Work Here? Attend Here.
I remember way back when I was first hired at Granger that Mark Beeson talked about the importance of attending the church where you work. At first I thought he was joking–I had never heard of anyone working at a church where they did not attend. He told me of several situations where that was unfortunately true.
I wrongly assumed it was a dying pattern. In fact, the number of churches I’m hearing about who hire staff members to do “jobs” rather than “ministry” is increasing. Recently I learned of a large church that had a senior-level staff member who attended a different church. He sat on the leadership team, making decisions about starting and stopping ministry programs at a church he did not even attend. I learned of another church where staff members in the accounting department were prohibited from attending the church. I know of another church with a preschool where the teachers do not attend the church–in fact, they even bad-mouth the church to the parents of the children.
I think I know where this comes from. I think pastors have been burned, and so they make policies to reduce potential conflict. Somewhere along the way they had to fire someone, and that person left the church in a huff with all their friends and family members. And so they said, “Never again.” They figure it will be easier to manage conflict if the individual doesn’t get rooted in the church.
What a miss! I would much rather deal with potential conflict than have staff members who are just doing a job. I want every person on staff to care about the people of the church as much as I do. I want to “do life” with those on staff, walking with them through the ups and downs of life, knowing there are people around them to love them, challenge them and encourage them. I want staff members who handle the money, take care of the facility, lead the kids, and make decisions to do so with high integrity because it’s not only their employer–it is also the place where they worship.
It would be easy to slip on this conviction. We are getting ready to open an Early Learning Center. It would be easy to let it run as a school (i.e. “business”) within our walls. With about 20 hires in the plan, the case could be made for hiring the best educators in town, regardless of their church affiliation or faith walk. But we have made the decision for this to be high-quality learning center that is faith-based and highly integrated with the ministries of our church. We want teachers who love the church.
But that’s just me. What are your thoughts?
Posted by Tim Stevens | 11 comments
Jed
Thanks for the timely reminder, Tim.
I was wondering what you would say, though, for a pastor in a small congregation (<100) where there is no one with the skill set needed. Do you hire someone with inferior skills (and/or attitude) and bear with it, or do you then turn outside and possibly work on bringing that person into the church? What if no one in the church applies for the job?
Tim Stevens
I would have no problem interviewing people outside my church–but they would need to know that one of the requirements of the job is that "this becomes your church." I would have them attend for a few weeks before hiring to make sure the church is a place where they could grow and thrive–I want them as excited about the church as they would be about a new job.
Jed
Thank you so much for your answer! I appreciate the encouragement and clarification.
Dennis
Absolutely agree.
Keith
Tim, great post. In my multi-site experience I think it is even hard to be a Campus Pastor at one campus and a Director of a ministry that covers the other campuses (for smaller multisite churches that may require this for budgetary reasons). There is so much that is lost when you are not worshiping side by side with people you are working with and leading. While vision and values are the same, often times culture becomes different. It isn't an immediate loss of connection, but it can certainly hinder effective ministry and leadership over time.
Robert
A friend of mine works at a large church in Florida. I remember when he told me he attended a different church, I thought he was joking. This led to a long conversation with me asking lots of questions. He talked alot about the church being "one body" and at some levels I agreed with him. But In the end, I couldn't help feeling like something wasn't quite right about it. At the point where my church becomes "insitutionalized" (to borrow a term from Shawshank Redemption) and doesn't care if the people they hire aren't sold out for the vision, I'm not sure I could stick around for the conclusion of the story! I want to be a part of a church where I can die fighting for the cause! I think i remember a particular New Testament writer saying something similar!
Kevin Stone
Tim,
I couldn't agree more! We've talked about this around here a few times, mostly as it relates to the person we hire to support Brian (our Senior Pastor and me). I know of more than a few that make it a "policy" not to hire someone from within when it comes to administrative staff. We've done this a few times, starting with someone from a temporary agency and hiring them later once they work out well.
But every time, they end up coming to our church anyway! Crazy I know!
Every single one of our ministry staff was an attendee before coming on staff. We're definitely doing life together!
Thanks for the great post!
adam mclane
To be fair, asking an audience of executive pastors this question is kind of rhetorical. And certainly, tradition plays a big part in this.
I do think it's an interesting discussion and I'd like to thank you for bringing it up.
That said, I think the most important thing for me is that the church is an exemplary employer. They should meet or exceed employment standards in their community. (Or they shouldn't hire a single person) Outsiders should look at the church as a great place to work.
For me, this is a question of employee classification. Certainly, those who you'd classify as "pastors or ministers" with "sacramental duties" as defined by the IRS must attend the church. Next, I think you could argue that those people who hold ministry positions in a non-leadership capacity should be a part of the church they help to facilitated. (Admins, department heads, etc.)
But, if you are the size where you have "regular employees." People whose skill are, say in support of the physical plant, or if you're running a school which is a separate entity of the church, than I think you'd be short-sighted to try to say all of those employees have to attend the host church.
If they are employees of a sister organization, say a school which is not under the umbrella of your 501c3, you'd be hard pressed to argue that your employment practices shouldn't reflect the requirements of being a regular employer.
Certainly, size actually matters in this equation. While there are ways to wink and nod at the laws because the courts have chosen to cast a blind eye on employment practices of religious organizations, in a plain reading of Title IX, the Civil Rights Act, and EOE law… you'd have a hard time arguing that a non-classified employee working for a non-profit with more than 50 employees can dictate where a person goes to church.
Just my thoughts. I know a bunch of people who work at Christians schools. Some require their teachers to be members of their church, but most don't.
Tim Stevens
To be fair, I would guess the readers of this blog are less than 1% executive pastors.
adam mclane
That's good to know.
adam mclane
Sorry, my comment got long. I did want to add…
It would make sense, from an employee perspective, to make your church a place they'd want to attend and be a member. Granger seems to be that kind of place. I'd rather a person be a part of a church because they want to than begrudgingly go because they know if they don't they'll lose their job.