The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Fresh Eyes on Old Problems - How to Reset Your Ministry Perspective Without Changing Jobs
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You've been in this role for three years, I don't know, maybe five, and you're starting to know the rhythms, you know the people, you see the problems, and somewhere along the way, it started feeling like work. Not ministry, just work. And the spark that you had when you started, it's starting to flicker, and you catch yourself scrolling job boards at churchstaffing.com during lunch. What if the problem isn't your job? What if it's just your angle? Hi there, my name's Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffing.com, and let's talk about it today, right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Let me show you a little bit about what I mean here. Your ministry job didn't get boring, your perspective got familiar. And when you know exactly how everything works, you stop seeing what's actually happening. You're solving the same problems today that you did three years ago. You're solving them the same way. You're meeting with the same people about the same issues. They keep coming back. It's like driving the same route every day. You stop noticing the scenery along the way. And here's what happens when we get comfortable in ministry. We start managing and spent instead of leading. Okay? We react to problems instead of preventing them. And we think about logistics more than we think about transformation. We see people as functions instead of stories. Three years ago or five years ago, when you started, everything was new and you had to learn everything and you had to figure out how am I going to lead through this? And now it's just become rote. The why gets buried underneath the how, and our prayers become more taskless. Now, listen, you didn't lose your calling, okay? You might have just lost a little bit of your curiosity. So it might be, and first week in January back in the office is a great time to do this. It might be time for just a reset. And by a reset, maybe you need to start just asking different questions. Instead of how do we fix this? Ask what what if we didn't have to? Instead of what's the next step? Maybe ask, what's the real goal here? What's really happening here? Shadow someone else's ministry for a day. Sit in a different spot during services for a month if you're able to do that. Interview three people who just started coming to your church because they will give you a different perspective on your church and what's happening, and even on your leadership. Ask them what they see that you might not be seeing. Because really what needs to happen is you just to get out of that roteness, you just need to change your perspective. And maybe you can do that by changing your input. Maybe read a business book instead of a ministry book for a change. Maybe listen to a podcast outside of your field. There are some absolutely incredible podcasts out there. I don't know if you're a podcast fan. Hopefully you are. You're listening to this one. But there are some incredible non-ministry podcasts out there that I listen to every day. Maybe you need to have coffee with a leader from a different kind of an organization just to give you some fresh perspective. Because fresh input will create that fresh perspective that you need to, and it'll get you out of that rote feeling that you have. Because your ministry problems aren't unique to ministry. Someone somewhere has probably solved a version of what you're facing. So here's what I'd love for you to do. I would love for you to remember your before and your after. Okay. Write down three specific people whose lives have changed in the time that you've been where you are. Three people. There have to be three people who have experienced life change, whose lives have been changed because you are where you are. Don't think about programs, think about people. And keep their stories where you can see them. And when the work feels routine, the impact that you're having often isn't routine. Your perspective on your impact shapes your passion for your work. So think about those three people. Whenever you feel like this is just the same old over and over, think about those three people whose lives have been incredibly impacted by your ministry. Most church staff think that they need a new role when they actually might just need a new lens. The calling's still there, the purpose hasn't evaporated. Sometimes we just need to dust off the windshield. Get the old I live in Ohio, get that old ice scraper out and scrape away so that we can see exactly where we're going again. So before you change jobs, and this sounds like counterintuitive coming from somebody that owns a staffing firm, right? But before you change jobs, change your angle. The ministry you're looking for might be hiding in the role that you already have. I tell people this all the time. I would much rather have you stay at your church if that is where God has called you than to jump ship early and go somewhere else where you're just gonna three years from now be in the exact same situation. So before you change, before you even consider change, consider changing your ankle, your ankle, your angle, okay? This week I want to I want you to do this. Pick one regular part of your job and approach it like it's brand new. Ask questions like it's your first day on the job. Ask questions that you stopped asking two years ago or three years ago. Sit somewhere different during the meeting, switch things up, talk to somebody that you usually don't act, like you're trying to understand the ministry that you're in for the very first time. I guarantee it, you're gonna notice something different. Your calling doesn't expire just because it feels familiar. Sometimes the best next step is just to take a deep breath and take a fresh look at where you're already standing. All right, that's it for today. Tomorrow, I hope you'll join us back here again because January always brings us, at least for me, brings times of reflection. Like, what did God do at our church this past year? It's exciting, but man, you can also feel like your ministry is falling short if 2025 wasn't great. Tomorrow we're going to talk about breaking free from that comparison trap we as pastors always play. Just a remembrance of why God called you to your unique context. So I hope you'll join me again tomorrow and every week here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Have an absolutely wonderful day.
