How to Develop Your Church Staff

Orginally published on Tuesday, June 07, 2005 at 9:00 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Glenn Kreun of Saddleback Community Church has over 20 years of ministry experience working with other people in ministry.  At a piece on Pastors.com, Glen gives some good suggestions as to how to develop and work with your staff.  Glenn says…

As I reflect on the years I've been responsible for developing staff, I've concluded there are three very important steps in the process.

First, consider the type of person you want on your staff.
Second, write a job description or position description.
Third, have a thorough interview process.

First, consider the type of person you want to hire.  You'll spend a huge portion of your life around your staff, whether it is large or small.  With that in mind, you need to think about what kind of person you want to interact with on a regular basis.  If you don't enjoy where you work, why would anyone else want to be there?  Why would you want to spend time working with and developing people you do not enjoy being around?  Why would you not want to be friends - even best friends - with the people on your staff? 

At Saddleback we often say, "We take God very seriously; however, we don?t take ourselves seriously at all."  So one of the criteria we use for seeing if someone is a good fit here is: can he make fun of himself?  Can he handle being the brunt of a joke, or does he take himself too seriously? If a person can't laugh at himself, he will not be fun to be around.  If a person takes himself too seriously, he is much more likely to place blame on others rather than accept responsibility for himself.   

Do you enjoy being around your staff?  Are you having fun at work?  If not, I would suggest that you rethink and change your hiring practices.  Church staffs that have fun and stay together - are far more productive and cost the church less money in turnover.

Second, develop the job or position description.  This is your "think time."  It is when you look at the overall church vision, and then look at how a position will help fulfill that mission.  When you do that, you reduce the chances of making a poor hiring choice. 

The time you spend on developing a position description is time well spent. You can't think through all the implications and possibilities of any position, but the more "think time" you put into developing a job description, the better chance you'll find the right person. 

Remember, a person does what he enjoys, not what a job description says, so find the person who enjoys doing the work that you need done.   

Once you know the type of person you want to hire - and have completed the position description, then, and only then, are you ready to begin your job search.

Third, take a look at your interview process. Take time to interview well! Use this time to determine if the person is the 'fun' person you want on your staff.   Determine if the candidate has the passion for the job you have. 

Does the candidate have the leadership ability and experience to take your team to where the church will be in five years?  These are some questions you?ll need to answer during the interview. The interview process is where you allow the candidate to share his life and his story. 

Hear everything the candidate has to say about himself, and do not help him tell his story!  Do not interrupt him. Do not coach him. Do not let him know what you are looking for. Allow him to talk and share.

Then, ask about his accomplishments and passion. Have him share conflict resolution stories, and have him share at least a couple of success stories from his ministry.  Measure his success, not on his standards but on your standards.

Some good advice, Glenn.  I know there will be some that will take issue with Glenn's insistence that we hire 'fun' people; but in reality it is very important that everyone on your staff get along; and yes, be able to have fun.  People who can laugh together work well together.

You can read more of Glenn's article here at Pastors.com now if you like.

FOR DISCUSSION:  Today, I want to take a look a little more at the 'fun' angle of ministry and relationships.  How are you doing as a church staff?  Maybe you're the senior pastor; maybe your an associate... how does your staff interact?  Is it 'fun' to work at your church?  We've all had times in ministry where it was 'fun'... do you find that these times have allowed you to ministry more freely and have better results?

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