Three Practical Ways to Elevate Your Ministerial Presence
While professionalism isn't our goal, it can augment our impact.
Folks around the country are taking the Working Church Pledge. That’s really encouraging to me and a sign that we, as lay folk who work for (and in and around) the Church want to maximize our impact. After taking the pledge, if you’d like to have a smartphone wallpaper of it, check this out.
We don’t just want to do our jobs. We want to serve and serve BIG.
We need to remember that our call is first to be faithful disciples of Christ. The fact that some of us work professionally for the Church is a distant second to our initial call to holiness.
And, to this end, there are some dangers to an over-professionalization of the Church. Just as priests need to guard against the sleeping and nefarious giant of clericalism, lay folks need to be on watch as well. We can get into our jobs so much that we forget that what we are doing is a ministry.
Three Ways to Show Up and Show Out
Instead of framing the conversation as in “you need to be more professional”, I prefer to highlight three areas where we can lean into professionalism. I’ve seen that folks who embrace these three areas of work are seen in a better light by others. They are also given the benefit of the doubt in various circumstances and are seen as reliable, organized and dependable.
How you dress. What you wear says something about you. How you present yourself to others is important. We want others to feel that we take pride in our appearance because we do. You need not spend $1,000 to upgrade your wardrobe. I have colleagues who have mastered the art of thrift store finds and late-season sales in order to upscale their wardrobes.
Pro tip for men: polish your shoes once a week
Pro tip for women: the right accessory can make an ordinary outfit stand out
How your workspace is organized. Where you work says something about you as a professional. Look around, what is your space telling others when they walk in? If you were to host a meeting today with your Bishop, what would he think of your space?
Pro tip for men and women: real plants go a long way without cluttering an office
How you communicate. Of all the things, this may be the most important. Are you someone who gets back to people quickly? Can you be counted on to follow up when you say you will? Are your emails pleasant and courteous? Can you be brief when you need to be? Can you pick up the phone when an email won’t do?
Pro tip for men and women: try to practice the 24 rule as best you can- get back to people via email or phone within 24 hours
I like to think of these three areas as lenses through which we are judged by others. We shouldn’t worry about what others think of us but should be aware that how we dress, organize our workspace and communicate- each is a way to be more professional and maximize our impact.