Church Jobs of the Future
A Repost to Stimulate Thinking and Discussion
My daughter and I practiced her spelling bee words as I drove her to school this morning. Abby is a 10-year old. On the drive home, I pondered what Abby might do when she grows up. Every now and again you hear that most of the jobs today will radically change within a generation. Most of the jobs available to me today will not be for my 5th grader.
So what does that mean for church? What new jobs are we likely to see? How will the best practice staffing continue to evolve?
If we look in the rear view mirror we can observe a few trends in the last decade:
- The shift from senior pastor to “lead pastor” in describing the point leader
- The development of the “teaching pastor” and the increasing use of teaching teams
- The emergence of the campus pastor with the growth of the multi-site movement
- The ongoing importance of all things technology and social media forging into top leadership
- The birth of missional communities by themselves, and in harness with megachurches
As I continue to visit with churches and watch the horizon, I believe that the trends above as well as others will keep fueling change. What will this look like ten years from now? Here are four new pastoral titles for the church of the future. I will provide some initial thoughts now and drill down with follow-up posts.
- The Neo-itinerant – The Neo-itinerant is a strategic outsider who doesn’t work for one church, but many. There are many, diverse forms of the neo-itinerant emerging and each type will likely bring its own title. (See my post on Trends in Church Consulting.) This is the way the Auxano ministry works. We consider ourselves “navigators” as we leverage learning and bring specialized help as strategic outsiders in the area of vision clarity.
- The Truth Jockey (TJ) – As the teaching function separates more and more from the leadership function, expect the use of team teaching and multi-media formats to find their full expression in the Truth Jockey. Why can’t a leaders mix the best teaching and the best teachers for his congregation’s time, place and life-stage?
- The Community Catalyst – How will the small group functions as we know them today evolve? To understand the role of a community catalyst, think of the fusion between a barista, a personal trainer and a chamber of commerce help desk.
- The Pastor of Story – As the organized church gets larger and more complex, and the organic expressions of church become more linked, we will need better “meaning-makers” who connect everything to the larger story of God, in a both a personal and local way.
Again, look for the follow-up posts as I explore these roles in greater detail. I would love to hear your initial thoughts and any creative new jobs that you have heard about or are thinking about.
I leave you with a final thought from Dan Pink, author of Whole New Mind: “The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers.” He describes these people as “artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, and big picture thinkers.”
Insert a thumbs up here.
I think, especially in america, there will become a need for an increased local missional “Go-rep” for each church plant. To maximize gospel centered outreach in the local communities, or campuses around high school techniques, there will definately be a need for a local “Go-rep”.
The Neo-Itinerant is probably not too far away from my perspective. I had a conversation with a couple people last year at Leadership Network’s Innovation3 about this topic and they thought the same thing. The downturn in the economy may be the catalyst for it, since churches may be forced to share talent out of necessity. I can see the areas of IT and communications being two areas where this would be easiest to start, but other people like administrative staff, operations, and other non-teaching/pastoral roles are most likely to be embraced sooner.
Great post Will. I think you nailed it on the 4 future positions. Looking forward to follow up posts on this subject.
This is a very good article, Will. I believe it reflects the current transition that is taking place in existing church structure/organization and the struggles that are the result. In order to be productive and survive congregations today will be required to change their thinking on how their church is currently structured. As we all know, change is difficult but necessary. I pray for God’s hand on our churches as they explore and implement new strategies to reach the lost and hurting in His world.
Can the ministry model of Paul inform these future positions?
I agree with your observations. My church has been going through some staffing changes partly to do with passing things over to the next generation from the old guard. I’m trying to figure out what my new position will look like as it is a role this church has never had before, pastoring families coupled with community partnerships.
I always appreciate your articles.
[...] Church Jobs of the Future- Will Mancini Posted on July 12, 2010 by tticenter The following is an excerpt from Will Mancini on “Church Jobs of the Future” posted on his website June 7, 2010. We encourage you to go to his site and read the full article. Click Here [...]
[...] Deal Maker – or Breaker – for Church Staffing I have two friends who are neo-itinerants in the body of Christ. The don’t travel from place to place in order to preach, but to help [...]