The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Your Staff Isn’t Lazy. They’re Spiritually Disconnected
Church staff displaying signs of disengagement might not be lazy but spiritually disconnected and malnourished. The real issue is often soul erosion resulting from constant ministry hustle without adequate time to abide in Christ.
• Warning signs include emotional flatness despite busyness
• Loss of compassion, creativity, and conviction about ministry
• Staff going through Sunday motions while feeling numb or cynical
• Avoidance of deep conversations and focus on just getting through the day
• These symptoms indicate spiritual warning lights, not poor work ethic
Schedule white space for your team - one day per quarter for personal retreat and soul repair. Normalize soul care by discussing spiritual rhythms alongside productivity expectations. Ask deeper questions during check-ins focused on heart condition, not just project status. Build spiritual health into your organizational culture.
Take time after listening to reflect honestly on your own spiritual nourishment and that of your staff. If you need support, reach out to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com.
Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com
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What if your staff isn't lazy, they're just spiritually empty? You're seeing disengagement, you're seeing low energy, you're seeing missed details, but the real problem might not be time management at all. It might be soul erosion, and that's actually much more serious. Stick around, because at the end of this video you're going to have three quick ways to identify spiritual disconnection on your team and what to do to restore it. Hi there, welcome to the Healthy Church Staff podcast. We are here on the podcast and here on YouTube today talking about maybe your staff isn't lazy, they're just disconnected. I am one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom and your co-host or actually your host right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Alright, before you diagnose laziness in a staff member, make sure you take a little bit of a pause, okay? Here's a better question to ask when was the last time your staff had time to actually be with Jesus instead of just working for him? Because here's the truth Too often, church staff are caught in a blur of everything that they have to do.
Speaker 1:There's Sunday prep, there's budget meetings, there's problem solving, it's ministry hustle, it's doing this and doing that without ministry help. A lot of times and Jesus tells us abide in me and you will bear much fruit. But the honest truth is, most church staff are expected to bear fruit without much space to abide, and what you're seeing as a motivation issue might actually just be a spiritual malnourishment issue, and that's some serious stuff. So what are some signs of this soul erosion that we're talking about? Here's some red flags that your staff might be spiritually disconnected. Maybe they're always busy, but they're just emotionally flat. Maybe they've lost their compassion. Maybe they've lost their creativity. Maybe they used to be really convicted, but they've lost that sense of urgency or conviction. Sunday still happens, but yet they're quietly cynical or just numb about it. They avoid deep conversations. They only want to get through the day. These are not signs of poor work ethic. Many times they're signs of spiritual warnings, and their spiritual warning lights are starting to go off. And if you're honest, you might recognize some of these signs in yourself too from time to time, maybe even right now.
Speaker 1:So what do you? What does your team need? I'll tell you what they don't need. They don't need another vision talk. They need just a little bit of permission to breathe, and that's one of the first thing. Matter of fact, that is the first thing that we do? When somebody calls and says I just lost my job or I just quit my job or something has happened, the first thing we tell them is you just need to breathe, okay, and create some space for some reconnection.
Speaker 1:Here are some practical tips. You can schedule some white space. Give them one day per quarter for some personal retreat, not just for sermon prep, but for some soul repair. Doesn't cost your church any money. It's actually going to make your church money if you look at it that way, because people that are refreshed are going just to do their ministry tasks better. Normalize that soul care.
Speaker 1:Talk openly about spiritual rhythms that you expect your staff to pursue, not just the productivity stuff, not just the checking things off a list, but making sure that they're taking care of themselves spiritually. And really ask deeper questions, not how's the project, but how's your heart. Make spiritual health part of the regular check-ins. And remember restoring connection isn't just a one-time fix. This is a culture thing. This is something you need to build into your DNA. So the bottom line for today is your staff probably isn't underperforming. They're probably undernourished. At least you need to consider that. Don't just jump to the they're lazy or they're not doing their job. It could just be that they're worn, lazy or they're not doing their job. It could just be that they're worn out and they're undernourished spiritually. So we need to stop managing behavior and start shepherding the souls of our staff, and maybe this resonated with you today.
Speaker 1:I'd love to hear Just drop a comment below or reach out to me and you can do that at podcast at chemistrystaffingcom and just tell me where are you on the spectrum. Is there any way that you need to move from where you are to kind of get to a healthier place? And if there's any way that I can help you, I'd love to be able to do that. You're gonna reach out to me podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. Take some time after you're done here. Maybe you're in a car. Maybe you're in a car, maybe you're in your office I don't know where you're listening or watching this but take some time after this video and just really ask yourself how am I doing?
Speaker 1:How am I doing? How am I doing spiritually? Am I nourishing myself or am I malnourished? How is my staff? If you're in charge of a staff, are you seeing signs that maybe, outwardly, your first inclination is just they're just starting to be lazy or lackadaisical or something. Maybe it's not that at all. Maybe they're just extremely exhausted and extremely spiritually malnourished. It's your job as a leader to make sure that you're there for them and you shepherd them through that and make sure you give them the space they need to get healthy and see if that just doesn't help their performance, because I bet it will All right. That's it for today. I hope you'll join me again on the next episode here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Hope you have a great weekend. This is Friday if you're listening on the day it releases. Hope you have a great weekend. This is Friday if you're listening on the day it releases. Hope you have a great weekend. If not, hope you have a great day today. Join me back here tomorrow.
