Lead pastors get the encouragement; the person who cleans up after youth group gets the trash bags. A specific, named thank-you to an invisible staffer has a way of landing on the week they were quietly wondering if anyone noticed them at all.
Write the Staff Member Nobody Thanks
Skip the lead pastor this time — write a specific thank-you note to the children's director, the custodian, the bookkeeper, or the tech volunteer, naming exactly what they do.
What you'll need
- A card and a stamp, or a hand delivery
- One specific observation — the thing they did that you actually noticed
Pitfalls
- Specific or nothing. "Thanks for all you do" evaporates; "the way you kneel to greet every kid by name" gets kept in a desk drawer for years.
- The custodian and the bookkeeper may go entire years without one note. Start there.
- Make it a habit — one note, one staffer, first Sunday of every month.
Encourage one another and build each other up. — 1 Thessalonians 5:11