{"id":31471,"date":"2022-09-10T15:31:43","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/8-tips-for-leading-a-ministry-team-remotely\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:31:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:31:43","slug":"8-tips-for-leading-a-ministry-team-remotely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/8-tips-for-leading-a-ministry-team-remotely\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Tips for Leading a Ministry Team Remotely"},"content":{"rendered":"
Parker Byrd photo – Unsplash <\/p>\n

By Chandler Vannoy<\/em><\/p>\n

For pastors and ministry leaders, we are stepping into the unknown. COVID-19 has scattered our church, delocalized our people, and caused many of us to enter the world of remote work. Seminary didn\u2019t prepare us for this.<\/p>\n

Remote work isn\u2019t a new phenomenon, but when much of our country is thrown into the work-from-home culture, many of us feel like a fish out of water.<\/p>\n

Not only are we navigating working from our home, our ministry teams are now separated, and we\u2019re still called to lead them faithfully through this difficult time.<\/p>\n

On top of the chaos filling our world, we are now faced with the task of leading our ministry teams in a completely new and foreign way.<\/p>\n

Because of this, I want to share with you eight tips I\u2019ve learned over the past several years of working remotely.<\/p>\n

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Most of these tips were learned the hard way, so give yourself and your team grace as your walk through this season.<\/p>\n

1. Choose trust over suspicion. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is the foundation to leading a remote team. Since you\u2019re no longer in the office seeing what your team is working on and being involved in impromptu conversations, suspicion can start to creep in.<\/p>\n

We have to fight against that tendency and choose to trust they\u2019re getting the job done.<\/p>\n

If the leader sets this tone, the team will follow. Show your team you trust them in front of each other.<\/p>\n

2. Ask your team to show their work.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Just because we are choosing trust, doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t want to see the progress our team is making. Because of this, ask for routine updates and what they are working on.<\/p>\n

3. Create meeting structure.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you weren\u2019t meeting-heavy before, create new meeting times to check in. Our team uses a weekly 30-minute stand-up meeting on Monday and an hour-long strategy meeting on Wednesdays.<\/p>\n

When the pace of our work speeds up, we add daily 15-minute stand-up meetings.<\/p>\n

These meetings are important to keep everyone on the same page, allows teammates to share what they\u2019re working on, and discuss any obstacles they\u2019re trying to overcome. <\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Over-communicate.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When meetings are happening virtually, it\u2019s no longer possible to knock on someone\u2019s door to ask for clarity or read their body language during the meeting. This means over-communication is key.<\/p>\n

Put all the details in an email. Send a follow-up email with even more details. And before you hit \u201csend,\u201d think about the questions others may ask and answer those for them.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t just for your staff or ministry team. This goes for your whole church, including volunteers and lay people.<\/p>\n

If you had to constantly tell people, \u201cIt\u2019s in the bulletin,\u201d then what makes you think they\u2019ll check their emails or the Facebook page?<\/p>\n

5. Utilize technology.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By now, you probably wish you had bought stock in Zoom since it is hosting every meeting in America right now. But the good news is, you can use it for video conferencing.<\/p>\n

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See also  The Group Most Likely to Still Be Missing From Your Church<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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No matter which video conferencing software you use, make sure to use one for your meetings.<\/p>\n

Phone calls can quickly become impersonal. Video allows your team to see each other and feel connected while scattered.<\/p>\n

Also, ask your team to utilize shared document and spreadsheets on Google. This facilitates seamless collaboration.<\/p>\n

One last technology tool I\u2019d recommend is an alternative to email. Email can slow your team down when you need to move fast.<\/p>\n

Three great alternatives to look at are Slack, Basecamp, or Asana. They each have their unique use case, so different ministries will find different software helpful.<\/p>\n

6. Determine communication channels.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

With so many different options for communication, it is easy for messages to get lost if they are not shared in the right channel.<\/p>\n

Take the time to discuss with your team how and when to use each channel of communication.<\/p>\n

7. Establish video call guidelines.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In a recent Unseen Leadership podcast with Shannon Miles, who leads a company that works fully remote, she advised to set rules that the camera is always on and mute is always off during video calls. This allows for a \u201creal meeting\u201d feel.<\/p>\n

When you can\u2019t see someone, it\u2019s easy to assume they\u2019re distracted. And when mute is turned on, the conversation can be one-sided.<\/p>\n

Now, this is advice for smaller team meetings. When meetings are larger than five or six people, it\u2019s helpful to set rules for how to use mute so distractions are at a minimum. <\/strong><\/p>\n

8. Set boundaries.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Working remotely\u2014especially from home\u2014can create unclear work\/life balance. When you never leave the \u201coffice,\u201d it\u2019s easy to continue working into the evening.<\/p>\n

As the leader, you can create clear expectations and a healthy example for those you lead.<\/p>\n

Show your team how to turn off work and disconnect so they can spend time with family and create healthy boundaries. Be proactive in this and constantly share these expectations.<\/p>\n

I hope these tips are helpful as you remotely lead your team through these uncertain times.<\/p>\n

But the greatest tip I can share with you is to give grace to both yourself and your team during this season. Many on your team now find themselves working at home while caring for their kids and learning how to homeschool.<\/p>\n

It can be overwhelming. Let\u2019s make sure to lead with grace and show our teams we truly care for them.<\/p>\n

CHANDLER VANNOY (@chandlervannoy)<\/strong> serves as the brand manager for Lifeway Leadership. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and holds his Masters of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. You can read more at chandlervannoy.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times? What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation? The Influential Online Space Churches Are Ignoring <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parker Byrd photo – Unsplash By Chandler Vannoy For pastors and ministry leaders, we are stepping into the unknown. COVID-19 has scattered our church, delocalized our people, and caused many of us to enter the world of remote work. Seminary didn\u2019t prepare us for this. Remote work isn\u2019t a new phenomenon, but when much of … Continue reading “8 Tips for Leading a Ministry Team Remotely”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}