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Oct 31 2018 | By: Bill Wilson

Church Staffing Concerns

One  of  the  most  frequent  conversations  we  have  with  churches  has  to  do  with  finances  and  staff.  Specifically,  with  the  majority  of  churches  plateaued  or  declining,  intense  pressure  is  often  brought  to  bear  upon  church  staffing  models.  With  finances  tight,  congregations  are  being  forced  to  think  carefully  about  the  number  of  professional  staff  members  they  require  and  can  afford,  and  the  focus  of  those  positions.  It  can  be  a  difficult  conversation  to  broach  in  a  congregation,  and  so  we  often  delay  and  deny  the  looming  issues.  Unfortunately,  the  conversation  then  erupts  as  a  crisis  at  budget  or  transition  time.  Proactively  leaning  into  the  conversation  is  a  much  healthier  alternative.

As  you  consider  your  situation,  here  are  some  guiding  thoughts.

First,  a  church  must  clarify  its  mission,  vision  and  strategy  for  their  near  and  mid- future.  Whatever  we  believe  the  Kingdom  is  to  look  like  in  the  coming  season  of  our  congregation’s  life  is  what  reigns  supreme  when  it  comes  to  facilities,  staff,  structures  and  finances.    That  clarity  is  essential  if  we  are  to  make  wise  and  appropriate  choices  with  regard  to  our  staff.  There  are  multiple  options  for  doing  this  clarification  work.  Choose  one  and  pursue  it  with  energy  until  you  are  clear  and  united  around  a  shared  agenda  for  the  future.    A  second  key  factor  is  the  relationship  between  professional  staff  and  laity.  What  is  the  leadership  culture  of  the  congregation?  Some  churches  seemingly  hire  staff  to  do  most  of  the  work  of  the  church.  Others  seek  a  more  balanced  ministry  model  of  an  engaged  laity  and  ministerial  leaders.  What  if  you  made  this  choice  deliberately  rather  than  by  tradition?  If  you  were  to  balance  this  portfolio  of  responsibility  between  laity  and  clergy,  what  would  it  look  like?

Third,  there  are  several  ways  of  doing  analysis  of  staffing  expenditures  and  congregational  attendance  patterns  that  provide  insight  into  the  issue.

One  is  to  analyze  your  congregation’s  budget  and  rebalance  the  budget  so  that  it  fits  generally  accepted  models  for  operation.  Specifically,  break  your  budget  into  five  categories:  Personnel,  Facilities,  Programs,  Debt  and  Missions.  Assign  every  line  item  in  your  budget  into  one  of  the  categories.  Hopefully,  you  are  debt-free  or  paying  your  debt  down  using  a  parallel  capital  campaign.  If  so,  then  these  four  categories  apply  to  you.  If  not,  you  will  need  to  adjust  to  include  the  debt  service.

Generally  accepted  best  practices  assign  these  ranges  to  each  of  the  four  remaining  categories:

Personnel    50-60%
Facilities    15-25%
Programs    10-15%
Missions    10-20%
Debt            0-5%

One  of  the  key  indicators  of  a  healthy  church  is  the  combined  percentage  of  Personnel  and  Facilities.  When  this  number  exceeds  75%,  the  ability  of  the  congregation  to  successfully  engage  in  ministry  and  missions  begins  to  be  negatively  impacted.

These  percentages  are  strictly  guidelines  and  need  to  be  evaluated  in  terms  of  your  context,  congregation  size,  and  special  circumstances.  Even  with  that,  once  you  know  where  your  budget  percentages,  you  can  begin  to  make  needed  adjustments  based  upon  your  ministry  vision,  rather  than  in  emotional  reaction  to  a  crisis.

Another  metric  that  lends  insight  into  the  discussion  is  the  ratio  of  weekly  attenders  to  ministerial/professional  staff.  The  generally  accepted  ratio  is  one  ministerial  staff  member  for  every  100  regular  attenders.  Thus,  if  your  congregation  averages  325  attenders,  the  ratio  suggests  you  can  support  3  ministerial  staff  members.

This  ratio  has  been  around  for  many  years  and  seems  to  hold  up  in  current  scenarios.  One  proviso:  attendance  patterns  are  shifting  dramatically  and  may  impact  this.  The  frequency  of  attendance  by  regular  attenders  is  dropping.  Do  a  quick  check  on  the  actual  attendance  habits  of  your  congregation,  and  you  will  find  that  many  of  your  most  faithful,  regular  attenders  often  are  present  35-40  Sundays  a  year.  Not  only  does  this  have  an  impact  on  volunteer  positions  (class  leadership,  choir,  etc.),  it  means  that  a  congregation  must  staff  and  prepare  for  a  larger congregation  than  the  weekly  attendance  average  suggests  you  have.  Count  the  number  of  people  who  attend  your  church  on  a  monthly  basis,  rather  than  weekly.  You  may  find  that  an  average  weekly  worship  attendance  of  300  may  actually  be  an  active  congregation  of  450-500,  and  that  has  implications  for  the  staffing  ratio.

However  you  choose  to  approach  the  issue,  there  are  ways  to  evaluate  your  congregation’s  staffing  model  that  are  tied  to  both  metrics  and  mission.  When  you  do,  remember  that  each  staff  member  is  a  real  person  with  a  real  family  and  a  real  call  to  ministry.  Any  adjustments  must  be  approached  in  a  thoughtful,  generous,  Christ-like  spirit  as  you  move  forward.

While  it  is  a  difficult  conversation,  it  is  one  we  must  have  if  we  are  to  be  good  stewards  of  our  resources  and  our  witness.

Categorized: Staffing Tagged: budget, metrics, ministers, mission, staffing

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About Bill Wilson

Dr. William “Bill” Wilson founded The Center for Healthy Churches in January of 2014. This followed his service as President of the Center for Congregational Health at Wake Forest Baptist Health since 2009. Previously he was Pastor of First Baptist Church of Dalton, Georgia, where he served since 2003. He brings over 33 years of local church ministry experience to the Center, having served as pastor in two churches in Virginia (Farmville BC and FBC Waynesboro) and on a church staff in South Carolina. Bill has led each of the churches he has served into a time of significant growth and exp... Learn More »

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Comments

  1. Marion Stanton says

    October 31, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    Very interesting article. In the ‘personnel’ category, are you including all church personnel? Or just clergy? Asked another way, under ‘program’, would related non-clergy salaries be included as part of the program costs, or would this be only direct, out-of-pocket program costs?

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