5 Signs of Toxic Church Leadership (And What to Do About It!)

Toxic church leadership can create significant challenges for staff and impact the congregation at large. This episode explores five key signs of unhealthy leadership, emphasizing the need for transparency, accountability, and genuine care in church environments.

• Identifying micromanagement as a red flag 
• Recognizing the blame game within leadership 
• The impact of distrust on team dynamics 
• The dangers of favoritism in promotions 
• Understanding the risks of treating staff as mere numbers 
• Seeking ways to address toxicity in leadership 
• Prioritizing mental health and setting boundaries 
• Considering transitions to healthier church cultures 
• The importance of grace and healthy environments in ministry

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Chapters

• 0:06 Identifying Toxic Church Leadership
• 9:05 Seeking Healthy Leadership in the Church

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Have you ever served in a church where leadership felt just a little bit off? Maybe you felt unheard or overworked, or it was like you were walking on eggshells around certain leaders. That's a big red flag, and bad leadership doesn't just hurt staff, it damages the entire church. If your church struggles with micromanagement or blame shifting or favoritism, it might be time for a serious culture check, and that's what we're going to talk about here today on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. I am Todd Rhodes, I'm one of the co-founders of chemistrystaffingcom and today I'm going to be diving into five clear signs of toxic leadership and what to do about it. So stick around, because if you're in an unhealthy church staff environment, you're not alone, and hopefully I can give you a little bit of help today. All right, we're going to talk about five different things that I think are going to help you to identify and work your way through a toxic church staff culture.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Okay, so first, look out for micromanagement. Is everything micromanaged? A healthy church empowers its staff and volunteers. But if you're in a toxic culture, and volunteers? But if you're in a toxic culture, what you're going to find is every decision is controlled and if a pastor or a leader can't let go. If they can't delegate, if they absolutely insist on approving every single thing collaboration, creativity they're going to die. Staff end up feeling like robots and like they're just executing orders. If you find yourself in a toxic culture like this, you have to find a way to trust your team. If you're a leader that constantly you're not open-handed, you're close-handed, you don't want to give up any control. You've got to start delegating tasks. You've got to start letting people lead in their areas of gifting. If not, you very well could be a part of a very toxic culture.

Speaker 1: 2:13

Number two things to look out for. Do you see a lot of blame game stuff going on? Is it the norm blaming people? In a toxic church culture? When something goes wrong, leaders don't take responsibility. What they do, though, is they do point fingers at other staff, they point fingers at volunteers, they talk behind people's back. They might even blame the church or the congregation, and, instead of teamwork, people live in fear of making mistakes, and maybe you've served on a staff where you really fear if I make a mistake, I'm out the door. Maybe you're on a staff like that right now. If your church leaders throw others under the bus, it's a sign of really unhealthy leadership.

Speaker 1: 3:03

Here's the third thing. So have you spotted a culture of distrust? Do you feel like you've got to watch your back? Is there gossip going on? Is there secrecy? Do you perceive just a lack of transparency among leaders? Because here's what happens Toxic churches and toxic church staffs create an environment where staff and volunteers don't trust each other, they don't trust leadership and leadership doesn't trust them, and it creates fear and division rather than unity.

Speaker 1: 3:39

There's no honesty, there's no open conversations or communication and there's no trust. Okay. Number four is there favoritism? If there's favoritism? Okay, number four is there favoritism, if there's favoritism? If favoritism, if you look around and favoritism is everywhere, you're probably a part of a toxic culture.

Speaker 1: 3:58

You ever notice that some people always get the best opportunities, even if others work just as hard. I can tell you, in an unhealthy church, promotions and praise and resources aren't based on merit. They're based on relationships, and favoritism creates division and discouragement, and if people feel undervalued and overlooked, they're going to disengage or, most likely, they're going to leave. Maybe you're in a staff right now where you feel undervalued and overlooked. Maybe there are other people on staff that are just not really great staff members. Maybe they're not the most talented, maybe they just have a horrible attitude, but they have favor and they're getting the promotions and they're getting the seats at the table. That could be something that you're probably starting to disengage and you may very well leave. It's being part of a toxic culture. That's one of the ways to identify it.

Speaker 1: 4:54

And then number five is are you in a place where employees are treated like numbers? If so, you're probably a part of a toxic church culture. Okay, so does your church leadership only care about attendance and tithing numbers? We call them butts and bucks. Do they only care about productivity but ignore the health of the people that are actually doing the work? Because here's the truth when church leaders see staff and volunteers as tools rather than people with needs, burnout's inevitable, and a church that values its people is going to invest in their well-being. So if you feel like you're on a team where there's just no way to create any kind of work-life balance, if there's a team where you just don't feel like anybody really cares about your health or your burnout, or nobody really notices, that could be that you're very high chances that you're a part of a toxic church culture.

Speaker 1: 5:45

So what can you do when you see these signs, okay. So if you're a part of a staff, that is, you're like I just heard you say, todd the five different things and probably three of them, or four of them or five of them. That's where we're at as a church, or that's how I feel we are as a church. What can I do? All right, if your church is showing these toxic red flags, you really have a few options, okay, and these might not all be. The is showing these toxic red flags. You really have a few options, okay, and these might not all be the best options, right, but these are the options you've got.

Speaker 1: 6:19

First of all, you can address it with your leadership and start the conversations, and I realize that is that always the best option. Can you go to a leader that is toxic and say I feel like you're toxic? You probably wouldn't want to use those words. Some leaders, even if they are abusive or toxic, are open to conversations. Other leaders I would not recommend this option because it's not going to do you any good. It's just going to put a mark right on your forehead.

Speaker 1: 6:48

So the first option is you can address it with your leadership. The second is you can take steps, whatever steps you can to protect your mental health. Right, you can set boundaries to prevent burnout. You can say I'm going to, I'm going to only work between these hours, I'm only going to do this, just know you can do that and that's going to help you personally to work through this toxic culture. It's going to put a little bit of space there, but ultimately it's probably going to come back to hurt you as well. You might be doing better personally, but if you start to disengage, if you start to move back a little bit to try and gain that work-life balance in a culture that doesn't value work-life balance, it's probably not going to go well for you in the long term.

Speaker 1: 7:29

Okay, so another option is consider your next move. If you find that leadership won't change, if they're not open to conversations, if there's not a way that you can actively speak into that culture, it may be time to find a healthier church culture. Because here's the truth and this is what I tell people when I talk to them that are looking should I stay, should I go? This is situation. This is the kind of church I'm in. No one should serve an environment of fear or distrust or manipulation. Okay, nobody should. Can you? Yes, yes, you can, you absolutely can.

Speaker 1: 8:06

Thousands of church staff people across the country are currently in a position maybe you are right now where it's a toxic culture and they've been in it and they're in it and it's been a while. Okay, can you continue to serve there, can you continue to be on staff? Can you continue even to grab a paycheck there? Absolutely, what I'm going to tell you is you can't do that for long. Okay, I don't know what it is for you, I don't know if it's a month from now, I don't know if it's three months from now, if it's six months or a year, but you cannot, for a prolonged period of time, be in a toxic culture, because it will decimate you, it will drive you to burnout, it'll cause you to disengage. In many cases, it can ruin your faith, it can ruin your family. So, can you do this short term? Yeah, you can do it short term. Can you do it long term? You probably can, but it will ruin you.

Speaker 1: 9:05

God designed the church to be a place of grace and not control, and if you find that you're in a place of control, you've got to find a way out. You've either got to change where you are or you've got to find a better place, a place where God has called you to serve. That's healthy, and I hope that's one of the reasons why you're listening to this podcast and, hopefully, why you're listening to this podcast and, hopefully, why you're a regular listener to this Healthy Church Staff podcast, because we want to talk about things like this. We want to talk about okay, when should I consider staying? When should I consider leaving? What are some of the factors?

Speaker 1: 9:45

I am convinced that there are people watching and listening to this right now that, as I spell these things out, they're like man Todd, you hit it right on the head and I thought I was the only person in the world that was going through this. Let me tell you, you are not the only person in the world that's going through this and, a matter of fact, most church staff people have been in this boat, where they've been a part of an unhealthy church staff culture or even a toxic culture at one point or another in their ministry. So we are here to help you and you're going to find some guidance here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Also, at Chemistry Staffing, we're all about trying to help people like you find healthy, long-term fits, and when we talk about healthy long-term fits, we're talking about finding a place where you can stay five years or more in a really healthy place, in a really healthy church and make some great ministry happen.

Speaker 1: 10:38

If there's any way that I can help you, if there's any way that I can help your church find healthy church staff people for your staff, I would love to hear from you. You can always reach me podcast at chemistrystaffingcom and I would love to hear from you and I thank you so much. It means so much to me that you not only came and listened and watched. However, you're consuming this today. It means so much that you're here, but it means so much that you stayed here to the very end. So I'd love to hear from you, podcast at chemistrystaffingcom, and I'd love to see you and hear you again.