Should Church Staff Go to Church?

I oftentimes find myself thinking about church staff and what Sunday mornings are like for them. Perhaps it’s because I spent much of my adult life working odd shifts, weekends, holidays, days and nights and have an affinity for Christians that work on Sundays. Perhaps it’s because my brother and one of my sons are pastors and I’ve seen some of the sacrifices that are required of those engaged vocationally in church ministry.

The folk I’m thinking about in this article are not the lead pastors, although the content is valid for them, too. Rather, they are those working/leading in children’s and youth ministries, worship teams, facilities staff, hospitality staff such as coffee and refreshment teams, and those who serve in safety and security roles. When I watch them scurrying about on a Sunday morning, working to “make things happen,” I often wonder: “Should church staff go to church?”

Here's what I mean. Should church staff, those leading Sunday morning ministries, attend the church’s worship service, at least once in a while, like everyone else is expected to do? You know, things like being present for the entire service, singing during musical worship, sitting with their family – those kinds of things. And if so, how often should this happen and how do we ensure that it happens? If we care about our church staff and their families, it’s something to talk about.

In considering this, some realities of church life should be taken into consideration. The ability for staff to be away from hands-on ministry to attend the morning worship service is likely easier for larger churches than for smaller churches just because there are more people from which to choose to back them up while they are in a worship service. But just because something is hard to do does not mean that we should not try to do it.

One might ask why I think it is so important that church staff attend the worship service once in a while. My answer is simple – for the same reason we think others should attend services, and so that they can experience worshipping together as a family unit like other families. There are sacrifices made by those engaged in vocational church ministry, but never being able to attend a church worship service should not be one of them. 

Here are some things you might discuss with your team.

• How often during the last year has each staff member attended a worship service rather than working through it or standing in the back?
• Should church staff from time to time be afforded the opportunity to sit with their family for an entire worship service? Why or why not?
• For churches that have more than one worship service, is it possible for staff to at least periodically work during one and worship during the other?
• If there is truly no one that is willing or capable of exercising ministry supervision to give the assigned staff member a break, is there something church leadership should be doing to address that? If we don’t want this to be the way things are, what are we doing to change it?
• Is it reasonable to set a job expectation that ministry staff/leaders attend the worship service at least once each month? Would that be the correct frequency? Why or why not?

For a brief season in my life, I recall spending much of my time at church standing in the back as the “head usher” rather than going into the auditorium. It was considered my job to do so and I bought into that. It was surprisingly easy to get used to feeling that I was too important to do what everyone else was being asked to do – it insidiously crept into my brain and then my heart. I was also surprised at how little I received from the church service while “working” in the lobby. Was I truly the only person in the church that could stand there? Absolutely not.

One of the responsibilities of church leaders is to care for the church staff and volunteers – this includes not just caring for but also caring about them. Do we care enough about them to figure out a way to enable them to attend church services as a family at least once in a while? That’s something to talk about.

Let us know if we can help and how your conversation goes. Contact Bob Osborne by e-mail at bob.osborne@efca.org. 

This is one of a series of articles intended to facilitate and guide church leaders’ conversations about significant issues that often are not talked about among pastors, boards, and church leadership teams. Visit the EFCA West website to see prior Something to Talk About articles.