5 Ways Role Descriptions Can Help Your CHurch

by Stan Granberg. Originally published 10/26/16
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How many ministry job descriptions does your church have written?
 
Whoa! That’s a boring topic. My experience is that few churches have job descriptions written for more than their hired staff. But spending the time to write job descriptions for all your ministry leaders may be one of the best investments your church can make for your sanity, health and the well-being of your church.
 
Because churches are volunteer organizations we suggest using the name role descriptions over job descriptions. This name change helps people understand the volunteer idea a little more clearly.
 
The role description is your basic blueprint for success for every important, ongoing job that you want to get done. Here’s five ways that Ministry Role Descriptions will help your church:

1. So you know what the job is you’re asking people to commit to. You’re asking people to voluntarily give up vacation time, to take time away from family, and to do extra hours all for the “general good” of everybody else. The role description helps you make a clear, understandable ask.
2. So you can get the right people in the right seats doing the right things. This is a Jim Collins, Good to Great, phrase, but it’s also a phrase about giftedness. A good role description will help people sort through their gift sets to see if they fit or if this job will help them add to their giftedness.
3. To set expectations for performance. This is a hard one for volunteer organizations. In the church world it seems any kind of job performance is OK because, after all, “we’re Christians and our real goal is to love one another, right? A role description should raise the bar for people by describing how well things need to be done and what kinds of outcomes we expect them to achieve.
4. To describe both whom people work with and for whom. It really helps people to know who is my leader, who are my co-workers, and who works for me. A role description should clearly describe where the position sits in relationship to other people and ministries.
5. To set the context of the job into the mission, vision, and values of the church. Every ministry role is about the mission of the church and should display the values of the church. A good role description will describe how that job adds to or displays the mission, vision, and values of the church.

 
You can download Writing High Quality Role Descriptions from the Kairos website. Throw a “writing party” for your ministry leaders to involve them in writing their own role descriptions. Add some food and fun to get the work done!