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Hiring: Part 5
Some have asked why I prefer to hire people from within the church instead of from other churches. Here are some of my thoughts:
- Generally speaking, a person from the inside can better understand the unique DNA and culture of what God is doing at a church.
- People from other churches often have a dramatically different set of values, work ethic, and concept of ministry.
- It is often easier to train someone new than retrain someone from another church.
- The person from your church has a better chance of understanding the spiritual needs of your community than someone from out of town.
- You can watch your church member over time as a volunteer and determine their character.
Note: It may work better to bring people from other churches if you are in a more traditional setting. Some churches only recognize seminary trained/ordained pastors. Many disagree with me, but I think it is incredibly Biblical to raise up leaders instead of solely trusting an educational system to do it.
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I’m a little surprised by this entry, Craig. The internet makes everyone local, right? Someone applying at your church gets a strong sense of your spiritual DNA simply by visiting this blog and your church’s site. You can do the same for them. (I bet there are some guys on your blogroll you feel you know really well even though they don’t attend lifechurch.tv)
I do, however, strongly agree with your last point: “You can watch your church member over time as a volunteer and determine their character.”
Understanding the DNA and culture is important in any organization - as is “raising up leaders.” Great points.
In some cases (depending upon your church and the position), I think its good to bring in someone who is not stuck within the paradigms that existing staff and those within your church may have. Someone who will challenge the status quo.
Those things that you speak about that make an outsider different, could very well be the catalyst for dynamic change in your church.
Great topic this week - and relevant to anyone, anytime, anywhere.
As the HR Director for a church I agree with you 100% Craig. We were just talking on this topic yesterday as we look to add a new position. Our first choice is to bring someone in from our volunteer ranks. If you were to look at our team it is a mix, with half or our pastors being homegrown, two are former elders. We provide education assistance and some have added seminary education to their non-ministry education.
“but I think it is incredibly Biblical to raise up leaders instead of solely trusting an educational system to do it.”
Praise God for that! I’ve seen way too many cases of pastoral burnout where the larger church body insisted that the pastor needs to be the one who does everything and doesn’t teach a pastor how to equip the rest of the church. And then they wonder why so many pastors resign.
Scott,
You make a great point about brining someone in.
For the record, many of our most valuable staff members have come from other churches. There are many advantages to bringing someone in. Our track record (not everyone’s), shows more consistent results with raising up leaders.
Bryan, you said,
“I’m a little surprised by this entry, Craig. The internet makes everyone local, right?”
To some degree, but not exactly. Church isn’t just the weekend experience. So much of the DNA is discovered and lived Monday through Friday om the community.
“…but I think it is incredibly Biblical to raise up leaders instead of solely trusting an educational system to do it.”
Without a doubt, this is one of the main reasons why my wife and I fell in love with Lifechurch.tv. Folks, let’s face it. We are all ministers (Eph. 4:11-12) in training. Whether you volunteer at your church, are a full-time staff member, or even a senior pastor - we are all in training. Each and every day is an opportunity God gives us to continue to develop into the minister He has created us to be. As far as the future leaders of The Church are concerned, where’s the largest pool to draw from for developmental purposes - seminarians or congregants? From a strategic viewpoint, it makes sense to invest time and effort into raising up leaders from within your own membership. I’m appreciate of the efforts that have been put into developing my wife and I and we are the better for it.
Hiring from within is tremendous on every level with one major exception–what if a hire doesn’t work out? If a person is already a part of a church, joins the staff, and then it just doesn’t work out for whatever reason, that can be an incredibly painful situation. More painful than if someone has come in from the outside. (I’ve seen this probably half a dozen times at a church I used to attend, and it’s generally a cluster when it does.)
Any thoughts on how to handle that difficult situation? Or how to make sure it doesn’t happen very often?
Jay,
The pain of a mis-hire from within is great. From my perspective, it can be equally painful if the person came from the outside. Once they are a part of the church for any length of time, they develop close relationships.
We’ve made our share of firing mistakes. I carry the pain and regret of all of them to this day.
My goal is to be better at hiring and not to make as many mistakes on the front end.
The large church also has an advantage of often finding another seat on the bus for a struggling team member.
I respect your question and don’t have any clean answers.
On no clean answers: Unfortunately, that’s may be because there aren’t any! Thanks for your transparency! This hiring series is tremendous.
Craig,
Have you contemplated integrating all of these ideas and concepts into a book? I, personally, would love to have a complete collection of what has been discussed and put forth here on my library shelf and to recommend to others in the ministry to read and consider/give serious thought, especially the ideas and concepts that have resulted in earnest discussion and thought.
Though I have a slight bias towards books as a great medium for growth and encouragement/edification, I’m sure we’d all probably encourage you to develop one!
Is there some kind of “Encourage Craig” petition we could sign to help motivate you towards writing one?
Just a thought.
Thanks again for sharing your ideas and experiences.
J.G.
Thanks for the compliment. You are the one who needs to do more writing.
I’m finishing a book called “Going All the Way.” Then I will take a nice, long writing break!
I can speak to this question as a volunteer (over a period of about 3 years) who was hired for a staff position.
I had little or no “learning curve,” having been in the church at that time for nearly 20 years. I understood the culture better than most who were already on staff. And since I was hired into the same department I had served as a volunteer, I pretty much hit the ground running from day one with minimal training.
The job didn’t work out for me, schedule-wise, as I still had two teenagers with busy schedules at home at that time; but I enjoyed every minute of my work and left with no hard feelings. We left that church soon after for unrelated reasons, but I still do some freelance work with my former co-worker from time to time and the relationship is still warm and friendly.
All in all, it was a win-win for all involved; the church got a committed, dedicated, low-risk employee and I got my dream job.
“but I think it is incredibly Biblical to raise up leaders instead of solely trusting an educational system to do it.�
Not only that but you miss out on some really great people!!!!!
Craig, the post before you talked about ethical decisions on hiring. I have been hit with an ethical dilemma myself. There is a church in my town that is using your messages as part of the open network. They seem to be reaching many people but as a pastor in training, “still in school”, I was taught not to use other people’s illustrations as my own and to give credit where credit is due. I myself, have used your messages, and great teaching tools to reach others for Christ. But I always gave you credit, and when I did use an illustration, I let people know, that it was not my son but yours, that came into the bible study naked for example, as in the recent series SEXED. I just wondered what your thoughts were on ETHICS in ministry to reach people Does one wrong, justify a right? I am confused and value your answer. I truly believe that many other people would find this response helpful too. Thanks for your time.
Kyle,
Your question is worth a separate post for discussion. I’ll try to get to it soon.
Clearly this point can be argued each direction. There is great value in bringing in someone from outside the church if only for their fresh perspective. However, I speak from experience when I say… it can be difficult when you bring in too many from outside the church. The DNA of the church can begin to degrade. The core values begin to erode little by little.
Knowing where we’ve been explains what we stand for. You’re less likely to question what we stand for when you’ve experienced where we’ve been.