The Elder Board Relationship: How to Present Your Ministry Needs Without Begging

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, host Todd Rhoades discusses effective strategies for church staff when approaching church boards and elder meetings with requests and proposals. The episode emphasizes the importance of reframing requests from a begging mentality to one of partnership and opportunity. Todd encourages staff to present data-driven proposals that showcase potential returns on investment, aligning them with the church's mission and vision.• Avoid the 'beggar dynamic' when requesting resources from church boards.• Present requests as a partnership and investment, not a cost center.• Utilize data and demonstrate potential return on investment.• Align proposals with the church's mission and broader goals.• Use language that resonates with board members, often with a business mindset.• Reframe requests to show stewardship and opportunity rather than just resolving issues.

Have questions or comments?  Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com

Be sure to subscribe to The Healthy Church Staff Podcast wherever you regularly listen to podcasts.

- - - - -

Is Your Church Hiring?
If your church is searching for a new staff member, reach out to Todd for a conversation on how he might be able to help.

Are You Looking for a New Ministry Role?
If you are open to a new church role in the next few months, add your free resume and profile at ChemistryStaffing.com.

Transcript

Welcome And Series Context

How The Beggar Dynamic Forms

Shift From Dependent To Partner

Speak ROI And Stewardship Language

Turn Requests Into Confident Proposals

Challenge, Contact, And Next Week Tease

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Sometimes you walk into an elder meeting, church board meeting with sweaty calls, because you feel like you're about to ask for something that you desperately that you feel like your ministering your church desperately needs, but you're already feeling like you're like you're like you're the kid asking your dad for five bucks. And somehow you always leave feeling a little bit defeated. If you've ever felt this dynamic, we're going to talk about that today right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Hi, my name's Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffing.com, along with my co-founder Matt Steen. And I hope you'll check us out over at chemistrystaffing.com. We have a lot of resources over there, not just for churches that are hiring, but also different resources that can help your church staff healthier. So check us out at Chemistry Staffing. Today we're going to round out our series on elder boards, governing boards, church boards, with we're going to wrap this up today. Kind of a dynamic that that a lot of staff feel when it comes to dealing with their elder board, their church board. A lot of church staff approach elders like their or their church board, like they're asking for favors. Hey, please, could we maybe possibly get a small budget increase? Or hey, I know budgets, money's really tight, but we really need this. Or sorry to bother you with this, but and you're just positioning yourself as the needy child. You remember? I I remember what it was like when I was little and had to ask my dad for five bucks. And sometimes that's the mentality we take into our church board meeting. We we feel like we're please get your hands out, hoping that they will reply positively. We position ourselves as the needy child. But here's what happens when you do that. You get known for this beggar dynamic. And your elders, your team, your church board are gonna start seeing you if you do this more than a couple times, they're gonna start seeing you as someone who only shows up with problems. They brace themselves when they see you come, and they yeah, you reinforce the idea that ministry is a cost center, not an investment. And every conversation that you have becomes about more about what you lack, not about what you're building. So now you care deeply about your ministry, and you have to fight and you should fight for resources, but sometimes there's just a better way. Start thinking about this more as maybe a business partner, not a dependent. Okay? So come with data, not just with passion. We've been talking about this all week, about how you position yourself in a healthy way with your board or with your elders. And it starts with something like this: hey, here's what we're seeing in our youth engagement. Hey, based on our growth trends, here's what we feel like we need to serve next month or into the future. Or something like, hey, I know this is a I know this is a big ass, but this investment is going to help us and allow us to reach 20 more families. Show them that return on investment, not just the investment itself, not just the cost, not just the dollars going out the door, not just the risk. Show them what that return on investment is. Remember, we talked about this, I think probably in just about every episode this week. A lot of your elders, a lot of your church board members are coming in with more of a business mindset. So they're looking at that ROI, that return on investment. So speak in their language. We talked about that earlier this week, too, about taking it out of ministry talk and putting it into the language that they can understand. Frame it as a stewardship, as an opportunity, not just solving a problem. You it lots so much of it comes down to language. You gotta stop saying, hey, we need more money. Start saying, hey, here's an opportunity. Here's something that I think that God might be doing that we can hitch on to. Stop saying, hey, can we please get this? And start saying, hey, I'm a rec, I'm recommending. This is what I think would be a great thing for us to invest in. Stop saying, hey, I know it's a lot to ask. Start saying, hey, here's why this makes sense for our mission. Remember, we've said this time and time again during this week and this episode, this series of episodes on boards elder teams. Your elders and your board members, most all of them, hopefully all of them, want your chief, your church to succeed just as much as you. And they're not trying to say no to good ideas, they're trying to say yes to the right one. So it's your job as the church staff person that's going in and presenting ideas, it's your job to help them see why your idea is the right thing to do, and is why your idea is you gotta make your case for why you think God is asking you to do this. So here's your bottom line for today. Stop asking for permission all the time and start making proposals that show that you understand the big picture, that you speak their language, and that you've taken a lot of things under consideration. So as you round out this week, as you're as we round out this series, I would like to challenge you one last time, okay? Indulge me just for a second. Get out a piece of paper, rewrite one request that you've been planning to make. Maybe it's for your next board meeting, maybe your board meeting is on Sunday night, I don't know. Turn it from a plea into a proposal. A proposal that includes data, absolutely, outcomes, yep, but mission connection, and then go in and instead of presenting it like a beggar, present it with some confidence. Because you've done the work. You know your ministry matters, and your ministry deserves thoughtful investment. So present it as such. Present it exactly that way. All right, I hope this series has been helpful for you. I would love to hear any questions that you might have. You can always reach out to me, podcast at chemistry staffing.com, or you can head over to my website, todd.church, and there's a comment form on there that you can send that for me and also share some of the other things that we do at chemistry staffing, some of the things that I've done, a couple of books that I've written. If you're interested in any of that, a little bit more about me and my bio, you can check that out at todd.church. All right, we'll be back here again on Monday. Let me just check here and see what in the world are we talking about on Monday? It's already on the calendar. Next week, we're gonna talk about, no, we're gonna talk about burnout and clarity and capacity, volunteer capacity. But Monday we're gonna talk about the title of it is the skills expiration date when your team's expertise becomes obsolete. Ooh, that'll be a fun can of worms to open. I hope you'll join me right back here on Monday on the Healthy Church Death Podcast.