Category Archives: Staffing – Recruitment

Whether looking for volunteers in the church or hiring paid staff, we need to get staffing right — the right person for the right ministry at the right time. We need to ask if this is not only the person of God’s choosing but also the ministry He wants our church to do. When it is, staffing will be about more than filling positions.

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What It Takes to Get Church Staffing Right

1) The Right Person

Is the person spiritually gifted for this type of ministry? Is it not only a good fit, but the best fit for both the person and the ministry? Is the person passionate about serving in this ministry? If not, you could be looking at frustration, disillusionment, burnout, and a low retention rate. People will put more into what they are doing when there’s a fit.

Is this the person of God’s choosing? Remember that God doesn’t always choose whom we would think. See 1 Samuel 16:1-12 and 1 Corinthians 1:20-31. Learn from Jesus who spent time in prayer before choosing the twelve disciples (Lk. 6:12-13).

2) The Right Ministry

Is the ministry needed? Does it have a purpose? Is it something God wants you to do, not merely something you’ve always done? If not, you may be spending a lot of time, energy and resources on something with a low spiritual yield. People are more prone to willingly serve when they feel it is a good cause and will make an eternal difference.

3) The Right Time

You could have the right person but at the wrong time due to the season of their lives, their schedule, other responsibilities or something else God has for them now. You could have the right ministry but at the wrong time. Sometimes we can rush ahead of God and people and then wonder why nobody wants to come on-board for such a good endeavor. Is the timing right? If not, you could be facing a low approval rating with God and man. People are more likely to join in when they sense God is leading both them and the church.

What Happens When We Get Staffing Right

Looking for the right person for the right ministry at the right time elevates the way we do staffing as it is no longer about merely filling a position. We will understand that pleas of desperation from the pulpit and begging people to serve aren’t necessary. We will not make threats (i.e., discontinuing a ministry if no volunteers come forward). We will guard against pulling people in out of obligation or guilt. We will no longer nab people in the parking lot. Rather, we will put the time and personal touch into recruiting. We will pray it through until God raises up people to serve. We will communicate higher expectations and lay out a vision.

More on Church Staffing:

• Church Staffing Ministry
• Leadership Skill: Staffing

We’ve looked at staffing in light of the following:

the big picture
the church’s purpose
body life
shepherding
prayer

Staffing Principles We Need to Apply

Here are all the principles from the above series on staffing pulled together in one place. Take time to review these points and think about their application in your setting.  How can you better implement them into your ministry?

• View staffing as ministry and not mere administration.

• Focus on cooperating with God and what He wants your church to do, not merely filling positions to keep your programs going.

• Build into staffing an accountability to lining up with God and His purposes, to working together toward the big picture.

• Make appreciation and affirmation of people an integral part of staffing.

• View extending encouragement and support to people as essential.

• Maintain proper motives, sincere concern, and honest communication in staffing.

• Genuinely care about the people who are serving beyond the fulfillment of their duties.

• Genuinely accept the people who are serving and don’t take a cookie cutter approach in equipping and supporting them.

• Completely depend on the Lord.

Additional Resources to Help You with Church Staffing:

• Staffing Ministry Online Training
• Staffing Ministry Manual
• Church Leadership Skill: Staffing
• Staffing Resources Page

We’ve noted in previous posts that there is a big picture in staffing which includes the following:

1. the church’s purpose requiring cooperation and alignment with God
2. the exercise of Body Life principles requiring we value people over our programs and agendas
3. the promotion of a Christ-like expression of that which makes people unique

That is a tall order for anyone involved in staffing. We might be quick to attest to our agreement with these points but the practical outworking can present some challenges. We need wisdom. We need help. And, sometimes we need strength to go on, to keep at it.

Prayer Must Be a Vital Component of Staffing Ministry

Following God’s purposes and design for the Body requires discernment of God’s choices. Even Jesus prayed prior to choosing His disciples.

Treating people as they should be treated throughout the entire staffing process requires God’s heart. The Apostle Paul prayed that the Ephesians, “being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19)

Think comparatively. Which will make staffing more effective?

With the answers being so obvious, Proverbs 3:5-6 must be guiding verses in any kind of staffing ministry.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

An effective staffing ministry that follows these big picture objectives not only needs much prayer but must view prayer as an essential big picture item.

And so, staffing requires complete dependence on the Lord.

Check Out this Resourc: Staffing Ministry Manual

In previous posts we looked at the big picture in staffing. We noted that it involves alignment with the church’s purpose and the exercise of Body Life principles in order to help people understand how they and their contribution are valued as you pursue God’s purposes. But, that isn’t enough. People need to be equipped to do their part. They need training and support which includes pastoral care, not merely skill enrichment, which is best provided through shepherding.

Shepherding That Looks After the Sheep’s Total Welfare

When someone serves, they bring the whole of who they are with them … physical, emotional, mental, social, as well as spiritual. If you want them to be most productive, you must care about the parts you might not be as comfortable with or that might not directly be used in their ministry.

And so, staffing ministry requires that you genuinely care about the people who are serving beyond the fulfillment of their duties.

A Shepherd Who Cares About Each Individual Sheep

Ministry workers have different spiritual gifts, needs, personality traits, learning styles, etc. How can you work within each person’s bent? How can you encourage them to serve in their God-given unique ways rather than frustrate them by unnecessary constraints? What is the best way to build them up, free them up, spur them on? How can you tailor training to best fit the individual?

And so, staffing requires that you genuinely accept the people who are serving and don’t take a cookie cutter approach in equipping and supporting them.

The goal should not be making everyone conform but helping them serve with a Christ-like expression of that which makes them unique.

Church leaders, also read:  Church Leadership Skill of Staffing

In a previous post we considered how there is a big picture that must be taken into consideration when it comes to staffing. Part of that picture pertains to God’s purposes for your church. Consequently, ministry assessments become vital to this work to determine where you are, where you should be, what it will take to get aligned with His purposes, and who God wants to use to get you there.

And so, staffing becomes about cooperating with God and what He wants your church to do, not merely filling positions to keep your programs going.

Alignment of Staffing with Our Church Purpose

Once you know your church’s purpose, you must be committed to pursuing it and must communicate it to others. You must build a culture in which all you do is measured against it. While you will still have distinct ministries to meet differing needs requiring specific people with particular spiritual gifts to accomplish them, everyone will all come under the umbrella of your church’s broad purpose. No program or individual will stand alone, isolated from the whole. That takes coordination on the part of leaders and a team mentality on the part of ministry workers. Ministry, or job, descriptions explain this connection. Evaluations look for this alignment. Feedback and support are given to help people understand and do their part in pursuing it.

And so, in staffing we build in an accountability to lining up with God and His purposes, to working together toward the big picture.