Just a Small Crack?

In Houston, where I live, most of the homes are built on concrete foundations. A common saying here is, “There are only two kinds of homes in Houston – ones that have already had foundation repairs, and ones that will need repairs in the future.” The culprit here is the clay soil, which soaks up water and expands in wet seasons, and then shrinks when the weather is dry. This underlying, undetectable soil movement will eventually cause cracks in the concrete foundation. At first the cracks are invisible, but they will eventually show up in the exterior bricks or interior sheetrock.

After a difficult season, I suspect there are some “cracks” within your church or ministry’s staff or leadership team. They may seem very small right now. A person who has a shorter fuse than normal. Someone else who is disengaged. Team meetings that lack energy or that struggle to make decisions. Tension that you can feel but can’t quite put a finger on. 

A homeowner in Houston can ignore a small crack in the wall, but it is a clear sign of a deeper problem. In the same way, those small signs of trouble in your team, especially among individuals who are normally strong performers, may indicate a deeper problem. You can ignore the warnings, but the problem won’t go away.

Houston homeowners water their yards in dry periods, not just for the grass and plants, but also for the foundation. There are also proactive steps ministry leaders can take to repair cracks within their teams:

• Ask. A starting point is to make an observation about the behavior you’ve seen and ask the person how he or she is doing. This simple invitation to open the door for conversation can have tremendous value.
• Name it. When an entire team is out of sorts, naming the issue(s) is an important step. Especially in this challenging season of emerging from covid, staff members want to know that their leaders understand and sympathize with their struggles.  
• Care. The first two steps (“ask” and “name it”) will backfire if leaders don’t follow-up by demonstrating their care for staff. Care can be expressed in a variety of ways. Just don’t relegate it to the bottom of a long “to do” list.
• Nourish. At the risk of ending with a “Sunday school answer,” the importance of spiritual nourishment cannot be overstated, especially in a difficult period. In dry seasons, your staff need a fresh drink of living water. 

Do you see any cracks in your team that need attention?