Last week, 37signals released a new book titled, REMOTE.
The premises is that an office is not required. 37signals hires the most talented people in the world, and the way they’ve been able to do it is by ignoring the traditional office setup, or as they call it, an “interruption factory.”
Since I am someone who is working remotely, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with a lot of what this book video trailer had to say:
[tentblogger-vimeo 76063825]
This got me thinking about the Church.
What if churches began doing this more?
There are certain instances where having a presence on campus is important, but it seems like even this could use more flexibility. In fact, I would venture to say that considering how many pastors having meetings, etc…, there are some working in the church that are already doing this!
What do you think of the church implementing this idea more?
There could even be a decrease in operation costs, too.
chris young says
In contemplating people working for our churches that are away from our physical location, I’d like to know some current suggestions for hiring people outside of the church. What are examples of things you could hire them to do?
Eric Dye says
I think it’s going to be your more niche and technology driven areas. Churches could easily have web, social media and professional marketing consultation and work done in an outsourcing situation. One professional who helps multiple churches full-time.
As for those working for one church, there’s no reason why things like accounting and even some pastoral support could be done remotely. With so much stuff on the cloud, the typical office situation is no longer required.
Just some thoughts…
Andy says
We work remotely at our church many times a week. Thanks to Dropbox and Teamviewer we can work from anywhere. This is helpful because we in the office have full time jobs elsewhere and are able to work part time at church not AT church.
Eric Dye says
A GREAT example of this! 😀
Andrew Fallows says
There are a bunch of paths of reasoning branching out from the phrase “working remotely”, and while I think some could work for the church, I think some of them are potential hazards.
At my church, the tech team is small, and more of the work gets done from home because we’re all volunteers doing things on an as-needed basis, so we do it when we have time, and we have time when we’re at home. But we do most of our coordinating and planning face to face, and that happens at church. I wouldn’t want to lose that, because the fellowship aspect of meeting with people in person is critical (especially for me, because it’s one of the ways I spend some time with my dad).
I think for smaller churches, especially churches with one campus and one core staff, having the tech folks on site is extremely critical. It helps legitimize and emphasize the importance of using technology to enhance the work of ministry, and it makes it easier for the people doing the work to be familiar with the goings-on of the community.
For large churches that already have a culture committed to this work, the freedom to work from home can be very valuable, and that carries some real weight.
Every church is a unique entity and needs to address the question based on its own circumstances, but I definitely feel there’s room for working remotely on a church staff today.
Eric Dye says
Agreed. I think there are pluses and minus to both, but both can be overcome with the willingness to be flexible, much as you’ve outlined.
Tim Baker says
Buildings are just a nother tool. Sometimes they are of great benefit, sometimes they get in the way, cost too much only to sit empty, and often they just distract us. I used to use my office as a place where I went to work. I would seclude myself and I was mostly alone. I am an Introvert so at the time I loved it.
I stopped going to my office. Now I alternate Coffee Shops in the area. I try to keep consistent times to be at such places. I try to realize Ministry is all about People, and I need to be available and near people. I have an iPad with a Keyboard with remote connection to my desktop at home. I use Google Drive or evernote for most things I work on. I bring books if i ned them, but I mostly have ebooks on my Kindle or iPad.
Eric Dye says
Exactly.
ThatGuyKC says
I’ve had the opportunity to work remotely on occasion and it’s fantastic. I get more done, it’s comfortable and the best part is no traffic.
Working remotely is built on trust. I work for a church as a social media director at nights and on the weekends and don’t have a desk at the church office.
The time may come when I work for a church full-time and I hope there’s the opportunity to tele-commute for a good chunk of the time.
Go 37signals!!