building leaders, surviving conflict & motivating laity annmarie mecera
TRANSCRIPT
“…effective techniques of human communications, administration and teamwork succeed not because Lee Iacocca
invented them, but because they’re accommodating some aspect of our God-given human nature.”
“Whether they’re used at Chrysler or Constantinople, administrative techniques that truly support and enhance human fellowship and interaction (the true purpose of administration) are rooted in God’s Truth. The place where these techniques are used doesn’t affect whether they’re godly or not.”
Orthodox Christian Meetings
Delegation is the assignment of responsibility or authority to another person (normally from a manager to a
subordinate) to carry out specific activities.
Not a bad thing, but…
Empowerment
•Promoting production of additional ‘pies’ to feed the parish more richly
instead of ‘dividing the pie’
•Sharing with the royal priesthood
Empowerment
Empowerment works best when the focus is on implementing pieces of the parish vision or addressing issues that your parishioners
greatly care about.
Empowerment
Is NOT:•Passing on unsuitable activities•Mundane, insulting tasks
•Clearly beyond their expertise•Abdication of power
EmpowermentCHECKLIST
Determine & quantify the benefits you expect to achieve through empowering your leaders
Make sure your leadership knows it will be a fairly long process involving time and other resources
Provide training, coaching and other learning opportunities to your leadership
Use your theological training to teach your leaders
Look at the ‘authorization procedures’ you currently have in place. Are they too much? This may require re-defining decision rights.
“Parish Council members, just like church school teachers or choir members, require training that is scripturally based…”Metropolitan Philip, Antiochian Archdiocese
Motivating Laity• Positive church atmosphere/happy congregation
• Clear, positive challenge• They are aware of the need
• They feel a personal responsibility• They believe they can make a difference
• They join their friends• They feel obligated (guilt)• They have been ASKED!!!
But it’s not always ONE specific reason!
Remember this from our discussion on Leadership/ Empowerment?
Empowerment works best when the focus is on implementing pieces of the parish vision or addressing issues that your parishioners
greatly care about.
Motivating Laity
Ages 45-65 skilled in their jobs and have
professional experience to share; time may be opening up after years
of parenting
Motivating Laity
Ages 30-45 have more limited time because of raising families and/or their career,
but still want to serve
Motivating Laity
Ages 18-30 voracious volunteers, but need
opportunities to do things (in their own way in their own time).
Motivating Laity
“People want to live lives of meaning and significance. This is what the
church can do better than any other institution because we are
ambassadors of the God’s reign.”
Prince Raney Rivers, pastor of United Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Motivating Laity
We have examples of ‘volunteers’ in the Bible:
•The Disciples•The man who fetched the donkey
for Christ•Those who made arrangements for
the use of the Upper Room
Motivating Laity
Ask for a return of their gifts and talents they’ve received from God
Stewardship Interview: "Giving is Part of our Spiritual Life“
“Our Patterns of Giving”
Motivating Laity
Being a member of the Body entails ministry; anything from prayer to
faithful attendance can be so registered. Anyone without some
'ministry' cannot be ‘en-membered’.Fr. Daniel Rentel
Motivating Laity“En-membered”
‘En’:1. to put into or on
2. To cause something to happen3. to provide with something.
Think in terms of Eucharist what it means to re-member.
Thank you, Fr. Dan
SURVIVING CONFLICT
•Discuss at Parish Council meetings•Educational sessions on conflict
•Ask the parish to pray•Pray
•Get help
SURVIVING CONFLICT
Build a vibrant parish where parishioners can:
•find the love of God, •know they are ‘home’,
•cultivate their relationship with God