As a church grows there 
becomes the need to consider adding staff. While the decision to compensate assistant pastors is fairly common, the topic of compensating non-pastoral positions can be a challenge. A number of questions arise, including, “Why does so and so get paid to do their ministry while these people over here do not?” This, of course, is a completely legitimate and important question. In the next few blogs I will be sharing my musings on this subject; and I would love to hear from others on this. Here are few general thoughts about adding staff.
1) Churches can add staff for either defensive or offensive reasons. Defensive hiring means that the church is looking for some kind of critical mass before creating a position or hiring an individual. A certain portion of the ministry has grown and it requires some kind of paid staff to maintain and strengthen the growth. Offensive hiring is when a church compensates a position with the expectation that it will grow. Whereas defensive hiring staffs on the back end, offensive hiring compensates on the front end of the growth.
Consider the example of a youth director. Some churches will wait for a critical mass of kids to develop before hiring a youth director (defensive). To encourage growth in the youth department, another church may hire a youth director before the need arises, believing that this position will, in time, pay for itself.
2) Whatever decisions are made, I think that they should be made intentionally and specifically. “Intentionally” means that there is a purpose behind the compensation, not personality driven or following the latest trends without reservation. “Specifically” means that there is a clear purpose and job description.
Related, all positions should come with accountability. In my experience, there are two extremes on accountability that stifle the ministry: congregational accountability and senior pastor accountability. Congregational accountability, where the church family watches the position, usually leads to frustration, bitterness, and an overworked individual. It can also lead to “politicking” when an issue arises. Senior pastor accountability is when the individual answers only to the lead pastor. The problem here is that the relationship may get in the way of important decisions. With good intentions, the lead pastor’s judgment can become clouted because of the friendship. A better solution may be for the individual to be accountable to the entire board of elders and, in some cases, other individuals in leadership, even though the lead pastor provides day-to-day oversight.
3) There are numerous ways to compensate a person or position: salary, stipend (not paying market value, but compensating enough to make a firm arrangement), hourly, by the project, etc.
4) I think that it is best to think through a philosophy of compensation before the need arises in the church and, especially, well before any names are suggested.
5) A clear job description is a must.
How may a ministry determine when it is time to add a staff position? Stay tuned. This is the subject of our next post.