The Standard Is Christ, Not Church Culture

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, host Todd discusses the common issue of declining standards and accountability within church staff environments. He emphasizes the importance of striving for excellence in ministry work and addresses the cultural drift that equates 'good enough for church' standards as acceptable. Todd provides practical advice for resetting expectations and maintaining high standards to ensure that work honors God, not just church norms. • Discussion on declining standards and lack of accountability in church staff work. • The cultural drift toward 'good enough for church' mentality. • Importance of striving for excellence in ministry work. • Distinguishing between busyness and quality in church tasks. • Practical steps to reset standards and improve accountability. • Encouragement to reflect on whether church work honors God.

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Transcript

When Good Enough Becomes Normal

SPEAKER_00 0:07

This month we're talking about excellence and accountability and all kinds of good fun stuff here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. We're ending our series today. Maybe you just got an email from a staff member this morning. It's the third typo in the subject line this month. And the report you asked for, it's two days late again. The presentation for the elders that you asked for are thrown together. Last minute with flip art from 2009. And here's a kicker, nobody seems to be bothered by it. And here's the thing that really bothers you. You're not even bothered by it anymore. Because somewhere along the way, good enough for church became the standard. And if that's where you're sitting, if that's the seat you're sitting in this morning, I'm glad you're here. Or today, I'm glad you're here because we're going to talk about the drift that a lot of times just flies under the radar. We don't really name it. And we never mention it out loud. And we're going to talk about it today here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. My name's

The Lie That Excuses Sloppiness

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Todd, and I am your host and one of the co-founders over chemistrystaffing.com. We never really usually say this out loud, but we've internalized a lie. That ministry work really doesn't have to be that good because it's just for the church. The website could be a little bit clunky. And if you don't believe what I'm saying here, if this is not your church, then good for you. But go look at the average church website. Oh my goodness. Talk about clunky. The graphic can be a little bit pixelated. That's okay. The email can go out with a broken link here or there. It's not a big thing. And we just rationalize it. This is not business. It's not business. It's a ministry. And you're right, this is true. But since when did faithfulness excuse sloppiness? And a lot of churches, man, were just sloppy, and it's because there's no accountability, and it gets tricky. Church culture rewards busyness over quality. We're so busy, we celebrate our busyness. We celebrate that we're doing a lot more than we celebrate doing it well. And staff members, your staff team, your volunteers, learn that really quickly. Volume matters more than craftsmanship. Plus, there's just this unspoken grace umbrella. Hey, they're serving the Lord. Cut them some slack. But grace isn't the same as lowered expectations. That's what we've been talking about all week on the podcast. Calling something ministry doesn't make poor work God honoring. It just doesn't. I'm not saying that your team doesn't care, I'm not saying you don't care. But maybe you're in this culture where you just feel like, oh, it's it's good enough. Most are working really hard. They're working really hard and working well. Working hard and working well aren't always necessarily the

Colossians 3:23 Sets The Bar

SPEAKER_00 2:56

same thing. I mentioned this verse earlier in the week, but I want to come back to it. Colossians 3.23. It doesn't say whatever you do, and work at it kind of okay-ish. That's not what Colossians 3.23 says. It says that whatever you do, it is working for the Lord, not for the budget, not for the board, not for your pastor, not for the volunteer, not for the parents, but for God, for him. If Jesus were signing off on that email, what would it look like? If the Holy Spirit were reviewing that ministry plan, would he whisper in your ear, well done? We've sub substituted Church Normal for Christ centered, and that's just not true. Church Normal has been drifting for years in a lot of our churches. So what do we do?

Name The Drift And Reset

SPEAKER_00 3:45

How do we reset the standard? I think you need to reset it by naming it. In your next staff meeting, just say it. Hey, over time, and this is nothing against you, it's just kind of natural creep. We've kind of let the standard slip, and I own that. Don't shame anybody. Just acknowledge that the drift is there. They'll they know it's there. You're not telling them anything they don't know. But then, after you've kind of named it, reframe the question. Not is this good enough for a church our size? That's not the right question. The right question is this reflective of the God that we serve? Excellence is not about budget. Excellence actually has nothing to do about budget. It does have a lot to do about intentionality. If you you can have a $200 website that's clear and fast and welcoming, or a $20,000 website that's still confusing and outdated. The SIF difference is that somebody cared. Somebody took some time to make it the best that it could be.

Simple Practices That Raise Quality

SPEAKER_00 4:45

And here's what it looks like practically. You just put care into everything that you do. Pick one area where the standard is slipped. Maybe it's communication, maybe it's how you prep for your services, maybe it's follow-up. Set a new expectation out loud. From now on, every email we send to the church gets from the church gets proofread by somebody other than the author. Not to get realistic about it, but set the bar, right? Every slide and a presentation gets reviewed 24 hours before it goes live. Simple, specific, doable, and then model it yourself. If you're sloppy with your calendar and your reports and your replies, your team will mirror that. The standard, your standard becomes their permission.

Clear Accountability Without Shame

SPEAKER_00 5:29

A conversation with your team. If someone on your team is consistently turning in subpower work, don't ignore it. Have the conversation, not in anger, but in clarity. Hey, I noticed the last few things you've turned in haven't been your best. What's happening here? Maybe they're overwhelmed, maybe they don't understand the standard, maybe they've gotten uncomfortable, whatever it is, you owe them the truth because letting them coast isn't kindness, it's cowardness dressed up as grace. So here's your bottom line for today. The standard for your work isn't what other churches are doing, it's whether it honors the God that you're serving. I hope that's it for today. That's it for this week on the podcast. If there's any way that I can help you, please feel free to reach out to me, podcast at chemistry staffing.com. Love to hear your story. Love to see if there's any way that we might be able to help you and your church here at Chemistry. All right, have a great weekend, and we'll be right back here on Monday for the Health Ape Church.