritual discipline to remain effective. In light of

the demanding schedule and responsibilities upon a lead pastor, consistent

spiritual disciplines must be implemented in order for there to be on-going growth

in Christ. Spiritual vitality will lead to effective leadership.

Discussion and Recommendations

In this section, we have seen that effective pastors are those who build

trust, understand the relational system of their team and are growing in spiritual

vitality. The next section recommends some areas of further study that may be

considered.

161
Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp, How People Change (Cincinnati, Ohio: New Growth
Press, 2006), 135.
 109

Recommendations for Further Research and Practice

This study examined how to best lead church staff teams toward mission.

There were many limitations to this study, and much more work could be done on

the topic of leadership. The following suggestions are made for possible areas of

study for further research.

This study was not about how to develop a clear mission statement or

focus for the church. This, perhaps, is one of the most vital components needed

to effectively lead a staff team. To lead a staff team, you must be able to lead

them toward something. A comprehensive study and analysis of how to develop

and articulate a mission for a church would be helpful for most church leaders.

It would also be helpful to conduct a study on the dynamics of staff teams.

This may include a study of staff members who are led by lead pastors. It would

be helpful to interview team members and gain their insight into how they are led.

An examination of what communicates trust could be discussed and correlated

with other team members. This would be of great help to those who lead paid

staff teams.

A study on generational issues would also be helpful. The study could

focus on how people of different generations need to be led in different ways.

Interviews could be conducted with staff members of different ages, and

comparisons could be made to the best practices for effective leadership.

Another area of study could focus on anxiety in staff team systems. It

would be extremely helpful to study the events and dynamics that produce
 110

anxiety in church staff teams. Perhaps a study could investigate how staff teams

express and respond to each other during stress-filled, anxiety-producing events.

Another focus for this study could be on how key leaders responded to these

situations.

The topic of my study could be expanded to include best practices for

meetings. Since a large component of ministry leadership occurs in meetings, it

would be helpful to investigate what types of meetings are utilized and how

effective they are.

A separate study could be focused on small churches. Many churches

have only two or three staff members, some of whom are part-time. A study

could be conducted on how effective leadership is practiced in these smaller

settings.

It would also be useful to conduct a study on the personal devotional lives

of leaders. It was fascinating to me that all seven of the pastors interviewed had

very specific plans for their devotional lives. Further investigation and research

on how lead pastors stay connected to the Lord would be helpful for all pastors. It

would be worthwhile to see how these practices were developed, how

consistently they are followed, and how much they bring about true change and

growth in the pastor.

Final Summary

The purpose of this study was to help identify best practices for leaders of

paid church staff teams toward mission. The following research questions were

explored:
 111

1. What are best practices for team leaders to build trust within a church staff
team?

2. How does understanding the dynamics of organizational systems help a

team leader lead?

3. What personal spiritual growth principles enable team leaders to lead from
a foundation of grace?

The study has shown that indeed, in order for lead pastors to be effective

in the task of leading staff teams, they need to learn how to build trust within their

team. They also need to be good students of the relational system of their team.

And finally lead pastors need to be growing spiritually if they are going to be

effective as a leader.

Lead pastors face diverse challenges in their job. They are making

decisions as a teacher, preacher and as a leader. This study showed the need

for lead pastors to be engaged in learning ways to effectively lead and shepherd

their teams toward the mission of the church. In order for staff teams to be lead

toward mission, these principles of leadership need to be studied and applied to

the job of leading leaders toward mission.

The task of learning effective leadership was aided by the literature

studied and the interviews conducted. As lead pastors grow in insight and

character of the leadership principles studied, the church will be strengthened

and teams will be encouraged toward the mission of the church.

It is Christ’s church and He calls leaders to lead with love and devotion to

those they lead – just as Christ leads us.

 112

1
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of

love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and

sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2, The New Testament - NIV)

 113

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