QUICK GUIDE – An Alternative To Pastor Performance Reviews

The relationships between church boards and senior or solo pastors are challenging.  In most congregations, the board and pastor have a complex, not-easily-negotiated relationship:

• All board members, including the pastor, are brothers in Christ, and equals before God.
• The board, in most cases, was involved in the hiring of the pastor and the writing or rewriting of his ministry description.
• In many cases, the families of the pastor and the board members are intertwined in various ways. In some cases they are intertwined in many
• The pastor, in most cases, was involved in the choosing of the board members.
• The pastor is expected to be the spiritual caregiver to the board members and their families.
• The pastor is expected to be both the spiritual and directional leader of the board and the church.
• While no single board member functions as the pastor’s direct supervisor, the board, as a group, is the pastor’s boss.

This last point above, the board as the pastor’s supervisor, creates several challenges:

• First off, as a saying goes, “groups don’t lead,” or at least, “groups don’t usually lead well.”
• This means that groups (and boards are groups) tend to make poor supervisors. For this reason, many of us advocate for a structure where the board has only one employee: the senior or solo pastor.  In this polity, the pastor is expected to be the direct or indirect supervisor of all volunteer ministry leaders and/or staff members, and is expected to do it well.  As an individual, it’s easier for him to be a good supervisor than it would be for the board to fulfill this role.
• Boards also find it awkward to supervise the pastor because – in most cases – (1) they didn’t receive training to be pastors, (2) they’re not studying books or other materials on the pastor’s role on a regular basis like the pastor is, and, (3) they’ve never done the job.

So typically, the board and pastor stumble along in this difficult relationship all year long until the annual performance review, which is often a bad experience for all involved because: (1) the close relationships between the individuals and families involved make truth-telling very difficult, (2) no real supervision has been given all year, (3) there are undisclosed tensions concerning the pastor’s role and the pastor’s performance that have been simmering beneath the surface, (4) both sides are acutely aware of the gaps between the pastor’s and the board member’s knowledge of the pastoral role, as mentioned above, and (5) performance reviews are notoriously subjective and ineffective anyway. In churches they are typically too little or too much or too dependent on hearsay or too late or too oppositional.

 We want to suggest a simple practice that will help improve: (1) the relationship between the board and pastor at your church (2) the pastor’s performance (3) the pastor’s job satisfaction.  If it doesn’t make annual performance reviews redundant it will at least make them less traumatic for all involved.

 Boards can coach their pastors at every board meeting.

We’re not talking about the kind of “directive” coaching given by the athletic coach, delivered at high volume to the players at half time.  We’re talking about the kind of non-directive coaching that does not require the coach to be an expert on the actual work of the individual being coached. 

We’re talking about asking the pastor a few simple coaching questions – similar to the ones he’s asking his staff members – such as the following:

• How are you doing physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually?
• How are you doing with your annual goals (or KRAs – “Key Result Areas”)?
• What did you accomplish this past month that you feel good about?
• How did you use your ministry strengths this month?
• Is there anything new that you’re dreaming about?
• How is God growing and changing you?
• How are you living out your life mission?
• Tell us about your answered or (seemingly) unanswered prayers this month.
• What did you fail to accomplish that you are frustrated about?
• How can we help you to get this done successfully?
• What aspects of your ministry (as outlined in your ministry description) are giving you joy?
• What aspects of your ministry (as outlined in your ministry description) are giving you anxiety?
• Do you have any relationships that have “gone south” in the last month?
• How are you doing with your weekly “Sabbath” (or day off) and your monthly retreat day?
• Are you happy with the condition of our church? How would you love to see it changed?
• How can we pray for you?
• What do you wish we would ask you?

Your board’s set of questions would, of course, be tailored to your pastor, his ministry description, his own annual goals, your ministry context, and would need to be agreed on, up front, by pastor and board.  The exercise of getting to agreement on the questions would be a good discussion in and of itself.  You would not need to ask all of these at each meeting.

We don’t think we’ve ever seen a church board do this.

But we would have loved to have had a church board do this!  We would have felt loved, blessed, supported, protected, valued and accountable.

Here’s what we are suggesting that you do:

If you are a board member, ask your board and pastor to join you in trying this. 

If you are a pastor, ask your board to join you in trying this.  You can come up with your own list of questions and present a sample form to your board.  We can’t imagine a board refusing to do this.

We believe that this simple practice could be a great blessing to your church and it might just eliminate the need for the dreaded, annual pastor performance review.