# Introduction
Mayflower Church's staff reviews are anchored in the conviction that work is a gift from God, that the people who do that work are made in His image, and that the church should be one of the places in a person's life where they are most deeply known, most honestly challenged, and most faithfully developed.
This review is developmental, not punitive. It is a conversation, not a verdict. It assumes the best of the staff member and of the supervisor. It uses Dennis Bakke's framing of “joy at work” — gifts, growth, fairness, and fruit — translated into a church context.
## How this review works
1. The staff member completes Part A (Self-Assessment) first, on their own time.
2. The supervisor completes Part B (Supervisor Observations) independently.
3. They meet for an unhurried review conversation, working through both parts together, then jointly completing Parts C, D, and E.
4. The summary is signed, filed in the personnel file per the Employee Handbook, and supports a follow-up check-in at the quarterly 1:1 rhythm.
5. Compensation is not decided in this review. Comp decisions are handled separately by the Board of Finance in the July/August budget cycle.
## Relationship to the Employee Handbook
This review operates alongside the Mayflower Employee Handbook and does not replace any handbook provision.
- Character expectations follow Appendix A of the Handbook (Biblical Standards for Staff), anchored in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. This review does not create a second character standard; it reflects on the standard the handbook already sets.
- The Annual Affirmation required by Appendix A.12 is a separate document from this review. The affirmation re-commits to the standards; the review reflects on development, fruitfulness, and joy in the work.
- If this review surfaces conduct that warrants discipline, the matter leaves the review process and enters the Handbook's Section 8.3 path. Reviews are not discipline.
## Confidentiality
Completed forms are held in the staff member's personnel file per the Employee Handbook's retention policy. They are not shared outside the supervisor, the staff member, and — where needed for a specific decision — the Elder Board Chair or the Board of Finance.
# Part A — Staff Member Self-Assessment
*Complete this on your own time. Be honest. This form works only if you treat it as a conversation with yourself before it becomes a conversation with your supervisor.*
## 1. Are you using the gifts God has given you?
*Where did your gifts bear most fruit this year? Where did your role stretch you outside your gifting in ways that may call for support, redesign of the job, or different responsibilities?*
## 2. Are you growing in Christ through this work?
*How has serving at Mayflower shaped your walk with Jesus this year? Where has the work exposed sin or weakness God is refining in you? Where has it drawn you deeper in?*
## 3. Are you bearing fruit where you have been planted?
*What specific fruit of your work this year are you most thankful for? What did you hope to see bear fruit that did not? What do you make of the gap?*
## 4. Are you sustainable — body, heart, home, and soul?
*How is your pace, your rest, your margin? Are the hours working for your family and your health? Is there anything about the job as currently structured that is quietly grinding you down?*
## 5. Are you being treated fairly and developed well?
*Is the job you actually do still the job you were hired into? Are you being paid, supervised, and supported fairly? What would help you grow this year — training, mentoring, changed responsibilities, rest?*
## Role-Specific Reflection
*See the appendix at the back of this form for role-specific prompts. Respond to the appendix for your role, then summarize here.*
## Gratitude
*What are you most thankful for about this year at Mayflower — moments, people, growth in you, work God did through you?*
## Growth Edges
*Where do you want to grow this year? What support would actually help? What would you ask of your supervisor, the elders, or the church?*
**Staff Member Signature:** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
**Date:** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
# Part B — Supervisor Observations
*Complete independently after reading the self-assessment. Mirror the structure, but add what only a supervisor can see.*
## 1. Use of Gifts
*Where have you seen this person's gifts most in play? Where does their role stretch beyond or outside their gifting in a way that calls for redesign, support, or honest conversation?*
## 2. Growth in Christ
*What growth in character, maturity, or walk with God have you seen in this person this year? Not a grade — an observation, given in love.*
## 3. Fruitfulness
*What concrete fruit of this person's work have you seen this year? Name the fruit specifically, not generically.*
## 4. Sustainability
*Is this person sustainable in their role? Do you see signs of fatigue, resentment, or drift? What would need to change in how the role is structured or supported to keep them flourishing here for the long haul?*
## 5. Fairness and Development
*Is the job as posted still the job as performed? Are you supervising them well — accessible, clear, fair, developmental? What are you doing well as a supervisor and where are you failing them?*
## Role-Specific Observations
*Respond to the appendix for this role, then summarize here.*
## Supervisor's Summary
*In one paragraph, what would you say to the elders about this staff member's year?*
**Supervisor Signature:** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
**Date:** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
# Part C — Goals Review
*Completed jointly in the review conversation. What did we commit to a year ago, and what happened?*
## Goals from last year's review
List the goals and commitments from the previous review. For each: what happened, what got in the way, and what was learned.
## Reflection
*Honest joint reflection — what did we learn from the last year's goals about how this person works best, where support is needed, and what kind of goals are realistic?*
# Part D — Development Plan for the Coming Year
*Completed jointly. Keep it short, concrete, and honest. Two to four goals is usually plenty.*
## Goals
For each goal, name: what it is, why it matters, the support needed, and a simple way to know it happened.
## Support commitments from the supervisor
*What is the supervisor committing to do to help this succeed?*
## Support commitments from the church
*Anything the elders, boards, or budget need to provide — training, tools, time, rest, coverage, prayer?*
# Part E — Pastoral Care of the Staff Member
*This is not perfunctory. Staff members are under the spiritual care of the church they serve. Ask real questions and listen.*
## Rest and Sabbath
*Did they use their vacation? Are the office-closure weeks resulting in actual rest for them? Any rhythm changes to make next year?*
## Family and Home
*How is the job impacting their family? Is there anything the church should know, pray for, or adjust?*
## Health and Mental Health
*Any concerns to pray about or support? (Asked pastorally, never pried into. This section can be left blank if there is nothing to name.)*
## Spiritual Growth
*Where are they being fed this year? Are they receiving pastoral care themselves, in addition to serving others?*
## Asks of the Supervisor and Church
*What the staff member is asking for in the coming year. Put it in writing.*
# Part F — Signatures and Filing
Both parties sign indicating the review conversation happened, both parts were reviewed, and the development plan is mutually agreed. Signing does not imply the staff member agrees with every observation; it confirms the conversation was had and the plan is the one going into the coming year.
**Staff Member:** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
**Supervisor:** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
**Date of Review Conversation:** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
*Filed in the staff member's personnel file per the Employee Handbook's retention policy. Next quarterly 1:1 check-in scheduled for:*
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
# Appendix — Role-Specific Prompts
*Use the appendix relevant to the staff member's role. Both the self-assessment and the supervisor observations should draw on the prompts below for Part A's “Role-Specific Reflection” and Part B's “Role-Specific Observations” sections.*
## Appendix A — Director of Biblical Counseling
Anchored in the Director of Biblical Counseling position description. Consider:
- Fidelity to Scripture and to Mayflower's Statement of Faith in the counseling ministry.
- Counselee care — accessibility, follow-through, appropriate confidentiality, timely referrals for issues outside the scope of biblical counseling (medical, psychiatric, legal).
- Coordination with the Senior Pastor and the Shepherding Teams — not replacing pastoral care, but integrated with it.
- Sustainability of caseload — is the counseling load sized to the person, the role's hours, and the ministry's calling?
- Training and growth — continuing education, certification maintenance, case supervision.
- Boundaries and self-care — this work is heavy. Is the person protected from vicarious trauma, with proper debrief and their own counselor or spiritual director where warranted?
- Record-keeping and case notes consistent with best practice and the Employee Handbook's confidentiality standards.
*Note on input sources: For this role, the supervisor relies on the counselor's self-report, case volume and outcomes, and any referral patterns — not on direct client feedback, which would breach counseling confidentiality.*
## Appendix B — Church Secretary
Anchored in the Church Secretary position description. Consider:
- Office operations — phones, mail, communications, filing, reception — reliability and warmth.
- Calendar stewardship — supporting the three-calendar model (Events / Communications / Operations), facility bookings, vendor coordination.
- Communications support — Bellringer deadlines, weekly email, bulletin, announcement windows.
- Membership and attendance records — Planning Center accuracy, check-in data, directory currency.
- Confidentiality — handling sensitive pastoral and financial information appropriately.
- Support of the Senior Pastor and staff — reducing administrative load on pastoral and counseling staff so they can focus on their calling.
- Front door to the congregation — members, visitors, vendors, and the community often encounter Mayflower first through this role. What is that experience like?
- Systems and tools — Planning Center, Mailchimp or equivalent, BookStack, ProPresenter, the physical office environment.
## Appendix C — Other Staff (Template for Future Use)
When a new staff role is created, add an appendix section here with role-specific prompts anchored in that position description. Use the same structure:
- Core responsibilities from the position description.
- Systems and partnerships relied on.
- Character and confidentiality considerations specific to the role.
- Sustainability risks particular to this kind of work.
- Training and growth pathways.