TRAINING Committee CHAIRPERSONS
Tom Faggart
November is the time to train leaders, and plan for the beginning of the upcoming program year. During December the church will be in the process of celebrating Christmas. If you wait until January it will take a month to get ready, and you begin a month behind. The first four months of the year will probably be your best attended months of the year. The smart leader will get the most out of the people while they are in church. The last two weeks of November offer the ideal time to train your new leaders and set up the coming year.
Your leaders will need several things from you to do their job.
1. A list of tasks to do in the next year. Most churches call
these tasks "goals".
2. Need a copy of the monies they have to spend, and how to get at the
money.
3. Give them a list of the other members of the committee.
4. Suggest to them a meeting schedule. Establish with them to set up
meeting of the committee.
1. Vague responsibilities are those which seldom get done. Unless an individual is an experienced administrator leading a church group can be an awesome task. Many new leaders are overwhelmed by the responsibility they have so they do little or nothing. They just can't seem to get started. The minister gets disappointed with them and the feeling in the relationship between the clergy and lay helper gets strained. Without careful negotiations the laity will become inactive. Therefore, the clergy needs to be absolutely clear about the task at hand and help the chairperson to get started. Be sure they know what their responsibilities are, and are not.
2. Give them a copy of the budget with their part plainly visible. We live in a world where money is essential to all church programs. Supplies have to be purchased, and materials have to be obtained. Let them know they are not to be their own source of finances. Their task belongs to the church, and the church will fund it. Show them how to get their money. Establish lines of communication between them and the person who writes the checks. Explain to them your church system.
3. Let them know who their helpers are, and be sure they involve their committee members. Non administrators elected to leadership of church committees without training will attempt to do the task by themselves, or get a few buddies to help them and forget about the committee. It is difficult for beginners to learn how to delegate part of their responsibility to other people. Especially is this true of people they don't know real well. Consequently the clergy will have to teach them. The way to teach is by "precept and example". Teach them how to organize their committee and explain to them that as you trust them to help you, they will be able to trust others to help them. Go over the list of members and share with them what you know about each member that would justify their being on the committee.
Suggest to them who can be counted on to lead task forces to get short term tasks completed ...IE: A Christmas program, church family night, etc..
4. "We have committees that have not met this year", said a leader in the church. Set the date for the first meeting with your chairpersons each year. Help them get started!
"It is already September and the visitation has done absolutely nothing. It is beginning to hurt the church. The chairperson has not even had a meeting. What do we do? If, we take them out of the chairmanship of the committee they will probably become inactive. What do we do?"
You have to get your preacher on the ball was my response. When the preacher is overwhelmed by responsibilities and does not know how to train leaders the church needs to hire a "program person" to handle this task. This does not mean the church needs to hire a new fulltime staff person. Most large churches have such a person. A couple hundred dollars could get them to help in doing the task for your church.
Congratulations on having been elected to one of the most important and responsible positions in the Church. You have been elected Chairperson of a Work Area, or Administrative Committee. Work Areas and committees are important. The real ministry of the church is effected in the work of your group. These committees plan and lead the church in learning, growing, and challenging experiences throughout the year.
Approximately 200 persons will be involved in ministry at this level in a large church. The last few pages of this statement contain an itemized statement of goals, and needed committees of your work area. These goals were established In three ways: (I) House keeping chores which are carried over year after year, (2) goals established by the committee itself during the past year, and (3) goals established during our fall retreat. The Lay Chairperson of Ministries will go over the goals in detail.
Before you start the business session of your first meeting take 30 minutes to build your group.
First, have every person in the group to introduce themselves. The group will be surprised at its diverse makeup. Bring refreshments and spend 10 minutes of fellowship. Most of you are administrative persons in your work - - you know how to get things done. Others of you have had responsible jobs in the church and have shown competence for leadership.
Many of you have reached stations of responsibility in your life where you speak and people listen. Your suggestion is a decision. The chances are there will be several people in your work area at the same place in their lives. Hence we have a great opportunity, or a difficult problem. A problem will exist if the group bogs down in establishing a "pecking order." You are the elected leader. Lead! Get everyone in your group involved. Lead them in making decisions. Don't do it all yourself, or expect them to be your gofers. The program is dependent upon your leadership.
Industrial and institutional leadership may differ a bit from the method of group dynamics leadership essential to the church. Remember people are volunteers, and give money to the church. They are not on salaries.
As leader your main task is one of motivating, and resourcing committee members. In order to succeed consider some of the following ideas.