It is true that we desire a Christ like character in each of our team members here at Grace as noted in my previous blog. But, we are also desirous to have a "COMPETENT" team in all areas of our ministry.
The competence factor revolves around our belief that God gives abilities, talents, passions and spiritual gifts to each and every one of us. We also belief that these are incredibly diverse which in my opinion is a very good thing. In a ministry our size, we need diversity in the skill sets present within our staff. The competence piece of the puzzle for me carries with it three main ideas as we both look to hire and grow our current staff.
First, as we move forward I am always evaluating what positions need to be filled and what skill set do we need when filling that position. For example, I was hired to be a pastor at Grace and not an IT specialist. Why? Because my passion, training and gifts lie in pastoral ministry and not technology. I appreciate technology and I'm trying to learn more about it on a regular basis, but I could never maintain or grow the technology side of our ministry because I don't possess the skill set or passion for it. Thus, with any position, we seek to define carefully what our needs are as a ministry and place the right individual in that area.
Secondly, the competence factor plays into how we choose to move forward. In a culture that is rapidly changing, we acknowledge here at Grace that so too does the skill sets and positions we need. The Grace Church staff cannot function and do church like we did five years ago as systems and technologies must grow with our ever growing ministry. Thus, some of the skill sets we once needed become outdated and new ones are required. Therefore, it is my desire to continue building a staff that is very fluid and flexible with a willingness to grow, train and be equipped in new areas. I'm a firm believer that we are never too old to learn something new and become proficient and skilled in something other than what we are used to.
Thirdly, I've learned for me personally and for others that doing our work with excellence is much easier when we feel like we are adequately skilled and passionate about what we are asked to do. Staff can become very demotivated if their tasks on a daily basis are laborious and out of their comfort zone. This produces mediocrity in performance which is unhealthy for both the individual and the organization as a whole. To hire and place people in their area of skill and competence will increase creative thinking, passion and productivity in every area of ministry.
I'm a firm believer that we must strongly look at the competence factor because I believe God has called us as His Church to do everything with excellence. Christ Jesus gave His very best for us and it would be wrong for us to do anything less. I believe it is only right to grow and fill our staffing needs with people who possess the right competencies (skill sets) in that specific area. Anything less produces mediocre results which is anything but excellence for the Lord. Every one of us has been given talents, abilities, passions and gifts from the Lord and it is my goal as the Grace Staff moves forward to create a culture where our staff is being used in their area of competence for their betterment and the betterment of our ministry as a whole for the purpose of bringing glory to God!
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