Pastors - Orient & Onboard New Leadership

*Taps mic*

This thing still works!

Each new year at our church comes with a fresh budget and fresh leadership. In our polity we have a number of ministry teams (yes we're an old church and still use the word committees, that's another thing for another day) that oversee primary ministry areas & administrative work of the church. Since I got here almost 3 1/2 years ago, my goal has been to empower these groups to do the  work they have been assigned to, working together with each other and working with the church staff and the body as a whole. And we're getting closer to that coming to full fruition, it's been a pretty awesome journey to see the spirit of cooperation and collegiality that's been fostered among our leadership.

But this didn't happen by accident. One thing that's been a priority has been to onboard the new leadership and help them see the scope of their work. Putting it mildly, FBC was in absolute chaos when we got here. Another story for another day, but suffice it to say previous pastoral leadership was very good at fostering dysfunction and distrust and neutering the work that these groups were doing. Moreover, people were serving in leadership roles without a clear understanding of what they'd signed up for! That first year was survival mode, and a lot of 3-4 hour meetings.

Since then, we're doing something different. Every year as part of the process, I'll take one Sunday afternoon and do a marathon orientation/onboarding for each of our ministry teams. We invite the whole team, not just the new members, to be part of this. And it makes for a very long day, my voice is usually toast by the end of the night. We'll see how this year goes! Here's why it's invaluable.

1. Onboarding brings clarity to purpose & function - We spend time going over not just the how but the why. These aren't mismashed groups, they have been given a mandate from the church body. They have a responsibility to steward their ministry area well, and they have to give a report about it at quarterly business meetings. On my notes that I give out, we spell out exactly what they'll do and why. We take time to field questions, talk honestly about the ministry area, and help them to see how they fit into the broader ministry purpose.

2. Onboarding helps address faulty assumptions - We also have to clear up some faulty assumptions that come with leadership. My favorite one to dispel is to remind them our church is not a Scottocracy. But there are more: they don't hold the purse strings, we aren't going to do things in secrecy (unless there is an issue that requires confidentiality), they aren't yes men, they aren't the ones doing the work but rather facilitating it. We want to both clearly define and clearly draw lines that give clarity of what they do.

3. Onboarding has to be honest, but optimistic - I'm up front about the significant challenges that come with pastoring a church on the other side of a 20 year decline. The challenges can't be ignored. And as I was writing out my notes for this year there are some points that are pretty blunt. Part of our 2026 emphasis is to remember and see where God is working, so we've committed to start off every meeting with praise, to find the good where God is clearly working. I don't want to lose sight of that when we're honest about facility, finances, staffing, or the other challenges.

4. Onboarding brings continuity - This marks the 3rd time I've done this, with the consistent messaging and consistent clarity of roles & purposes, of honest communication, of clearly defining lines. And that's brought some continuity. We're not having to reinvent the wheel. Successive teams can build off the work done by previous years. We're not rebuilding, we're refining. And that makes the work of each successive team easier and more helpful.

5. Onboarding casts vision - If you're onboarding new leaders, you get to communicate the vision to them. For us, we're trying to "love God and invest in people." And we're trying to become a healthy church internally. We're trying to trust one another, work together, and make decisions together. No one goes rogue, at least that's the hope! And we try to undo the knots of dysfunction that had been tied for decades. This year one thing I'm adding to the notes is that "There's no magic bullet," the magic answer that fixes our problems. 

​If you're a lead pastor, what are you doing to onboard and orient new leadership? Share in the comments!