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Playing Fair When Hiring a Staff Member from Another Church
Orginally published on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 7:01 AM
by Todd Rhoades
A great post today by Craig Groeschel over at the LifeChurch.tv Swerve Blog. Craig talks about how to be ethical when hiring staff from another church. This subject comes up a lot. Craig writes: "We don’t own staff. They are God’s people and should go where God leads a person to go. Whenever I lose a valuable team player, I always ask God to send someone who will be even better suited for the role." Here are some other observations from Craig...
--Hiring a staff member from another church is not a sin. (Doing it deceitfully and without integrity is another matter.)
--I have appreciated when a pastor asks permission to talk with a staff member.
--I have asked other pastors for their permission. Two times I was told “no.” I respected their stance and didn’t pursue that staff person.
--One time a pastor fired a staff member who approached us about potentially serving here. (I always prefer complete openness but at times it may not be possible for the other staff person.)
--I have never denied another pastor the opportunity to talk with one of our staff. (If they feel called somewhere else, then they are blessed to go.)
--I think more consideration should be given when hiring local staff. For example, if we hire someone from Canada, it won’t likely disrupt their ministry. If we hire a youth pastor from two miles down the road, it would be more likely to harm their ministry.
--I also don’t feel as bad when considering another church’s staff person when that person approaches us.
--Again, I prefer hiring staff from within instead of from other churches. (More on this tomorrow.)
Click here for more at the Swerve Blog. Craig also has some other great posts on hiring staff here, here, and here.
FOR DISCUSSION: Agree or disagree? Any other observations. I’m sure most of you reading this have served more than one church. One question. What did the relationship between the churches look like after the switch? Was there animosity or were the two churches ‘sharing the love’?
(Two great examples, at least publically, of smooth transitions between churches and staff members have to be Tony Morgan, from Granger to NewSpring; and Terry Storch from Fellowship to LifeChurch.tv.)
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There are 3 Comments:
Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.
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Posted by Leonard
Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 8:34 AM
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Posted by
Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 12:41 PM
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Posted by
Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 8:44 PM
Post Your Comments:Just hired someone from another church near our church and I called their pastor to ask for his blessing. He gave it and this persons transition was so much easier. It is better to walk in the light.
He writes “--I have asked other pastors for their permission. Two times I was told “no.” I respected their stance and didn’t pursue that staff person.”
Wow. So if someone is trying to leave their church because they are made to feel like they need to do everything, and their SP can’t get by without them because of this excessive “work abuse"… you won’t pursue them? (disclaimer: I am NOT in this situation, I love my job more than anyone I know!)
I disagree with the post somewhat. Perhaps you TELL the church that you’re talking to the person, but asking permission? No, I disagree.
I’ve told my staff that they can candidate for other churches but not behind my back. If someone calls to see if they’re interested they need to tell me and then pursue it. If it doesn’t work out for them I make sure they’re not looking to leave and if they’re feeling it’s time for a change, I help them find a new place. (usually I would give them 6 months to find something new)
As far as asking permission, I’m not into that. You call a minister, see if God’s doing something in them that would move them to your church and if they say yes, pursue them. If they say no, go on to your next choice. I think Craig answers that by saying, “We don’t own staff” and I’m wondering how you hire someone deceitfully and without integrity. I guess you could make it all about money and perks and try and lure them away, but then, what kind of pastor did you just added to your team?!
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