The Winning Combination
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not much of an athlete. I’m more of a musician than I am an athlete, but one thing even I know about sports is how important teamwork is in relation to a team’s success. The Kansas City Chiefs can’t attribute their Super Bowl victory to any one individual. They know their success is the result of an entire organization working together to accomplish their common mission. Everyone in the Chiefs organization, from the front office staff to the players to the equipment manager, can take credit for this season’s championship because they all contributed to the team’s success. Teams win together and they lose together. Their success and failure depend upon their ability to get everyone working together and contributing towards one goal. This isn’t just true in the sports world; it’s true in the church world as well.
God has designed His Church to function like a Super Bowl-winning team, a team where everyone knows what role they play and how that role contributes to the mission. This starts with the church staff team. This team sets the tone and direction for the organization. That’s why building a healthy staff team within a new church is critical for the health of the church.
If you’re a lead church planter, you’re the general manager of the team. It’s your job to find the right leaders to recruit to the team and empower them to use their gifts and passions to accomplish the church’s mission. This is a huge responsibility you shouldn’t take lightly. That’s why we’ve filled this month’s newsletter with resources to help you build the staff team needed to lead your church in the pursuit of your God-given vision. Enjoy!
-Patrick Bradley, Director of Operations
Feb 2024 – Content
- Church Staff Hiring Process
- Staffing Questionnaire
- Building a Winning Culture
- Assessment
Church Staff Hiring Process
Hiring staff members can be an intimidating and complicated process. Too many church planters make the mistake of hiring a friend without putting them through a formal interview process. This will often lead to conflict that could have been avoided if the candidate had been evaluated through a thorough interview process. What does that interview process look like? Here’s a Staff Hiring Process example we’d encourage you to learn from as you develop an interview process of your own.
If you’re hiring volunteer staff members, the hiring process may be a little bit simpler, but you should still have a consistent and repeatable hiring process for both paid and volunteer staff. Documenting this interviewing process will save you time and energy in the future as your team expands. Firing staff members is one of the toughest decisions church planters have to make. Save yourself from that burden by investing time and energy into the hiring process. You’ll thank yourself later.
Staffing Questionnaire
Do you wish there were a simple way to get to know a potential staff member before investing time and energy into a formal interview? Fortunately, there is! It comes in the form of a staff hiring questionnaire. The questionnaire asks candidates questions about their theology, their philosophy of ministry, personality, gifts, and values. It costs the church nothing to send the questionnaire to a potential staff member, and yet the insights gained from it are invaluable to the hiring process.
When it comes to staffing a new church, we want you to work smarter, not harder. Developing a staff questionnaire will help you do just that. Use this sample Staff Hiring Questionnaire to help you develop one that fits your church culture.
Building a Winning Culture
As a church leader, don’t overlook the value of developing a healthy staff culture. You may or may not have gotten into ministry to be a team builder, but that’s got to be a part of your job description now if you want to lead the church to reach its community for Christ.
The team at Vanderbloemen knows the importance of building a healthy staff culture. That’s why they wrote this insightful article for church leaders: 5 Steps to Building a Winning Culture. The article is a very quick read and will offer you ideas and practical steps to take in order to develop a thriving staff culture in your church.
Fostering a strong team culture will not only enhance teamwork and collaboration, but it will also help you attract and retain talented team members. Read Vanderbloemen’s article and start cultivating a culture that fosters personal growth, inspires creativity, and ultimately fuels your church’s efforts towards accomplishing your mission.
Assessment
If you’re a network leader, your next hire may be a church planter. How do you know if someone has the skills, wisdom, maturity, and calling to plant a church? One resource to help you answer those questions is the assessment process. This process helps leaders discern whether or not God’s called them to plant a church, discover how God’s gifted them to serve his church, and determine next steps for them to take in order to prepare themselves to answer their church planting call.
Perhaps as a network leader, you have a potential church planter who thinks they are ready to plant, but you aren’t confident they are quite ready yet. Invite the candidate through a formal assessment process like ours, and it’s likely the process will help the candidate see themselves and their readiness to plant through a healthier perspective.
Our assessment is not a pass or fail test. It helps leaders explore their gifts, passions, and experiences in order to help them clarify God’s calling on their lives. To learn how Passion for Planting’s Assessment Center can help you, reach out to us today.