1. Church secretaries need to be carefully protected (mostly by the Senior Pastor, but others can help) from “secretary abuse,” such as:
• Expecting the secretary to do too much. Secretaries are frequently servants in their spiritual giftedness (Romans 12:7). Servants gladly take on more and more because they are so motivated to help. Wise bosses watch secretaries carefully to help them to say “no, I can’t do anymore” when they need to say it.
• People expecting the secretary to be on the job on Sunday morning (or any other time she’s in the building)
• People calling her at home - She is an hourly, not a salaried employee
• People who are not her “boss” acting as if they are (walking in and giving her work, etc.). The secretary has one supervisor, the Senior Pastor. Those approaching the secretary with work requests can be told by the secretary, “Pastor _______ wants me to refer requests for my time to him, so please wait here while I go and ask him about this.”
• Pastors telling them too much about church problems or problematic people and so weighing them down with troubles they are not given God’s grace to handle. (I’m sure I’ve been guilty of this.) Some secretaries grow into wonderful counseling partners for the pastor – particularly when he has to speak to other ladies alone. But be careful! This can lead to a good relationship becoming too close. (For the same reason, I avoid praying with church secretaries/administrative assistants one-on-one. Praying together really draws people together!) In some cases the pastor’s wife is a more appropriate partner for counseling females. Other secretaries are simply not gifted by God for this ministry and will be discouraged by trying to perform it. Of the many secretaries and administrative assistants I’ve had the joy of working with, only one became an occasional counseling partner.
2. Church secretaries frequently “morph” into telephone counselors, which can be wonderful but can also become too much of a good thing.
• Protecting the pastor from having to hear about minor problems that the secretary can help with is a wonderful ministry. See Acts 6
• Providing a listening ear is great; many secretaries save their pastors hundreds of hours by just listening to and praying with the troubled people who call or stop in.
• But some people need to learn how to open their Bibles and get down on their knees and find the answers to their problems. If the church attendee is now leaning on the secretary too much (instead of leaning on the pastor too much) somebody, (more than likely the pastor) needs to teach this dear brother or sister how to find some answers on his/her own.
• No one needs a counselor who becomes an enabler, whether or not the enabler is a co-dependent person or a healthy and well-meaning but mistaken person.
3. Church secretaries can tell people too much, they can hear too much, they can pass things along that shouldn’t be passed along - See I Timothy 3:11
• Some people go on "fishing expeditions" when talking with the secretary.
• A secretary must be able to keep confidences, even from the spouse who is a board member!
• The secretary needs to get very good at saying, “Whoa, wait a minute, you need to talk to so and so about that,” the phrase I teach churches (with hand motions) to stop gossip.
4. Church secretaries, like young pastors, can develop a habit of well-intended meddling: volunteering to solve problems for people which they ought to be solving themselves (Proverbs 26:17 & I Peter 4:15). Teaching people to handle their problems God’s way is part of the ministry description of every mature Christian.
5. Church secretaries frequently “morph” into administrators. Most often, they need some training in administration to avoid the pitfalls inherent in management. Their authority as administrators needs to come from the pastor (or whoever conveys authority in your church) and be clearly communicated to the church before the secretary begins acting in that capacity. In one of my interim pastorates, a staff member had morphed into a capable but overzealous, micro-managing administrator. Many in the church, besides being offended by her management style, did not feel that she had received her authority legitimately.
6. Church secretaries need to communicate to their families that phone calls to “mom” are limited. “Mom” is not helping her church or her children if she spends long periods of time counseling her family. Family member “visits” also need to be limited.
7. Church secretaries need to be zealous protectors of the pastor’s time. The Sr. Pastor needs to convey clearly how he wants the secretary/receptionist(s) how to handle:
• Walk in salesmen – “If you want to leave some literature regarding your _____ I’ll show it to Pastor So and So” or – at the secretary’s discretion – “If you’d like to show me your product that’s fine but Pastor So and So is not available for product demonstrations.”
• Phone salespersons – “Our church doesn’t purchase anything as the result of a phone solicitations. If you’d like to send some literature for your ______ I’ll pass it on to Pastor So and So”
• Walk in “counselees” – “Pastor So and So can’t see you right now, but he’d be happy to make an appointment with you.” (I always tell secretaries that my exception to the “walk-in counselee” policy is when someone’s life is in danger, i.e., if the person appears homicidal or suicidal.)
• Phone calls for the Pastor. Simply asking “Can I ask what this is in reference to?” or “Can I ask why you’re calling?” can protect the pastor from many calls from those who want, but don’t need, to talk to him.
8. Church secretaries/receptionists/administrative assistants need to be carefully protected from the complications that result from multiple relationships.
• In many cases, the employee’s spouse is also a church attendee and sometimes a leader. Spouses must sometimes be asked by the Pastor to not interfere in the employee/employer relationship but to encourage the employee to handle his/her problems in normal (but mature Christian!) ways.
• In many cases, handling these situations takes grace and tact and the guidance of God. In one ministry the administrative assistant was (1) my employee (2) an elder’s wife (3) my friend (4) my wife’s friend (5) a church volunteer in several capacities (6) the mother of a girl who was my son’s age (7) my son’s teacher (8) the mother of kids in classes I was teaching. This gets complicated. Fortunately, God can and will help us make these situations work!
Our secretaries are precious people (not quite an endangered species yet, but precious people). Let's help them to serve God (their real boss) joyfully and productively.
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