This is a summary of the podcast interview with Rev. Dan Ramthun, chair of the Commission on Church Worker Care (CCWC) of the Michigan District, LCMS, and Mrs. Laura Thomas, Director of Development of the District. To listen to the full episode, click here.
Why do we need to celebrate Church Worker Appreciation Month?
Ramthun: We have over 3,100 church workers in all kinds of different roles and ministry [in the District]. The devil’s at work, our culture’s changed. So ministry is hard, but so important. What a neat thing to try to lift up, encourage our workers, recognize them, get our churches’ members to see how valuable those workers are in growing God’s Kingdom.
Thomas: Before I got into church work as the director of development here and in some other institutions, I knew what my pastor did. I knew what the various people in the various roles did, but I don’t think I really understood fully how church work affected their life and how much they gave and how much personal time they gave up. And I think I realized over time that this is something that we really need to put a lot more emphasis on. In my role as director of development, we certainly can do that by raising the funds that we need to recognize them properly. But I also think it’s engaging people in that process.
What is a church worker?
Ramthun: Many of our churches may have a school, or they may not, but all our churches have staff involved in ministries. And whether as a pastor or teacher or early childhood educator, DCE, deaconess, music director, family life director, there’s so many different ways that our church workers are involved in the ministries of the Church. But again, growing God’s kingdom, sharing the Gospel, all our church workers, whether part-time, full-time rostered, contracted or called, they’re just all so important and vital to the ministry that we’re trying to do. Also some of those other support roles in our offices—administrators, human resources, business managers—they all play a key role also in the church ministry and supporting our church workers.
What are some challenges and joys that you face in your job?
Thomas: For me, the particular joy is helping people to understand that God has given them resources that he has a plan for, and he wants to work through that individual to accomplish that plan. I think oftentimes we think of resources in our lives as something that is disconnected from that process, because that’s what the world wants us to think is that we own those things. But I point them to the fact that the ownership has never been theirs. They are just the managers of something that has been given to them. You can say that for talents, abilities, knowledge, skills…
Ramthun: I think a lot of it is our context and culture, today’s world. Our poor families are dealing with that and we’re trying to help them. You deal with students, you deal with parents, you deal with different members, and then we as a staff, we all got different personalities and quirks and talents and gifts and patience with one another. We’re all on the same team, trying to do the same thing and share Jesus and grow God’s Kingdom. And yet when you’re dealing with all different people, it gets challenging and the devil’s going to be at work. We know that. But boy, the joys! We are constantly reminded of that joy we have, that we’re equipped, and that God is with us. And it’s so important. And I tell our members, I don’t know of a bigger, more important ministry than these children and their families to try to give them perspective and point them to God’s Word and just keep them focused on Christ.
What can we do to recognize church workers, to help support them?
Ramthun: At the CCWC we try to do things on a yearly basis. We hold conferences and have counselors available for our church workers; we offer church worker care podcast resources. Christie Hansard, our mental health case manager, started a few years back. Our church workers have a lot of different resources in our District for physical health, spiritual health, emotional health. Our District wants to help, but then we also want our congregations to help. And that’s why we’re highlighting this in October: congregations, care for your workers. You can do that and just encourage them—not just a one-shot on a special month, but on a regular basis. We have some worker support teams in congregations that offer cards, prayers, notes of encouragement, recognizing that is so valuable for our staffs to know that there are members out there that have them in prayer. That’s a great ongoing thing as well as a month to really highlight what they do and how to support them.
Thomas: I do think that it’s important, when you are in the presence of church workers, that you remember them as church workers and treat them well, love them, and share those words of encouragement. You might be a shy person and you might feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit to say something and you might say, “I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t bother them.” No, that prompting is there so that you can encourage that church worker and lift them up; maybe they need it on that particular day. And I think it’s really important that we listen to the Holy Spirit and really do that work because we’re part of the body. And as part of the body, we need to take care of one another. And we all have our unique gifts, but we certainly all need to encourage each other and build each other up. So for one, we talk about the five love languages, and I for one am very partial to those words of encouragement. But I think it’s also important to pay attention to where people’s love languages are and fill them up. There’s no better way to support your church worker than to know exactly what they need and to really pay attention to those needs and to fill them up when you have that opportunity.
How do we raise up and encourage young people to get into church work?
Ramthun: The last couple of years we’ve been trying to be more intentional with some of our kids and students that we know and tap them on the shoulder. And if we as workers stay healthy and show that joy in ministry, even through the challenges, that’s a great witness and example. And I got to say, our District has always had district presidents and district staff that makes that a priority and is very supportive. And our Synod has some great Concordia plans and Grace Place and some other great things. Our district has been great to support our current church workers, which then again, hopefully we will keep them healthy, keep that joy in ministry, and then let them be just a good witness example and intentionally try to plant the seed in some of those students around us.
Thomas: In the most recent appeal that we did, I asked the four featured church workers what had an impact on them to lead them into church work. And it was really interesting to hear some of their responses. A lot of them referenced the youth group that they were in at their particular church, but some of them have attended a Lutheran university, some of them were mentored by pastors. They all had a different journey. They all had a different life story about what led them into their particular role that they’re serving in. And I thought it was interesting. But then they also had encouragement. I asked them, what would you say to an aspiring church worker? And hands down, they all said be in the Word. And then some of them suggested that you should seek out some current church workers and shadow them, ask them questions, just observe them and understand what their role is and what they do. But maybe what we discussed earlier, what some of their challenges and their joys are, and do your research.
October is Church Worker Appreciation Month and we have a campaign going on in the Michigan District. Why don’t you tell us what it entails?
Thomas: We sent out an appeal that also has what we call heart notes. We wanted to give everybody in the District an opportunity to fill out one of those heart notes, which is a personal message to every church worker. And we’ll share some of those on social media. And then we’ll take those written heart notes and we’ll distribute them at different events in the District so that they can actually see these written notes and share them on their bulletin boards or on their desks, wherever they might be able to tangibly pick them up and see them and know that they are loved. What we want at the end of October is for every single church worker, every one of these 3,100 church workers that we have in the District right now, to know that they’re loved and cared for by every single person in this District. So if we achieve that, we will have reached our goal.
Photos by Elisa Schulz/Michigan District, LCMS
