Blog | Hiring Church Staff: Tried and True Practices

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Hiring the right church staff is incredibly important if you are actively working in ministry. It’s especially important in churches smaller than 500, as all staff are working closely with each other every day and weekend. Hiring a bad candidate doesn’t mean one department of the church suffers – it can drag down the efficiency, morale, and culture of all church staff.

Unfortunately, many churches depend on “the luck of the draw” to find a good candidate. Regardless of the location, size, and culture of your church, there are several practices you can put into action this season as you’re looking for new job candidates to ensure your ministry hires the right staff member.

Hiring Church Staff: Tried and True Practices

It’s not uncommon for churches to have unhealthy hiring practices which lead them to tough work culture situations later on. If you are planning on staffing your church with more employees in the near future, here are some tried and true practices or thoughts you can keep in your peripherals as you move forward!

Stick to the 5

5 departments, 5 employees. This should be your first goal. Before you go hiring employees in random roles that you feel are important, aim to staff these 5 “departments” with one, full-time candidate that can serve as the leader and manager of that department:

• – Children
• – Students
• – Adults
• – Finance/Operations
• – Worship

Obviously, this may take some time. For many churches it can take until they grow to 1,000 in attendance or more before they can have a full-time person employed to lead each of those departments, but it’s crucial that you hire those roles.

If your church is hoping to bring on a video person, don’t do it before you have a worship leader. If knowing how to do video is a requisite for that job, then try to find a worship leader who can help with it. But don’t hire a video contractor/employee before you have a worship leader, children’s director, or any of the others listed above.

You may have plenty of volunteers who are stepping up to cover each of those 5 departments, and that’s great! Having all those bases covered is important. Just make sure that once you start hiring full-time employees, that you are hiring people who can be full-time in one of those roles and serve as the leader or manager of that “department”.

Hire Up, Not Down

As you are growing as a church, there’s no doubt that employees/contractors/volunteers will come and go. That’s the nature of a growing church. Some people decide to stick around and follow you to the next step, and others will feel it’s time for them to move on.

But when an employee does leave, do your best to hire up, not down. Hire someone who is more qualified, experienced, and talented than the person who left. If growing your church is your goal, you need both the talent and capabilities of all employees to grow with the church, and that often comes in the form of hiring.

Don’t post the same job description for new candidates as the one given to your prior employee. What stuff did you wish the other employee was capable of? What areas did you feel were being neglected? What capabilities do you hope a future candidate may have? Include those in the job description as you’re searching for a replacement!

Know When to Hire from Within or Externally

Do you hire from within your own congregation and volunteer list, or post the job for external candidates?

It’s a big question, and there’s no single way to go about it, but there are a few general guidelines. Generally speaking, if your weekly church attendance is below 600, I’d recommend you hire from within. You probably know many of your congregation members, they know you, they understand expectations and culture, and will more than likely be understanding of your current budget. You also probably have several members in your congregation who are talented enough to staff any of the 5 departments above and do a great job!

But as your church creeps to the 600 attendance mark, hiring practices can shift a bit. Usually by that point you have the funds to staff a full-time employee leading one of the above departments with a respectable salary. Also, many churches don’t stay at the 600 mark for very long – they either slide back to 450-500, or grow towards 800. You don’t need employees to just “hold it down” to keep yourself from organizational chaos – you need employees who can devote their time, focus, and effort towards growing your ministry. It’s often easier to find that in an external search, as candidates are looking for a job where they can apply themselves and use their new role to transform a ministry (as opposed to someone from within a church who may simply be offering their time to hold things down until the next chapter for your ministry).

Obviously remember that none of this is a “rule”. Plenty of churches in the 2,000-3,000 mark are hiring from within, and there are churches of 100 that are hiring external candidates. Do what works and follow your gut when candidates are available.

In Summary

Hiring the right candidates can make or break a ministry. It’s tough to get the right people involved, but having a healthy church work culture is imperative if you are intending to grow your ministry.

Make sure you staff these 5 “departments” before anything else – children, students, adults, operations/finance, and worship. Even if it’s volunteers or contractors during a season where your church’s budget is tight, find people who can manage and lead these departments. Empower them to make decisions and to drive their ministry to success.

Another note – always, always, always hire up. Your employees will have a direct impact on the growth of your church, and if your intent is to grow attendance, new employees need to be more talented, more experienced, and more capable than past employees.

Also, know when to hire from within or search externally. While there are no official rules, a general rule of thumb is the “600 in attendance rule”. If your church is under 600, look internally; if your church is over 600 and has the funds to hire a full-time candidate, look externally.

Of course, make sure you are always praying during search processes, consulting mentors and other employees, and valuing others’ words during the process!