For pastors, church staff can be one of your greatest joys or your biggest headache. If you are going to have an excellent staff you must begin well.
Determine needs
Do we really need someone to do this job?
Will filling this job allow us to maintain or will it take us into the future?
Where is God leading, and will filling this position help us get there?
Is there a member of our church who could do this job as a part of their ministry to the church?
Address financial matters
Can we afford to fill this position at this time?
What will it cost us in momentum and people if we do not fill this position?
And do we need a full-time person or could two part-time people do the job better?
Clarify expectations
Your church should have ilwell-defined job descriptions, organizational structures, and expectations for their employees. In addition, provide an employee handbook that outlines vacation, sick days, and annual reviews. These can clear up many misunderstandings.
Also clarify the following in advance.
A salary package should be agreed upon in writing before the person is hired.
An annual review process will help gauge progress, strengths, and weakness, and enable the person to set goals that are used to determine salary increases.
Find qualified staff
Websites such as ChurchStaffing.com post résumés of prospective staff.
Seminary placement offices are a good resource.
Networking with other ministers, Association Leaders, and State Convention leaders (Use the SBC.net Baptist State Convention Search)
I recommend raising up staff from within your own church family (read more about this in the longer article below).
Consider relational factors
I believer hiring a staff member is more like finding a husband for your daughter than it is like finding an employee for your business. New staff members must be a good fit with the church and with the rest of the staff if they are going to be effective.
The following will give you important relational insight.
How do they relate to their spouse?
While interviewing male staff members I pay particular attention to how he treats his wife. If a man’s love for his wife is not evident in how he responds to her, can you really expect his response to the bride of Christ to be any different? Does he cut her off in mid sentence? Does he look at her when she speaks? Does he ask her opinion?
When interviewing female staff members I look for how they respond to their husbands. If they don’t respect his authority, they will not respect yours.
How they speak of their previous experiences?
If a staff member comes to me complaining about his former pastor, I immediately see red flags. While pastors are far from perfect and often give their staff good reason to complain, the simple truth is that a staff member who will speak poorly of his last pastor will speak poorly of his next pastor.
Verify references
Perform a criminal background check and a credit report.
Check personal references and ask primary references for secondary references.
Check all academic and occupational claims listed on a résumé.
More information on the search for staff is available in the Pastor Search Committee Handbook.