I'm gonna do a few series kind of interacting with and starting discussions about themes in some books on church planting. This series comes out of the Launch by Nelson Searcy.
Another topic Searcy covers in his practical book is staffing. Here are some of the principles he provides:
Find first year staff for your first year. Searcy talks about how a lot of church planters get confused about what positions are necessary for the launch. He says your first three positions need to be Lead Pastor, Worship Pastor, Children’s Pastor. In general, I’d agree with that. There may be some situations where a Children’s Pastor isn’t as high a priority. I also think finding a local Christian band is a possible fill-in for a Worship Pastor. I also think, in a launch situation, that finding a Worship Pastor who can do more than just lead worship is critical. I would go with someone who is a decent worship leader, but a great equipper of others, over someone who is great at leading worship.
Never pay anyone to do what you can get a volunteer to do. Great point, and in my opinion it’s critical for future growth. I think churches that are Senior Pastor dependent tend to get stuck at 200, and churches that are staff dependent tend to get stuck around 600. I am a big fan of setting the tone early that your church will be volunteer driven, and that volunteers will be trusted with high level ministry responsibilities.
Decide how you will raise payroll funds. Searcy says to never raise funds for a new staff person, that he or she should be responsible for it. But that staff should not be asked to raise 100 percent of their salary. He also writes that the Lead Pastor should not ask staff to raise funds if they didn’t have to.
The power of the part-time staff. We haven’t had had a lot of experience with this at Forefront, but it makes sense to me. I’ve heard from many that you will get almost as much out of someone who works 20 hours a week as someone who works 40. The unusual thing Searcy does is what he calls “$50-a-Week-Staff.” He says that if you realize there’s a volunteer who you cannot afford to lose and want to reward her for her service, pay her $50/week (or more). When someone accepts this he suggests making that person an official member of the staff with a formal job description. Generally he has the person being hired to list everything they’re already doing and then to add additional areas he’d like to serve in. Side benefits to this, according to Searcy, is that if the person later vacates the position, you’ll have a job description ready for his replacement. And, if the person starts performing poorly, it’s easier to remove that person. ---
What do you think of this idea?
- featured on newchurches.com
3 comments:
Part time staff...our little network of church planting churches has a vision for bringing along "student pastors" who will be getting academic training while also doing serious ministry (paid for 10-30hrs/week). They stay on for 1-5 years and then we "send them out" to be pastors/church planters. Perhaps something like internships on steroids. This has worked extremely well. The church has to have the mindset of investing into the student pastors, letting them lead (and fail) and mentoring them along the way. And it can work in small communities and churches. I think this will be a huge key for getting church planting "movements" going. I think all churches should be doing this. BTW...anyone looking to be a student pastor and plant a church?
Part time staff...does he mean that you get just as much from a 20-hour a week person as you do from a 40-hour per week person, or that the 20-hour per week person ends up working 40 hours?
Either way, something is wrong. If the 20-hour person is producing the same as the 40-hour per week person, the 40-hour per week person needs to a little...encouragement to work more efficiently.
If, however, you're paying someone for 20 hours, and they are giving 40, this is a very unhealthy and potentially abusive work situation, and needs to be stopped. Churches need to model good work ethics and not expect more of our employees than we are paying them for.
Jeremy,
Consider that an ordinary, unpaid, commited kingdom-minded person in your church is probably putting in 10-30 hours of ministry. So, if someone is paid for 20 hours, why would it be wrong for them to volunteer an additional 5-30 hours? In our church we expect that every paid staff will put in 5-20 hours of unpaid ministry. If someone has the incredible privilege of getting paid for what every Christian should be doing, why wouldn't we expect them to work the hardest and sacrifice the most?
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