This October, four Michigan churches host Ministry Mechanics, a free workshop that equips leaders with practical human resources tools and best practices.
JAMES DEATON
Content Editor
Local churches are places of worship and fellowship where we are shaped for discipleship and service, then sent into the world. But they’re also nonprofit organizations with staff and volunteers who manage salaries, building repairs, insurance, and other administrative tasks.
Church leaders may be equipped with spiritual gifts, but some matters are daunting and outside one’s expertise, prompting frequent questions. The Michigan Conference has heard these concerns and is launching a new workshop series this fall to address them.
Throughout October, four United Methodist churches will host Ministry Mechanics to help church leaders with the nuts and bolts of the business side of ministry. Participants will learn alongside peers about best practices in human resources and in managing staff and volunteers. This event will be especially helpful for members of Staff-Parish Relations Committees, but anyone responsible for human resources or volunteer management will also benefit.
Free this year, this new series is co-sponsored by the Michigan Conference and the United Methodist Foundation of Michigan, longtime partners in ministry support and leadership development. The planning team, drawn from both organizations, hopes to make this a recurring series that benefits local church leaders statewide. The team includes Rev. Kathy Pittenger and Rev. Joel Walther from the conference and Rev. Brad Bartelmay, Rev. Dr. Jennie Browne, and Rev. Joel Fitzgerald from the foundation.
The content presented at each location will be identical, and the event will be held on a Saturday so people can attend the location most convenient for them. Participants may request mileage reimbursement. Childcare will also be provided to those who request it and register in advance. The planning team wants this to be accessible to all who wish to attend.
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- October 3 — Escanaba: Central UMC
- October 10 — Brighton: First UMC
- October 17 — Grand Rapids: Aldersgate UMC
- October 24 — Midland: First UMC
Register now to attend Ministry Mechanics.
The two-hour workshop includes training, best practices, scenario walk-throughs, and Q&A time, with lunch provided. Each Saturday, it will run from 9:30 am to 1 pm ET.
Please note: Registration for Ministry Mechanics closes two weeks before each date. Interested individuals can contact Rev. Kathy Pittenger at [email protected] to check whether space is available.
Pittenger, Associate Director of Faith Formation and Leadership Development for the Michigan Conference, spends a great deal of time accompanying ministry leaders and is excited to introduce this new workshop to equip and empower their ongoing work, particularly as it affects those employed by the church and those who volunteer their time.
“I receive many calls and emails,” says Pittenger, “with questions about human resources matters, especially pay equity, job descriptions, and benefits for lay staff. It is important to me that churches provide clear expectations around wages, time off, and benefits (including continuing education) so our volunteers and paid staff have clarity and to prevent burnout.”
Some of the administrative and legal tasks required of local churches can be quite confusing, and this topic came up between Pittenger and her colleague on staff, Rev. Joel Walther, Director of Conference Benefits and Coordinator of Human Resources.
“I had a conversation with Kathy,” says Walther, “who said she’d been hearing similar concerns. It was a moment when I said, ‘Yes, me too,’ and we asked, ‘How do we address this?’ That was the birth of the Ministry Mechanics idea. We decided to focus on human resources for the first year because we frequently receive questions from churches about such policies, as well as about how to begin and terminate employment well.”
A draft staff handbook tailored for a local church setting is one of the resources participants will receive at Ministry Mechanics. This template is designed for employers with fewer than 10 employees, which suits most churches in the Michigan Conference.
Walther explains further, “We frequently have churches ask how to create a human resources policy or employee handbook. We often refer them to the conference’s policies, but the conference is a larger entity and must comply with certain laws that a local church would not. So we’ve developed this template, with input from Conference Chancellor Andy Vorbrich, for church leaders to take home, fill out, and use immediately.”
When Pittenger and Walther hatched the idea for Ministry Mechanics, they invited others from the conference and the United Methodist Foundation of Michigan to contribute their expertise and commitment to strengthening local churches and developing leadership.
“Partnering with the foundation,” notes Walther, “is one of the most exciting parts of this because of their rich knowledge base and their same commitment to supporting United Methodist congregations in Michigan. Additionally, we are offering this free of charge and covering mileage, so hopefully no one is prevented from attending if they wish to. These are the kinds of things that make this event different from other conference offerings right now.”
Rev. Dr. Jennie Browne, who recently joined the foundation after retiring from the conference, serves as Senior Director of Connectional Engagement. She began on the Ministry Mechanics planning team before retiring and continues with the team in her new role. In both cases, she notes that she is grateful to be involved in developing this new series, which provides practical help for church leaders who want to offer their best without burning out.
“Of all the things that a pastor has to learn on the job,” confesses Browne, “human resources is, in my opinion, the most complicated and the most important. From my experience, dealing with sticky staff situations was one of the hardest parts of being a new lead pastor. The importance of an updated employee handbook, clear policies, goal-setting, and regular evaluations of staff members were all elements of leadership that I knew about theoretically but had little to no experience with, especially as the person in charge of making them happen.”
Browne is excited about this partnership between the conference and the foundation and the possibility of Ministry Mechanics becoming a regular educational series that addresses the real-time needs of pastors and lay leaders. “I’m hopeful,” Browne concludes, “that this might provide more than education and become a source of supportive relationship-building among pastors and church leaders.”
Questions? Contact Rev. Kathy Pittenger at [email protected] or Rev. Joel Walther at [email protected].
Learn more about Ministry Mechanics and how to register.
Ministry Mechanics is made possible, in part, thanks to generous financial gifts from local United Methodist churches in Michigan through Ministry Shares. Thank you! Learn about the impact of Ministry Shares on mission and ministry in Michigan and around the world.
Last Updated on September 10, 2026