Who’s running the church?

At the centre of things

Helen Rose Pauls

Sherry Erler, church secretary, has a job to give her heart to.

Apparently one of the joys of being a church secretary is being “at the centre of things.” That is one of the biggest challenges as well.

“I’ve enjoyed getting to know all the people in this church from the babies to the great-grannies,” says Sherry Erler, secretary at Sardis Community Church in Chilliwack, B.C. “I love feeling part of something important that I can give my heart to. The pastors really make me feel a part of the team.”

Although there is no typical day, the beginning of the week is often quieter for church secretaries, but it picks up momentum as the week progresses, ending in a predictably busy “crunch day” on Friday, when bulletins must be photocopied and weekend programs fine-tuned. Midweek staff planning meetings seem to be the norm, which include sharing and prayer, and often friendship and banter.

“I’m expected to know everything and to have a handle on things,” says Patti Janzen of Greendale MB Church. “I have to be willing to find information for people or direct them to someone who can find it. Fortunately, the pastor is usually here.”

The bulletin

Organizing the bulletin is a large part of the job, and the most visible. One secretary admitted coming late Sunday mornings when she first started the job, to avoid people confronting her over the details or errors in the bulletin. “I can only use the information I am given,” she says, “but now I feel more solid about my work.” Aside from happenings in the church, many broader activities compete for space in the bulletin.

“We get so many ads from church-related organizations and I have to sift through them. Priority is given to those that have a tie to our congregation, or would appeal to the broadest spectrum. Missions and family-oriented events are usually included,” Janzen says, “and often I run the ads past other staff.”

Besides the weekly routines, many other tasks fall to church secretaries. Some do accounts payable, the payroll, statistics, MB Herald subscription lists and updates; others have volunteers for this. There are church directories to keep current; board, committee, and meeting reports to type up and distribute; conference forms to prepare; and rental forms to fill out. Sorting out rentals can also be a source of difficulty as community groups hear about a licensed kitchen, or a new church hall.

“We want to share our facilities with the community, but with the new Privacy Act, we have to have sound risk management policies that cover anything that comes up before it happens. Everything we do as a church should reflect our mission statement, or we could lose our charitable status,” Erler says.

Also a member

Several secretaries mentioned that sometimes they are not seen as fellow church members on Sunday, but as the secretary. One mentioned that she is seldom asked about her week or her family. Rather, a myriad of church-related questions come her way on Sunday morning, when she would like to be seen as just one of the congregation.

Another says she struggles with how much of her church involvement is part of her paid job, and how much comes under the volunteer umbrella. “At times, it’s hard to separate being an ordinary church member and being a part of the staff.”

This job often appeals to busy mothers who want part-time work, as the hours fit in nicely with childcare. Some have secretarial or bookkeeping training, whereas others have learned these skills on the job.

Quick decisions

It seems that church secretaries have to love routine but must also deal with surprises, as the phone rings constantly and the secretary holds the pulse. Sometimes there are requests for practical help from people, even total strangers, which must be passed on to deacons or the pastoral care committee. Secretaries are often the first to know about births, engagements, accidents and deaths, and of course conflict and church politics. This seems to be the most difficult part of the job.

“Knowing more than I want to is my biggest challenge and can be difficult and discouraging at times,” says one.

“I have to make quick decisions about information,” says another. “Occasionally, I have to gently direct people towards those that they should really be sharing things with. Sometimes, I have to make the judgment call as to whether the pastors or committees need to be involved.”

“But it is wonderful to see all the church users on Sunday and during the week, “she continues, “especially the little ones and their parents coming for programs. When I am in the mall, youngsters or parents from the community who know me from church will come up to me with a big smile or a wave and say, ‘Hey, I know you’. That really makes my day.”

“I have to learn to understand and love people,” she says, “whoever they are and whatever their opinions. It’s wonderful to be involved in kingdom work.”

Helen Rose Pauls is a member of Sardis Community Church, and is active on various church, conference, and community boards.

Worshipful at the tech desk

Kerry O’Brien

Jake Martin assists worship through technology. His favourite worship song is “Blessed be your name.”

Midway through my interview with Jake Martin, he looks quizzically at my tape recorder.

“I think this thing’s stopped,” he says, before noticing the red microphone light flicker in time with his voice. “Oh, wait, is it voice activated?” He nods approvingly. “Cool.”

It’s an appropriate interlude in an interview with a man whose passion for the technological aspect of corporate worship mirrors that of the musicians’ passion onstage. For the last nine years Martin, now 22, has been a fixture in the back left-hand corner of the sanctuary in Waterloo (Ont.) MB Church (WMB), taking up an almost permanent residence at the “tech desk.”

Now, having been allotted an official 10-hour-per-week internship in worship and the arts, Martin spends even more time at WMB, overseeing everything technical within the church. At a large church like WMB, “overseeing everything technical” includes setting up and tearing down sound and lighting equipment, testing equalization in the chapel and sanctuary, balancing various groups’ requests for tech equipment and more. Events as varied as Sunday services, youth concerts and theatrical productions fall under his purview.

What’s most striking about Martin is his retiring nature; he is soft-spoken and doesn’t particularly enjoy talking about himself. I asked him if he feels tech is a thankless job. “It’s very true . . . [but] you know, it’s when we’re doing our job right that people don’t notice we’re there,” he says. “The people I work with – and I include myself in this – love what we do and we’re doing it because we’re serving God. If people notice and say thanks, that’s great, but that’s ultimately not what we’re after.”

Martin also notes that the relationship between techs and artists at WMB is a healthy one. “Around here we’re really lucky because the musicians appreciate what we’re doing. We tend to be very comfortable with each other and do our best to help each other out.”

Using gifts

Martin began his tech career at WMB in high school, after a children’s pastor noticed his interest in computers and encouraged him to get involved running the video projection unit in Sunday services. Martin had made his decision for Christ at an earlier camping trip as a teen and was eager to help out. As a man of intellect as well as faith (in addition to his internship at WMB, Martin is enrolled in the University of Waterloo’s prestigious Computer Science undergraduate program), he sees his role as one that is clearly worshipful. “Just using the gifts and talent God has given me to honour Him is worshipful,” he says.

While he won’t be the first to admit it, Martin’s job is long and hard, especially at a church as big and progressive as WMB. It’s not often that I wander by the sanctuary on a weeknight and don’t find him fiddling with this or equalizing that. Despite an official allowance for 10 hours a week, Martin regularly puts in more than he’s budgeted for, topping out Easter week at a whopping 40-plus hours. Ask him about his long hours and he’ll probably shrug, laugh and talk about something else. What Martin will admit, however, is that what he does is fun.

“The first thing I love, by far, is playing with the stuff. That’s the ‘techie’ aspect of it. I also love using my skills to serve, getting to partner with people onstage, the musicians and the pastors, to work with them to advance the Kingdom of God. That’s what I’m most excited about.”

Taking a lead

While many churches have made significant technological advances over the past few decades, Martin feels there is more that churches could do to make themselves relevant to an increasingly tech-oriented population of non-believers. “I think the biggest problem facing churches in general around tech is one of leadership. There are people with great servant hearts, but we’re constantly falling behind in what’s happening outside the church. There’s such a cultural disconnect there . . . we don’t want to worship the technology.”

“If people walk away saying ‘that was technically very good’,” Martin continues, “we haven’t done our jobs. But as a medium to help communicate and help people get excited and help engage in worship, and also to make this a neat and friendly environment for people coming in for the first time, it’s worth putting value on technology as one of the tools we use to reach out.”

Kerry O’Brien is a musician at Waterloo (Ont.) MB church.