If You Had Chairs for Sunday Bible Study, Thank an Admin

With the Minister's Wives Conference a few weeks ago and this posted on LPM Blog and this recap on Gran Jan's Joy blog, it got me to thinking about another group of women who work behind the scenes, aren't allowed too much of an opinion and who faithfully labor and minister with little or no encouragement or thanks. The group of women I am writing about are the Administrative Assistants and Ministry Assistants at your church. The ministers they work for can hardly function without them, yet sometimes there is some degree of an undercurrent of disdain toward them working outside of the home. This sentiment is borne whether you be an admin or a woman in charge of a ministry. Most of the division ministers at church do not have wives in the work place.







The admins I worked with in the Education ministry are the best. They are the most committed, loving, loyal and hard working women I have ever met. They helped each other with big assignments and dropped everything for a moment of prayer when life was in dire straights. They rejoice when it is time to rejoice and weep when it is time to weep. They handle last minute assignments from the directors and ministers they work for with grace, even while knowing the last minute assignment didn't have to be so last minute. Admins at church deal with angry, crabby, complaining, entitled feeling, lay people every day. I cringe when I think of Bible study leaders, directors and Sunday School workers who have come into the ED suite and lambasted the poor admin over coffee not being delivered or a pencil out of place. It is still difficult for me to look at people on Sundays being all holy and devout when I've seen them fuss, nearly cuss, and throw babyish fits over some minuet matter during the week at people who are juggling 100 plates. Admins "translate" and make things better for the director or minister that seems to run roughshod over people's feelings not maliciously but sometimes in the midst of multi tasking, the lay person's "most important item" is number 10 or 3o for the director or minister.



If you have chairs in your Sunday Bible Study class, thank an admin. If an event has turned out really well for you or your class, thank an admin. If you have questions and they are answered, thank an admin. A video in the Worship Center, the Worship Guides, erasers, markers and chalk in your classroom, the Worship Center reserved for Sunday Worship, your team or event in the Welcome Center, the banners hanging around the church, and everything else that goes on at church most probably was requested and watched over by an admin, thank them.


Admins at church do a whole lot of ministry and are not extended the perks of ministry. You know the meetings at Starbucks, having an extended ministry lunch with some of your best friends, taking a sabbatical day now and then, leaving early cause the day has been too hard or coming in late cause the traffic is so bad.


This is Administrative Professional Week and it would be awesome and an amazing, amazing thing if you would email or call and express your appreciation for all the hard work they do. It would make their day.