LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 89

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SYNOD REPORTS, 89

This project recognizes that natural disasters and other crises
diminish the capacities of local professional ministers pursuing the
mission vigorously to proclaim the message of Christ in the
stricken community and church. This project allows for people of
the LCMS, sharing the mission, and unified in the message, having
been properly trained for providing support in time of crisis, to be
instruments of God’s strength and renewal to the LCMS profes-
sional ministers involved in the crisis. This project will focus on
the selection and training of responders and is pursued in harmony
with the efforts put forth by the LCMS Board for Human Care. The
actual future deployment of these trained responders in support of
LCMS professional ministers will be carried out in conjunction
with the broader response of LCMS Human Care.

It is anticipated that as many as ten LCMS individuals from
each of six geographical regions of the continental United States
will be selected (after a nomination process) to receive special
training for assisting professional church workers in and immedi-
ately after a time of crisis. The assistance provided will be in the
nature of fraternal presence, along with spiritual and personal care.

— Retaining Church Work Professionals in the Parish—In
2006, Research Services of the LCMS, under the Leadership of Dr.
John O’ Hara, completed the third in a three-part series of studies
related to “Parish Professionals Who Left Parish Ministry.” This
third study is part of a three-year project, supported in part by the
Lilly Endowment and Thrivent Financial Services for Lutherans,
and is entitled “Results of Survey of Directors of Education who
left Parish Ministry.”

Prior surveys, covering pastors and teachers who left parish min-
istry, are reported elsewhere (Pastors in Transition by Dean R. Hoge
and Jacqueline E. Wenger, Eerdmans Publishing, 2005; “Teachers
Who Left LCMS Schools,” John P. O’Hara, March 2004).

The following results are based on a survey of Directors of
Christian Education (DCEs) who had left parish ministry between
1998 and 2003. From the files of rosters and statistics, we identified
97 DCEs who appeared to fit the criteria for the study. We received
31 useable returns from the 80 net eligible participants, a 39 percent
return rate, slightly lower than the rate for pastors (43 percent) or
teachers (47 percent). Due to the low response rate, we assume the
most disaffected workers did not respond.

Several key findings are reported here:
¢ DCE respondents were asked to list their main motivations, in

their own words, for leaving their parish positions.
¢ Like their teacher colleagues, the most common reason for leaving
was personal/family reasons, accounting for one in three.
¢ The next most common reason was a different ministry posi-
tion (26 percent).
¢ Third was conflict, usually with the board or other staff (19
percent).
¢ Another 11 percent left due to staff reductions, brought on by
financial problems.
¢ A small number cited “frustration with the congregation or its
leadership.” -
¢ Like their pastor/teacher colleagues, a sizable minority (29 per-
cent) reported their last congregation was involved in “major”
conflict.
¢ Also, like the previous respondents (and the larger interdenomi-
national pastor sample), the two most-cited causes of conflict
were “pastoral leadership style” and “finances.”
¢ When asked to identify the extent to which certain issues were
problems in their last position: ;
¢ “finding time for recreation, relaxation, or personal reflection”
(60 percent said it was a “‘great’”’ or “somewhat of a problem”);
¢ “relationships with other staff’ (49 percent, a problem);

¢ “lack of agreement on my position responsibilities” (40 per-
cent, a problem).

¢ These respondents also experienced (very/fairly often):

* “stress as a result of dealing with individuals who are critical of
your work” (47 percent);
¢ “stress as a result of the challenges you faced in that congre-
gation” (61 percent);
¢ “feel lonely and isolated” (43 percent).
¢ When asked how important various reasons for leaving their po-
sition were, more than 40 percent cited feeling “drained by the
demands on me” (48 percent “great/somewhat important”) or
“lonely and isolated” (44 percent).
The studies of those leaving parish positions may be accessed
for review at cmgs.lcms.org.
Based on the studies and evidence from prior research, the fol-
lowing seem to present themselves as major considerations in the
effort to retain professional ministers in parish positions:
¢ Newly placed professional church workers would benefit from a
strengthening of preparation for the practical aspects of parish
ministry while at our universities and seminaries.

¢ Retention of newly placed professional church workers would im-
prove with a closer “match” between parish and worker. (The
process would benefit from a more candid dialogue about expec-
tations between candidates and congregations.)

¢ Retention of professional church workers would improve with
meaningful and ongoing support from national and district
offices, especially during transitions.

¢ Retention of professional church workers would improve with
support in times of conflict or crisis, even if that comes from out-
side the Synod system.

¢ Retention of professional church workers would improve as con-
gregations become more realistic about expectations of the workers.

¢ Retention of professional church workers would improve with ed-
ucation and resources for dealing with issues of stress and
work/family conflicts.

See Exhibit A for “Common Threads in the Three Studies of
Parish Professionals Who Left Parish Ministry.”

The What a Way Initiative has continued to develop and pro-
vide materials to enhance the recruitment and retention of church
workers. Resources are available for anyone considering a profes-
sion in the church, for us who know of someone with the aptitude
and ability to pursue a career as a church worker, and for everyone
who is currently serving in a church vocation. The CMGS is hon-
ored to be one of three groups from the LCMS (also Board for
Pastoral Education and Concordia Publishing House) providing
leadership for this important initiative.

A complete list of resources is available at whataway.org.

— The Coaching Principals Initiative—supported by a grant
from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, was finished in December
of 2005. The initiative sought to determine if the coaching model,
used in the corporate world, would be of benefit to Lutheran school
administrators as they work as mentors/encouragers of the mem-
bers of their faculties.

Twelve Lutheran School administrators were trained as coaches
and were paired with active Lutheran school principals wishing to
experience coaching.

Outcomes

¢ Fewer principals participated in coaching than anticipated. (Thirty
of a potential seventy-two).

¢ Fewer evaluations of the Teacher2000 survey were returned than
anticipated, with the small sample making the benefits of the
coaching initiative difficult to determine.

¢ Principals who took part in the coaching initiative expressed
(through informal surveys) gratitude and satisfaction with their
coaching experience.

¢ A report, along with an expression of thanks for the grant, were
sent to Thrivent in 2006.

2007 Convention Workbook