Harold J. Westing, Church Staff Handbook: How to Build an Effective Ministry Team. Revised and updated. Kregel Publications, 1997.
Referenced in: Ministry Staff and Leadership Teams
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Westing’s first edition appeared in 1985, and the fact that it was updated in 1997 and is still in print attests to its value. Westing presents staffs as teams led by a servant-style senior minister, but he is useful for those who operate from other models. He suggests several sensible analogies to help clarify the paradoxes of staff leadership. He discusses common problems – balancing temperaments and personalities (I recommend the DISC Personality Profile instead of his ABCD model in chapter 4), maintaining shared elements that constitute a team’s glue, crafting job descriptions, and clarifying role expectations. There is a helpful chapter on “Managing Upward” for the awkward reality when an associate needs to advise the senior minister. He discusses staff diseases such as triangulation, codependency, and unresolved conflict. He provides insight into effective staff meetings (covenants, philosophies, agenda) and retreats, hiring new staff members, and securing financial equity of team members. The appendix includes a section on “Philosophy of Ministry.”
From the Publisher
This book provides a blueprint for developing a spiritually strong and effective team for ministry in the local church.
About the Author
Harold J. Westing, a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Grace College, and Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, is director of the Center for Leadership Development in Littleton, Colorado. He has served as Associate Professor of Christian Education and Pastoral Ministries and Dean of Student at Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary and as the National Director of Christian Education Ministries for the Conservative Baptist Association of America. Recognized as an authority on church growth and education, his other works include Evaluate and Grow, I’d Love to Tell the World, Super Superintendent, and Building Biblical Values.
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