Almost everybody knows that many church techs can be introverted and reserved. And with the recent changes in our world and our workflows, many of us have probably found ourselves putting even less energy than usual into maintaining relationships.But when things get crazy, we actually need relationships even more—to help us stay centered, focused, and encouraged. If being relational isn’t something that comes naturally to us, that means we have to put intentional effort into staying close and connected with other people. Here are three tiers of relationships that are especially important, outside of our families.
Leaders
As we have seen over the past several weeks, the environment around us can change on a daily basis. This has made it difficult to do much long-term planning, and it means that plans can shift quickly and often.Perhaps you’re like me, and it takes some time to mentally make adjustments to new plans, because I want to think through things and process them. That can make it challenging to stop on a dime and pivot.So we owe it to ourselves, our leaders, and our ministries to proactively stay engaged with our leaders and visionaries around us. We need to be probing for updates so as soon as the winds of change start to blow, we can begin thinking about how to react and implement a new plan.By staying connected to our leaders, we’re able to hear more about possible long-term vision changes and can contribute feedback during the planning process.Keeping connected with ministry leaders is also the best way to hear real-world testimonies and stories of impact. The world all around us is hurting, and when we hear how our ministries are reaching people we can share these stories with our teams and reinforce what an impact our efforts are making.
Peers
We need people walking beside us during difficult seasons of life. Whether they’re fellow ministry leaders, peers from other churches, or just friends and encouragers. As Ecclesiastes 4:10 points out, pity be the person who falls down and doesn’t have anyone to help him get back up.Some of our fellow techs may be having a hard time making new technology work successfully or even training their teams on how to use it.This is where there’s such a tremendous benefit to having a network of peers to lean on for advice or guidance. They can help answer questions, solve problems, and offer insight so we don’t have to figure everything out alone.Sometimes fellow church techs struggle with feelings of depression or anxiety, especially at a time like this. But friends, mentors, and accountability partners can walk with them through those struggles, spiritually and emotionally.We also need other people to have fun with—to talk with and laugh with so that we remember there’s more to life than work and pandemics.
Team members
There’s no telling what each of our team members might be dealing with during this period in time.Some may have lost jobs or be in a place of financial hardship. Some may have family members who have gotten sick. Others may be dealing with their own issues of isolation, anxiety, or depression.This is why it’s so important that we prioritize staying in regular touch with our volunteers. Not only are they the lifeblood of our ministry (and we’ll need them to be healthy and available when “normal” resumes), but it’s our jobs as tech leaders to help pastor them as people. We need to have a plan for how to stay in touch with our teams, whether on a daily, weekly, or bi-monthly basis, to check in and see how they’re doing, and to provide ministry vision and updates.Interestingly during this unprecedented time, technologies are helping us stay closely connected. From group chat sessions or Zoom calls that can allow us to interact as a team, we strengthen our sense of community and camaraderie.
