Avoid Professionalism
How importance is professionalism in a church?
I once was in a seminar on crafting church vision statements. The pastor leading the session shared his churches vision. And one of the statements was professionalism. The church would try to do everything to the highest standard.
Now, I am not the pastor of that church. In the centre of a big city, perhaps professionalism is a vital quality. If everyone in the congregation works for big business, there may be the expectation that Sunday morning is the same.
But I’ve noticed it can be a problem for pastors coming into rural churches from urban churches. Everything is a bit more rough round the edges and it grates with them. The musical choices make them cringe. The promotional flyer looks like it was produced on MS-DOS. And don’t even start on the web-site!
But is it important?
I think there are a few dangers to making professionalism a priority in any church, but particularly in a rural church. In this article, I’m going to outline the dangers and suggest some examples that you can probably let go.
Dangers of Professionalism
Here are some overlooked dangers of professionalism.
Pressure on lay leaders: It’s all well and good for a church with a staff of ten to prioritise professionalism. But many pastors hold their lay leaders to too high a standard. You can’t expect a fifty year old working a full-time job to be as good at youth leading as a full-time youth leader. That is a road for resentment of you or having peopel refuse to step up into leadership because the standard is too high.
Coming across as impersonal: There is always a balance to be struck between professionalism and authenticity. I think as a culture we skew towards this across the board. But this is particularly true in rural areas. A professional almost coporate attitude can come across as dispassionate and impersonal.
Wasting time: Every church has a finite number of man-hours, but in most rural churches those are much less. We need to make sure we decide how to spend those man-hours well. For example, if you have six hours to prepare a sermon, is it worth spending one of those hours making a professional quality powerpoint on Canva? Or would it be better just to throw up your headings in black font on a white background?
Middle-class bias: Professional of course means middle-class. Professionalism is often code for middle-class music, dress and manners. Now in some areas (like mine!) that is a large part of your clientele. But it can create a distance to working class members of the communtiy (who Christians frequently do a bad job of reaching).
Prevents leadership development: Can you remember what your first sermon was like? Probably pretty terrible. But praise God someone let you do it. And do it again. And do it again until it was good. Churches that prioritise professionalism often make the barrier to entry at all levelss of leadership development far too high.
Staff burnout: If professionalism is the standard, it won’t take long before a paid pastor gets frustrated with everyone else. He could do a better job of the small group leading, the youth group, the music, the advertising for events. Soon he’s doing everything and then wonders why he’s on the edge of burnout.
Now of course there are counter arguments. There are lazy people who do a shabby job of everything. I’ll add some caveats at the end. But first let me give some examples of professional markers that really don’t matter that much.
Examples of Unnecessary Professionalism
Music: Music can be unnecessarily divisive at the best of times. But in some smaller churches the standard of the musicians can be cringe-worthy. The organist with arthiritis, the singer who can’t hit the high notes, or being forced to use recordings because of no musical gifts. We can assume that if our churches aren’t CityAlight it will put people off. But don’t worry. Have you ever been to an open-mic night at the pub? Or the community choir carol concert? The standards aren’t so high out here. And believe me non-Christians find all Christian music weird. They aren’t going to write off your church because they aren’t singing the latest Christian song.
Promotional materials: Professional looking flyers may actually be a mistake. They look like a mass-mailer sent out from some business and will often end up straight in the bin. Something less professional is more likely to be read. For example, what if you sent a Christmas card rather than a Christmas flyer? I gurantee more people will open it.
Expectations of lay-leaders: Consider how much time they have to prepare and respect that. Aim for progress, but equally don’t be a nag at every little failing. Spend more time praising the good than critiquing the bad.
Professional distance of a pastor: In a small church, people need to know you. They need you to pop down from your study to have tea with the old ladies. They need to be at your house. They need you to just turn up in a crisis. A professional distance will come across as a lack of love, however well intentioned.
Second sermon: Many pastors refuse to preach two sermons on a Sunday. It’s no surprise when someone like Paul David Tripp says you’re being unfaithful if you don’t spend 40 hours a sermon. In certain contexts it may be impossible, but I’ve found it is do-able if you have a reasonable standard. Shorter passages, shorter sermons, spending less time in prep. It shouldn’t be a shoddy job, but we can also recognise that an 80% sermon is much better than 0%.
Accent: I remember once a bible college student disappearing to college with a northern accent, and coming back with that weird posh gender-neutral accent much favoured by Anglican vicars (Dearly beloved, you know the one). It felt really fake. Sound like yourself, and if that’s a local accent, I guarantee that’s a blessing not a curse.
Caveats
Now of course, there is always a possibility of taking this too far. We’re not aiming for low-quality, just being realistic.
When I first started preaching sermons every week, I was really struggling going from spending a month fine-tuning to churning one out every week. My senior pastor at the time encouraged me that my 90% was good enough. He wasn’t telling me to do 10% effort. I still worked very hard. But I had to be realistic. This is a good principle in all areas of church.
Of course, you may be blessed with some gifted people. At our church for example, the music group are exceptionally gifted. We also have a graphic designer who can very quickly whip up something that would take me a month to do. Lean into the strengths of your congregation.
And of course there are some standards of professionalism you must never let go of. Never fail to study the Bible before you preach. Never be unprofessional in theological accuracy. And never be unprofessional in your moral character towards others (particularly the opposite sex). These caveats are worth stating.
Nevertheless, don’t obsess over professionalism. Jesus called you to be a shepherd not a CEO. Shepherds are often a bit rough round the edges. They certainly would stand out on an episode of the apprentice. But they have this in their favour: they love the sheep.
And that is what will stand out in your church too.
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