The health and wellness of the community of faith has to always be a consideration for Church staff. Does your Church have a policy in place to manage the pandemic. If not, then you should gather a group of Church members (virtually) that have expertise in Health issues. They should discuss the possibilities and come up with a policy for your Church.

Once the policy is created, then use every means to inform the congregation about it. There should be some time for feedback to allow everyone to weigh in on it before it is implemented. But go ahead and set a date for when it goes into force. That way, staff have a definite time to get it underway. There may be preparations required.

Most Churches have policies and procedures written down so everyone can read them. They may be published in a book that is distributed to all, or they may even be documented online. Everyone has access, so they become the standard operating guide for how to run the Church. However, there are also disadvantages to this exacting practice:

1. Organization of the Book, and that Book is not the Bible.
After a while, the policies and procedures manual begins to look like a legal document. It no longer gets used just as a guide, but rather becomes a stick to hit people over the head with to make them comply. Remember that the policies were put in place to facilitate our common service, not to be a source of harassment.

2. Rigid Policies Generate Conflict
When policies are carried out unequally, people resent it. This becomes a source of conflict within the congregation. Yes, exceptions do occur, but they should be few and far between, not the norm for one particular individual. There should be documentation that supports making the exception which any reasonable person would conclude warrants it. Otherwise, the policies are seen as ineffective and capricious.

3. Legal Situations Do Arise
Churches, like all organizations, can be sued in civil court. Written policy and procedure statements then become legal documents. Under the eyes of the law, these manuals become legal contracts between the Church and its employees. The Church can find itself having to defend a particular policy in legal action using legal terms. It might not be a bad idea to have the Church’s lawyer review the policies and procedures manual from time to time. Just don’t let them rewrite it in legalese that no one else really understands. Although it may then stand up better in court, it will also cease to be useful to the average person.

4. Out of date policies contribute to Inefficiency.
If you expect the policies to be set in stone, then they will eventually get out of date. Others will then perceive them as unnecessary, since you’ll be constantly making exceptions. At this point, the procedures no longer apply, so why keep trying?

The best practice is to never let the policies be set in stone. Keep them supple and flexible. Review them every year, and ask yourself these questions:

• Does the situation that demanded this policy still confront us?
• If not, then what has changed?
• How should we change this policy to be more efficient?
• Is it too rigid for the average person to apply?
• Is the policy well stated, or confusing and ambiguous?

Part of the reason why you write down policies and procedures is to capture Institutional Memory about how things work best. Keep modifying those documents to ensure that they still work the best way possible. Look for ways to improve them. And in so doing, you’ll make the best use of the resources that the Church has been blessed with – both people and technology.

Did you hear about the Leaning Tower of Pisa finally falling down? Or how about the Space Shuttle landing in San Diego? Or how about the Cell Phone ban in New Zealand? All of these were hoaxes played on April Fools day; and they attracted a lot of attention. Perhaps you’ve got a staff member who likes to play pranks and sends out eMails like those to everyone on the staff. It can be good for a staff to find time to laugh a little, but it is also easy to go overboard. Anyone can send an eMail to everyone on the staff with just a few clicks. Maybe that isn’t such a good thing.

The trouble is volume. As your staff grows, so does the natural volume of eMail. At some point, the time spent reading all of the internally generated eMails becomes a concern. How much time should your staff really spend reading eMail, Twits, and/or Facebook walls? Who should really be able to send out a message to everyone? Here are some ideas to consider:

• The Senior Pastor – High Priority issue comes up
• Human Resource person – Something affecting everyone’s paycheck
• Security Personnel – Emergency situations that affect everyone’s safety
• Operations Personnel – Alerts about a System Malfunction

Obviously, the importance of the message needs to be a part of the criteria to consider. Ask yourself the question, “Does this really need to be sent to everyone?” Or should it be more focused on the few who are directly affected? This is a judgment call, and your staff are expected to use good judgment. In a small organization, where everyone knows everyone, this should not be a problem.

We have Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for April Fools day – i.e. from his reference to the 32nd of March (April 1st). Perhaps appropriately, this is mentioned in the story about the fox and the rooster in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. So let’s all find time to laugh today; just don’t overdo it.