The decision to reduce the ministry staff at Fall Creek has been much more involved. The leadership team (an eight-member board) and I had no simple formula for sorting out this decision. Here are some of the values we weighed.
Mission
As we looked at the question of staffing, we kept this question foremost in our minds: “What are we trying to accomplish here, and what staffing configuration will help us do that?”
Our mission is to make disciples, meaning that we connect people to God and each other through faith in Jesus Christ, enable them to grow to maturity, and equip them to serve one another using their God-given abilities. The primary role of our professional ministry team, therefore, is to equip and direct laypeople in accomplishing this mission.
• Are we empowering lay ownership of ministry?
• Have we resorted to “hiring it done” versus hiring leaders?
• Do the positions that we have (not the specific personnel) tend toward reaching our goal?
Stewardship
While there is no strict formula for staffing, conventional wisdom calls for one pastoral staff member for every 150 attendees. That would indicate that we should have about 1.5 full-time equivalents of professional staff. Our staff had crept up to approximately 4 ministry FTEs (5 positions, full- and part-time), plus 2 support staff.
In recent months, this volume of staffing has put intense pressure on our otherwise sound financial condition. We have depleted our available cash by some $60,000 in about a year, in spite of running very lean on ministry expenses. That overspending simply cannot continue, and the leadership team was convinced that significant changes needed to be made.
We asked ourselves questions like these—
• Is it reasonable to exceed our income and expect God to “supply our needs”?
• How long can we defer building maintenance and improvement needs?
• Where is the balance between exercising faith for increased income and being prudent about managing expenses?
Ministry
At the end of the day, we are here to bring people to Christ, build them up in the faith, and equip them to use their God-given gifts in ministry. The bottom-line question for any church is this one: “What do we need to do to make that happen?”
While all areas of ministry are important, we had a special concern for children’s ministry. We live in one of the fastest growing suburbs in America and are located within spitting distance of the largest school system in the county. Kids matter around here, and reaching them is vital for our ministry.
We wondered—
• What will help us take the next steps in children’s ministry?
• How much can we reasonably accomplish with volunteer help?
• What will help us take the next steps in children’s ministry?
• How much can we reasonably accomplish with volunteer help?
• Can we depend on this congregation to rally in support of children's ministry?
We found no simple formula for answering these questions. On the one hand, we had a dedicated staff of hardworking ministry leaders, and on the other hand, a salary load out of proportion for our size and the need to create a ministry structure that meets our objective of empowering laity.
We chose to replace two ministry staff members with volunteer leaders and redistribute one administrative position to staff and a volunteer. That was the unanimous choice of our leadership team. It fits who we are as a church and makes sound financial sense. It was the right decision.
None of that makes it any easier to deliver bad news to people whom you like, respect, and enjoy working with. It was a difficult and painful decision and one of those moments that would be tempting to avoid. But then I remember that God is sovereign. I believe he will use the prayerful and careful decisions of this leadership team not only to bless this church but also to bless the very people who least understand it.
Thank God that he’s the real leader.
We found no simple formula for answering these questions. On the one hand, we had a dedicated staff of hardworking ministry leaders, and on the other hand, a salary load out of proportion for our size and the need to create a ministry structure that meets our objective of empowering laity.
We chose to replace two ministry staff members with volunteer leaders and redistribute one administrative position to staff and a volunteer. That was the unanimous choice of our leadership team. It fits who we are as a church and makes sound financial sense. It was the right decision.
None of that makes it any easier to deliver bad news to people whom you like, respect, and enjoy working with. It was a difficult and painful decision and one of those moments that would be tempting to avoid. But then I remember that God is sovereign. I believe he will use the prayerful and careful decisions of this leadership team not only to bless this church but also to bless the very people who least understand it.
Thank God that he’s the real leader.
3 comments:
So sorry to hear this. I don't know if this will be any comfort or not, but after more than 15 years in full time ministry, my husband (a pastor) is now bivocational. As in, our church plant doesn't pay him at all. Our only source of income is his secular job, plus my little bits of freelance money.
And guess what? We have never felt freer, or more empowered, in ministry! We wouldn't trade what we're doing now for anything.
God knows what he's doing. We'll keep your staff in our prayers.
I really appreciated your comments here. Wisdom to apply at home as well.
I used to work as a church staff member. Went through 2 major changes. The first, I was one of few laid off, turned volunteer. The second I was one of only 4 of 33 staff kept on.
Both times I experienced the Sovereignty and faithful hand of God.
When laid off, I saw God's faithfulness in provision as a volunteer.
When kept on, I saw God's faithfulness to give me strength to carry amazingly heavy load and to guide my friends who were laid off.
The church grew. Staff members brought back on as needed. People grew.
God's blessings for choosing trust.
Larry:
God will honor your decision. He is in control.
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