10 Mistakes Churches Make in Evaluating Pastors

Episode #364
September 19, 2017
Rainer on Leadership Podcast Logo

Podcast Episode #364

Pastors and church staff are often evaluated poorly. This often stems from a lack of clarity as to what the job actually entails. So today we walk through a post from Chuck Lawless on mistakes churches often make when evaluating pastors and staff.

Some highlights from today’s episode include:

  • Everyone needs evaluating in their job.
  • Usually people evaluating the pastor do not see what happens day to day.
  • Metrics should not be all that a pastor is evaluated on.
  • Don’t evaluate a pastor or staff just on the basis of growth and giving.
  • Staff evaluations are not just for telling someone what they are doing poorly.
  • Your family is your first line of ministry.
  • Pastors, when was your last gospel conversation?

The ten mistakes we cover in this episode are:

  1. Not evaluating the pastors at all.
  2. Evaluating without established expectations on a written job description.
  3. Evaluating them only when the church is struggling.
  4. Evaluating on only the basis of growth and giving.
  5. Including uninvolved church members in the evaluation process.
  6. Emphasizing only the negative.
  7. Pointing out concerns, but offering no helpful corrective steps.
  8. Evaluating on the basis of hours in the office.
  9. Failing to ask about the pastors’ spiritual walk.
  10. Failing to check out available resources for evaluation.

Episode Sponsors

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So if you’re a Lead Pastor or an Executive Pastor looking for peer roundtable coaching, check it out at vanderbloemen.com/coaching. It’s limited to 16 folks, so apply today before it fills up.


mbts_banner1_rainerMidwestern Seminary, one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America, exists to train leaders For The Church. The local church is God’s “Plan A” for the proclamation of the gospel, and there is no Plan B. And this is Midwestern’s vision and heartbeat—equipping pastors and other ministry leaders who are called to expand God’s mission in the world through the local church. At Midwestern Seminary: they train leaders ‘For The Church.’

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Resources Mentioned in Today’s Podcast