#4 Treating Ministry like a Job
It is a job, but the moment it primarily becomes work and not service, staff meetings get boring, and you wonder why your co-workers don’t work as hard as you do. Never forget that you get to do this. You are getting paid to do things that you should be doing anyway.
There will a time and a place to think of it as a job. Like during VBS week when you have to dress up and let 5-year olds throw pasta at your face.
#5 Hiding from Critique
Despite what your grandmother told you that first time you preached, you aren’t very good at what you are doing. The thing is everybody is bad at their job in the first year. You are also really fragile during that first year so any critique feels like a personal attack, and you really shouldn’t be that mad at the lady with blue hair.
Maybe the students did trash the church van, or the music is too loud. You don’t consider that when you hide from critique because you closed your office door or went home for lunch so you could cry while you watched Deadliest Catch (guilty of both).
#6 Avoiding Conflict
I ended #5 sharing some of my more embarrassing ways I dealt with critique, and I have to say that I have a similar track record with conflict. People who enjoy conflict resolution need to be medicated or at least easily identifiable. There is nothing worse than someone who is going through their “I’m going to tell you all the things that annoy me about you because I need to be honest” phase. Having some tact is always a good thing.
Regardless of what the other person does, there comes a moment when you need to have a talk with them. It is awkward, difficult, painful, but the only thing that will make the situation worse is putting the conversation off.
#7 Not Being Clear
You are fresh out of college leading a team of people who are older and more experienced than you. You (and by “you,” I really mean “I”) want them to respect and like you because you lack confidence in your own abilities. Which means you never lay out clear expectations or guidelines for them. You (again, I really mean I) think you are giving them freedom from restrictions, but you are only causing them frustration and avoiding a direct conversation.
Read Page 3 >>
