How Church Employees can Benefit from Getting Things Done (GTD)

Part VI of the Working Church Series

How do you actually do your work? This fundamental question haunts a lot of us who “work for the Church”. We don’t actually admit it except for the sporadic sense of overwhelm or the lingering feeling of being fatigued.

But it’s a question that everyone- laypeople, priests, missionaries, office folks, you name it- everyone needs to answer.

I’m sure that Peter had a similar internal questioning when Jesus told him he was the rock of the Church. Ok Lord, but how exactly do I do that?

The Lack of Training

The fact is, most of us never receive any training in terms of how we work. We get some coaching before marriage. We may get an orientation on how to lead a small group. We get advice on how to make a talk better. What we don’t ever get training in includes:

• How to process your inbox so that you don’t dread opening email

• How to run a meeting so that it’s not awful for those who attend

• How to be more professional so that people respect you and want to participate in your ministry

• How to keep a tally of all of the projects on your plate

• How to build a platform so that you are constantly growing as a professional

• How to keep yourself healthy when obesity is all too common

• How to retire before the age of 75 when salaries aren’t great

I could probably add about ten more items to this list. You get the point- we make the mistake of presuming that people know how to work. But they don’t and we make them figure it out along the way. Part of this is normal. We do learn from watching others. We do get better if we practice. We do get some things done.

Another Way

But…imagine how much more God could do through us if we learned how to work at a high level. Imagine the impact that God can make in our work if we learn how to align our daily tasks with His call for our lives- these ponderings get me excited.

The good news is that there are many frameworks out there to help people work smarter. Most of these come from secular context. The one that has impacted me the most is called Getting Things Done, or GTD.

GTD comes from a bestselling book by business consultant David Allen. Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-free Productivity, first published in 2001 has sold millions of copies. It’s been complemented by a GTD book for teens and another for teams in the workplace. GTD provides a simple framework (or approach) for getting your work and ministry done on any given day.

GTD and My Life

For me, GTD has been life-changing. I’ve been able to stay relatively organized, advance my career at a reasonable pace and be remarkably happy with my life. That’s the best endorsement I can give to GTD. Don’t get me wrong- I rely also on spiritual direction, parish membership, a strong daily prayer life and excellent friends. But GTD, somehow, has been a glue between it all. It keeps me organized and helps to clear my head.

Years ago, I hosted the Nonprofit Productive Summit and interviewed David Allen. You can watch the conversation here:

While David would not consider himself a Christian, I’ve come across many Catholics and Protestants over the years who have found GTD to be extremely effective for their ministry. In fact, several of my fellow Nozbe Experts work in ministry.

In the Working Church Series, I’ll be talking more about GTD. As a follow up, you can put GTD to work for you today by practicing the method of capturing what’s on your mind.

Take the Next Step

Capture is the first step in Getting Things Done and it invites you to write down (either on paper or digitally) what’s on your mind. For me, as I write, my capture looks like this:

• Order flowers for my mom for Mother’s Day

• Go to Staples to return the sandals

• Mow the lawn

• Give Ace, my dog, a bath

• Schedule a visit to the local Catholic gift shop to get something for my wife

• Confirm my upcoming doctor appointment

Pretty basic stuff right? None of this is life-altering but it’s very real. You probably have a ton of these little nagging things in your head.

This week, try to use the capture step within GTD. Use a little notepad and paper or the notes or reminders app on your phone. When something pops into your head, write it down. You’ll be surprised with how much more open space this creates in your head.

In future posts, we’ll then talk about what to do with those ideas after you’ve captured them. In the meantime, capture away 🤓