Week 9: Firing a Teacher

I interviewed Pastor Matthew Trexler at Starbucks on February 18th.

This is a list of the advice that Pastor Matthew gave me concerning how to remove a teacher. These are in no particular order.

- Confront head on and share goals with the teacher that can possibly fix the current problem.
- Develop a timeline for yourself to approach and find a solution to the issue, which includes both helping and removing the teacher.
- Review their spiritual gifts.
- Never tell them that they are doing an "awful" job.
-Equip and coach them to see if they just need help in ministering because you don't want to lose willing volunteers.
- Go to them and ask them how they feel about how their ministry is going. They may understand the problems they are having and willingly tell you. This can be extremely helpful in the process because if they recognize their own problems it makes removal easier for you as a pastor.
- 100% honesty is critical.
- Share with them how you as a leader perceive their ministry.
- Ask them if they are enjoying the ministry.
- Find other possible roles for them to serve in if they are willing and desire to continue to serve in another capacity.

Week 8: Theology of Conflict

One of the greatest misunderstanding about conflict that I believe exists in the church today is that conflict is sin. I think there is a large portion of people within our churches who have begun to equate conflict with sin. We avoid conflict as if it isn't supposed to exist. We have a hard time realizing that conflict is a part of our fallen world and that it is an expression of the diversity that God has created. No we should never let conflict spill over into anger, bitterness, slander, gossip, or any other sin issue, but we as a church need to understand that we will deal with conflict and having conflict itself is not sin.

1. Conflict Exists
When dealing with interpersonal conflict it is important to always recognize that it is a part of our world and our churches and it is not something that should be avoided. Christ never avoided conflict with his disciples or any other person who was doing something contrary to what he preached. This is true for those of us in the church today. We need to recognize conflict and not avoid it.

2. Love in Conflict
All conflict should be approached with the heart and mind of Christ. Regardless of what the conflict is over, we should never approach someone with a personal vendetta or with anger. As followers of Christ it is critical that we are focused on love and unity. That is what Christ desires of us and that is what we should strive for in our interpersonal relationships. No, we won't always agree with the decisions and opinions of people, but that does not mean that we should forget about what Christ has showed us about how to treat one another.

3. Recognizing Sin
In conflict its important to recognize sin. The unfortunate thing is that conflict in the church can sometime be a result of a sin issue or can lead to a sin issue. Recognizing what sin is from a Biblical perspective is critical to making sure that we know how to approach conflict. Once we are able to recognize sin that will enable us to intentionally and effectively confront a brother or sister in Christ.

4. Discipline
At times it may be possible that conflict will lead to the church having to discipline a member. Remember that discipline is not punishment or a means of hurting someone, but it is a lesson and teaching moment for the person who is struggling. At all times we should remember our love for this person and that our actions need to line up with who we represent.

5. Restoration and Redemption
Conflict needs to have an end. Regardless of whether or not you ever come to a consensus about the particular topic, you need to agree to focus on things we have in common rather than our differences. There are so many things that are so much more important than the petty things that we sometimes get in conflict over. We also need to recognize that discipline is not the end when our conflict does lead to this action. We must be willing to restore and redeem our brothers and sisters in Christ to the church.

Conflict

1. Conflict does not mean a relationship is over. This one is huge for me. I have recently lost someone very dear to me because of conflict. Just because something has come in between a relationship, does not mean it's done. If so, then that means you don't really care about the relationship to begin with.
2. Let's don't take on the Mennonite view of conflict. Shunning. If there is a conflict, address it.
3. If there is a conflict, address the person who the conflict is with. Don't go to other people and try to pursuade them to 'your side'.
4. Move on. Once the spiffle is resolved, let it be resolved. Over. Done with. Gone.

Motivating Volunteers

Jared on Monday
There were a number of things in which i was advised to do in order to motivate volunteers.
1. meet them where they are. In order for the volunteers to be happy with where they are, match them up with tasks that fit them.
2. be positive. Sometimes volunteers act like volunteers. Treat them with understanding and help guide them along the way.
3. treat them like adults. They are there to help students, not to be treated like one. Don't look down on them because they might not know what exactly to do.
4. give them responsibilities. Let them know that you trust them by giving them things to do. And maybe it's things that aren't pressing, but things none-the-less.
5. be thankful. People do not even have to be there, so let them know that you are glad and thankful for them to be there!

Week 8: Motivating Volunteers

1.  I interviewed pastor Matthew Trexler on Wednesday February 18th at Starbucks.

2.  Here are five tips that pastor Matthew gave me for pastors who are trying to motivate volunteers.  

- Announce the volunteer position frequently in services and make sure that there are printed handouts that tell the possible volunteers what the job is, what the requirements are and how often they will be asked to serve.  

- Depending on the volunteer opportunity you may want to ask specific people that you know have specific skills to think about serving in this capacity.  Its much more effective to have a conversation and describe the position fully to a possible volunteer.

- Provide a great deal of information about how the church will serve the volunteer.  Volunteers are sometimes hesitant to serve because they fear that they will be on their own.  The church should provide them with information about how they will be equip to serve in the church.  

- When asking for volunteers for leadership positions and not just service positions, make sure that you have some kind of interview to make sure that you have the right people to lead.  Teachers and people who will be in front of the church need to be held to a higher standard because of what they are entrusted with.  

- Give them needed rest.  Volunteers are afraid that once they volunteer they are owned by the church.  Finding some kind of a rotation for volunteers or a schedule is important to make sure that the church is not burning out its volunteer base.  We should show our appreciation to our volunteers and make sure they know how important they are to the ministry.