To be a team requires at least two things: unity in purpose and commitment to a group dynamic. In other words, it doesn't mean team if individuals merely work on the same staff as independent contractors who oversee separate domains. But it's not always easy for men and women to work together. Here is some practical advice—three attitudes that are needed in every leader who wants to harvest ...
I've noticed that in the church the differences between men and women sometimes clash and hinder us from fulfilling Christ's work. Only when I began to recognize and appreciate these differences did I see how men and women could overcome their differences and become effective partners in ministry.
What follows are generalizations, yet they reveal tendencies that appear in ministry:
Most ministry teams have not consciously created their own staff culture, but rather accepted the culture as it has been developed and handed down to them. But better relationships depend on an improved atmosphere.
Leaders can strategically guide their teams through the process of defining the staff's cultural values.
Here's how to examine and reshape your working environment:
Get away and ask some questions. Take a couple of half-day sessions to articulate collectively what is and is not acceptable for staff members. The genius of this exercise is that staff members get to participate in shaping the cultural norms.
Ministry brings with it serious built-in hazards, moral land mines that can destroy leaders, their families, and even their churches. I recall with embarrassment my naiveté as a young pastor. Every time I heard the stories of Christian leaders falling into sexual sin, I thought, It could never happen to me.
What level of pride is required to believe that sexual sin could overtake Samson, David, ...
Churches are potentially liable for misconduct or harassment claims that involve church employees, and in many cases, non-employees as well (if the church knew about the problem in advance and did not act).
Harassment
Sexual harassment can take two forms:
Quid pro quo harassment refers to the conditioning of employment opportunities on submission to a sexual or social relationship.
Hostile environment harassment refers to the creation of an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment through unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Note that the law refers to "unwelcome" not "involuntary" interactions. If a touch or comment is unwelcome or intimidating to someone—even if they reciprocate in that moment—it can still be sexual harassment.
Many of our stereotypes, fears, and even our theological beliefs are unspoken or unacknowledged, even to ourselves. And yet, they affect how we function together. Here are some questions that will help you examine how your past has shaped who you are today:
Were girls expected to be quieter and more passive (to "act like a lady") while boys' rambuctiousness was tolerated because "boys will be boys"? How do you feel about that now?
ARTICLE Speaking Frankly Real communication between men and women lies beyond biases and stereotypes. Ruth Haley Barton
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Most men and women seem to agree that if there is any area in which men and women have dropped the ball in their efforts to achieve true teamwork, it is the area of communication. In my own research, I have asked many men and women what they would most like members of the other sex with whom they live, work, and worship to know. If they could speak honestly and without fear of negative repercussions, ...
ARTICLE He Said, She Heard What men need to know about how to communicate with women. Jeffrey Arthurs
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All good communicators know that we must adjust to our audience if we hope for them to adjust to our message. We have to speak a language they understand. Missionaries call it "contextualization." And translators use "dynamic equivalence." With communication between men and women, the issue is called "genderlects."
According to communication scholar Deborah Tannen, genderlects account for much of the ...
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