Pastoral workers are teachers of the soul. Then how should the church assess their work? Minister Y, in charge of the office at Church A in a downtown southwest city, shared how the church has established a pastoral evaluation system, driven by a strong commitment, a scientific framework, and close relationships among coworkers.
According to Y, the church’s worker evaluation system includes two types: regular ministry and temporary service. The former covers planned activities such as annual, quarterly, and monthly scheduled "teaching ministries," including Sunday worship, prayer meetings, Bible studies, and discipleship training. Clergy members are required to submit their sermon manuscripts in advance to ensure the quality of their preaching.
Temporary ministries primarily involve activities such as visits, weddings, and funerals, especially memorial services, as well as hosting church visitors from across the country. When church staff serve outside the church, they are required to take site photos as proof of work. After visits, they must also submit expense receipts. Additionally, administrative staff use indirect questions to gather feedback from volunteers. For example, they might ask, "What did you think of Minister X's sermon at the memorial service?" instead of asking, "Did Pastor X attend the memorial service?"
Before this system was established, at times, someone might slack off and ask others to handle outreach or lead a prayer meeting for them under the guise of convenience. Such reciprocity could lead to the "temptation."
On one occasion, temporary reception duties needed to be arranged, but the office was empty, and over ten staff workers claimed to be working outside. There was even an instance where a pastor missed a ministry duty.
"These matters can be seen as either trivial or significant. On one side, it's deceiving others; on the other side, it's making a fool of God." Pastor Y believes that implementing an attendance management system is about being truthful and helping each person honestly face their sacred duties.
Attendance tracking is a relatively new practice for many Chinese churches, so resistance is to be expected. However, Church A smoothly implemented a rigorous attendance monitoring system and garnered its staff workers' full cooperation and affirmation. This success can be attributed to several factors.
First, Church A has a team of young full-time staff and a senior pastor who is determined to promote standardized management.
Pastor Y explained that apart from four pastors born in the 1970s, the rest of the pastors were born around the 1990s, the youngest being only 22 years old. All of them are graduates of formal seminary programs with either associate or bachelor's degrees. They are open to new practices and willing to follow the guidance of older pastors. The senior pastor is highly respected by the seminary graduates, valuing the opinions of the younger generation. He advocated for an attendance system, which secured the approval of the entire team, with the qualified pastors leading by example.
Second, not implemented in isolation, the evaluation system was integrated with the church’s salary and financial systems, aligning with initiatives for standardized church management.
After establishing the attendance system, Church A experimented with a clock-in system, which was abandoned after two months. Pastor Y explained that clocking in was incompatible with the flexible and dynamic nature of church work. Clergy members often provide pastoral counseling to believers late into the evening or attend to dying individuals for end-of-life care in the early hours, making it difficult to report to the office the next morning. Instead, the church relies on on-site photos, post-service reporting, and workgroup records as the basis for performance reviews and year-end bonuses. This approach provides oversight while affirming the clergy's efforts.
Additionally, Church A set salaries benchmarked against local public sector rates, offering base salaries, performance bonuses, holiday service overtime pay, and year-end bonuses, while also providing five types of social insurance and a housing fund.
To ease housing pressures, Church A follows public sector practices by contributing to the housing fund for full-time clergy. Pastor Y explained that this encourages clergy to purchase their own homes. For single clergy, the church provides free accommodation, while families pay rent at below-market rates.
The structured salary system has brought church financial management into order. Previously, the church had disorganized practices, such as issuing "cooling fees" in summer and "heating fees" in winter. With the attendance system in place, those who only stayed in the office without participating in ministry no longer qualified for such allowances. The saved funds are reallocated to year-end bonuses, rewarding those who genuinely serve the congregants.
In 2019, the provincial CC&TSPM underwent leadership transitions. The new team launched three major initiatives: pastoral care, age limits for clergy tenures, and standardized church management. Church A has adopted the attendance system as an entry point to improve its salary and financial management systems, care for its clergy, and facilitate leadership succession.
The third and most crucial aspect is combining the framework of institutional management with the internal unity of church-worker relationships.
Church A holds weekly staff worker learning and team-building sessions, helping reduce stress or pressure stemming from strict attendance policies. Initiated by the senior pastor, the church hosts church worker meetings every Friday morning, where one staff member leads the discussion and study of the resolutions of provincial and municipal CC&TSPMs, religious policies, and regulations, as well as shares personal devotional insights. Mistakes and areas for improvement in their work are also addressed in the meeting without causing resentment.
After the learning sessions, the team engages in group activities like coffee gatherings and sports. Although seemingly unproductive, such activities, under the senior pastor’s persistence, deepen relationships over time. Coworkers become not only ministry partners but also companions during leisure activities.
This harmony and mutual support transform the attendance system from a top-down imposition into a trust-based, proactive framework. This reduces potential dissatisfaction or passive resistance.
While the attendance system tied to salary and performance is the most visible evaluation mechanism, the most fundamental assessment comes from the hearts of mentors, church workers, and believers.
Regardless of how stringent the system is, it is not overly difficult for a clergy member to meet requirements. Clocking in or taking photos can prove a pastor's presence at a visit or memorial service, but the quality of their work—whether heartfelt or perfunctory—cannot be quantitatively measured. Pastor Y believes that believers’ recognition and testimony serve as an irrefutable standard. While this is not the ultimate guide for clergy service, it should be considered the benchmark for fulfilling one’s duties.
- Edited by Katherine Guo, translated by Abigail Wu
