Best Practices Staff by Bradley Brisson

churchsafety.com

step-by-step

SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff

step-by-step

Practical strategies to protect your ministry

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff Church Staff: Handle with Care

OVERVIEW | Caring for your team may be more important than you think. By Jeff Hanna

HOW TO | Let this model show you how. By John Pearson

Why Caring for Your Staff Matters

Are You HR Ready?

ASSESSMENT | Use this policy checklist to find out. By Dick Baggett

HOW TO | Learn to handle these core issues with confidence. By Arthur DeKruyter

THE LEGAL SIDE | What the law has to say about your HR practices. By Gayla Postma

Resource Center 11

FOR LEADERS | Church members are watching; what are you teaching? By Bruce Larson

Employment Essentials

Hire and Fire at Church

Discover the Gift of Multiple Staff

Create an Employment Agreement

LEADER’S GUIDE | Quick tips and recommended resources.

HOW TO | Uncover your gifts and find your best team ever. By Kent R. Hunter

ChurchSafety.com is an online safety service for America’s churches and related ministries. It is co-sponsored by Christianity Today International and Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company. © 2008 Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company and/or Christianity Today International.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Handle with Care OVERVIEW

Church Staff: Handle with Care Caring for your team may be more important than you think. How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1) In the church, we might define human resources as, “Human labor, complete with spiritual, physical, and emotional abilities that produce effective ministries to serve God, our church, and our community.” And properly caring for these precious “resources” is of paramount concern to any church. When churches do not follow legal guidelines when dealing with church staff, they find themselves in destructive battles. On the other hand, churches that practice sound staffing guidelines safeguard their ministries and workers in a multitude of ways. Church leaders should also be aware of moral and ethical issues related to managing people. A church that recognizes the need for their employees to work in a safe, healthy environment—with adequate benefits and clear methods of addressing work-related concerns—can be confident that they are exhibiting qualities of love, care, and respect that is pleasing to God. The first step to creating such a work environment in the church is the formation of human resource guidelines. Staff committee can be assembled to facilitate the formation of these guidelines, though many churches handle these through the church business administrator. Next, becoming educated on state and federal laws regarding human resources will not only benefit staff members, but can go a long way toward protecting the ministries of the church. Why bring unwanted scrutiny by operating in ways that are outside legal parameters? Finally, ensure that you have the oversight you need to not only create guidelines on paper, but to make sure they are followed in practice. The last thing you want is an attorney pointing out that your policies were not followed. While the church should always strive to be much more than just an ordinary not-for-profit business, we must use the best practices and procedures available to us, weave them into our mission as servants, and offer the best ministry we possibly can in the name of Christ. May God bless you as you serve him,

Jeff Hanna

www.jeffhanna.org

Consulting Editor Christianity Today International

churchsafety.com

step-by-step

SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Are You HR Ready? ASSESSMENT

Are You HR Ready? Use this policy checklist to find out. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you (Proverbs 2:11). In order to accommodate the individuals serving your church as staff, various policies and procedures must be in place for everyone’s protection. The following areas should be considered as part of your human resources organization. Use this checklist to finetune existing policies or discover which need to be created. COMPLETED BY:

DATE:

HR POLICIES CHECKLIST Do We Have Policies That Address The Following Areas?

YES

NO N/A ACTION STEPS

Staff Safety Personnel Records New Hire Reporting Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) Fair Labor Standards Act Independent Contractors Employee Communications Employee Relations

churchsafety.com

step-by-step

SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Are You HR Ready? HR POLICIES CHECKLIST (continued) Do We Have Policies That Address The Following Areas?

YES

NO N/A ACTION STEPS

Sexual and Other Harassment Application Form & Hiring Process Hazardous Communications Substance Abuse Child Labor Laws Staff Training & Development Wage & Salary Administration Employee Discipline Drug Testing (including DOT – Department of Transportation) Affirmative Action Plan Labor Relations Performance Appraisals

By Dick Baggett, SPHR. Dick Baggett is a church consultant specializing in church human resource management, safety, and risk management.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Hire and Fire at Church HOW TO

Hire and Fire at Church Learn to handle these core issues with confidence. by Arthur DeKruyter And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (Colossians 3:14). A pastor manages people—some volunteers and some employees. Even the small church usually finds room in its budget to hire a part-time secretary or janitor. These are staff the pastor must oversee. And it doesn’t take long to learn that staff members—even part-time— if ineffectively managed, can undercut a church’s ministry. Effectively managed, they can strengthen a church’s ministry immeasurably. Effective management of staff begins with the hiring process. A church will not be tripped up as much if this first step is taken well. But even the wisest of churches ends up with ineffective employees who need supervision, redirection, and perhaps termination. Mastering church management means learning to hire and, yes, fire.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring Before we get to specifics, a few preliminary questions must be answered. When is it time to replace volunteers with employees? Some believe that the ideal church should manage itself with only volunteers. Ideal or not, most churches quickly see that lay leadership needs to be supplemented with hired staff. But how do you know when to supplement? We hire when I see one of three situations develop. First, we hire if the volunteer becomes overworked in his or her job. Early in one of my churches, I discovered that the treasurer of the church, a man at ease with numbers and spreadsheets, had to spend 20 hours a week doing the church’s books. That was unfair to him and unfair to his family. So we brought on a part-time bookkeeper. Second, we hire when we cannot find in our volunteer pool the skills we need for a job. When skills are inadequate, quality and excellence are sacrificed. That means that people will suffer in the long run. To be fair to our congregation we hire people with expertise if we cannot find an “expert” volunteer.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Hire and Fire at Church Third, we hire when our volunteer system breaks down. The church, like other volunteer organizations, constantly struggles with this one. We recently had three volunteers who had agreed to chaperone a young people’s trip call three days before the trip and say: “Sorry, we can’t go. Something’s come up.” You cannot run a church that way. When our church decides that we need consistent quality in a program, we hire. Because the hired staff person has covenanted with us to be productive, we can demand a greater level of accountability. We cannot do that with volunteers. Do we hire within or outside the membership? Our first general principle is this: You don’t pay members of your own family. We expect members of the church to offer themselves freely to serve. And when our board decides, for the reasons stated above, that it’s time to hire, we hire outside the membership. That principle cannot, of course, be applied across the board. Choir directors and associate ministers, for example, are paid and they are members of the church. But their jobs require them to be intensely involved in the life of the church. Jobs with limited congregational involvement (functional jobs: janitor, secretary) are jobs that should be given to people outside the congregation. If the talent were available, we would rightly expect members to contribute their time in those jobs. Of course, at times the line between these two categories gets fuzzy. Our second principle: we never hire someone we can’t fire. That’s a crude way of saying that we want to be able to exercise free judgment about an employee’s work and perform our administrative responsibility to the congregation. This rule encourages us to look first outside the church when we need to hire. Our third principle: Don’t hire within the congregation if it’s going to hamper effective ministry. This applies particularly to the position of church secretary. Church members, especially those coming to a pastor for counseling, are less inhibited about doing so if they don’t know the secretary socially. Naturally, this is a tension when you’re first starting a church and must use volunteers as secretaries. Who should do the hiring? In our church polity, the formal hiring is done by the board of trustees or delegated to a person or group. But as important as this structure is, it is vital to allow the staff member who will supervise the new position to define the position and do the initial screening. He reports, in turn, to his supervisor, usually me. But since he will have the primary relationship with the person hired, it’s important he have the first say about who gets hired.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Hire and Fire at Church Whom do you hire first? My guiding principle is that an organization ought to invest in that part of the organization that will immediately affect the community it seeks to reach. In our approach, we bring people together primarily through worship. Consequently, the first person we hired was a part-time organist and choir director. Worship is often the community’s introduction to our church. So as soon as we were able, we hired someone who could help us worship with excellence. What benefits should we offer full-time, non-ordained staff? Since most ministers are offered a variety of benefits, and since many denominations require them, I will focus my thoughts on the part of the staff that may get overlooked. We believe it is an absolute requisite these days to offer all full-time staff adequate health care. The church cannot expect devotion from its staff if it is not willing to care for them when they fall ill. The first benefit we offer, then, is health care for the staff members and their families. We consider it a moral obligation. Second, we insist that our heads of households participate in a retirement program. We don’t want our people to reach retirement age and suddenly realize they haven’t laid anything away. If they don’t know anything about it, we’ll offer them counseling and set up a program for them. If the staff person pleads, “I need my money this year; don’t put it in a pension fund,” we politely refuse. Those are the minimum benefits we think every full-time employee of the church should have. We will not support even missionaries unless the organization for which they work has that same commitment.

What to Look For When Hiring When hiring, whether for a ministry or support position, we look for three things: Christian commitment, compatibility, and a combination of competence, dedication, and vision. Christian commitment. Deep Christian commitment is a given, of course, with fulltime ministry staff. But how much Christian commitment should we expect of people in support positions—secretaries and janitors? I think it’s highly important, for theological but also practical reasons. Christian commitment makes people better workers. They’re more likely to see their job as a vocation, a calling. Skilled people who are looking for work in the church are likely to have a significant level of Christian commitment to begin with. After all, they are willing to sacrifice financially in order to work in a place that seeks to serve and glorify Christ.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Hire and Fire at Church Compatibility. Another characteristic I look for during the hiring process is compatibility, both doctrinal and personal. Of course, the more ministry oriented the position, the more compatibility we expect. Doctrinal compatibility is especially important with ministerial staff. But personal compatibility is just as important for us. We could not have, for example, an independent, strong-headed person working in the education department here who expressed publicly his disagreements with the music program. We’re looking for team players, people who can do their job with excellence, trust others to do theirs, and work with them cooperatively. Competence, dedication, and vision. After compatibility, we aim to hire people who combine these three qualities. You can’t hook up a team of horses and have one of them dragging behind. We want our ministerial staff to be leaders who develop a vision for their departments. Then we can turn them loose. I’ve noticed that compatibility and competence make an outstanding combination. Not only are staff members doing great things in their departments, but when we get together, that energy and creativity tends to sharpen each of us. In addition, that combination seems to encourage longevity on my staff. Nobody wants to leave a place where team play and individual excellence are encouraged.

How to Get an Honest Reference In looking for Christian commitment, compatibility, and competence, the church often has to rely on evaluations of those who have worked with the candidate. But evaluations can be notoriously deceptive. First, the candidate is going to list only references who will evaluate him positively. In addition, most who write evaluations hesitate to speak negatively about the person they evaluate. Yet, in spite of these handicaps, I think it’s possible to get an honest evaluation. It’s not only possible; it’s vital. To begin with, we don’t just read the references’ letters; we interview them. I can catch things on the telephone—hesitancy or enthusiasm. I also try to find a friend or acquaintance who knows somebody where this person has been. Often I find such people, especially if I dig a little. This person can give me insights the references won’t give. Trying to locate someone for whom the candidate worked two or three situations ago also helps. Their superiors tend to be far more honest with the passing of time. All this may seem like a lot of trouble. But it saves our church much grief down the road if I will take the time at the beginning.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Hire and Fire at Church When the Job Isn’t Getting Done From time to time I suspect a staff member may be malfunctioning. This hardly constitutes evidence for firing, although it may eventually lead to it. What are the steps to take before that drastic measure is called for? Quietly investigate. As soon as I suspect trouble, I begin keeping my ear to the ground. I ask questions of secretaries or other staff. But I do so quietly, subtly, in a casual manner: What’s going on with so-and-so? How are his groups doing? Anything new coming on line? What’s happening in the department? How many people were in his last class? Meet with staff. If two or three staff members suggest there are problems with the person in question, I call a meeting of the entire staff, not including the person in question. I’ll ask how serious the problem is. Is it worth looking into, or should I just forget about it? If something should come out, that’s when it does. Encourage staff to be honest with the person. Next I encourage the rest of the staff to tell the person, in a tactful way, the problems he’s causing them—when he didn’t come to a meeting, or when he stood somebody up, or when he avoided a job that they got stuck with. In the long run, it’s better to talk with the person. Probation. If that doesn’t work, I will have an interview with the person, and I will ask for his or her perspective regarding the problem. Unless something unexpected comes to light, I will explain to the person that without a change in the next six months, he will be dismissed. I list the specific things that trouble me and the ways those things can be cleared up. I explain that we will have regular meetings to evaluate his work along the way. Bring in the board. By this time, I have informed the trustee board of what I’m doing. If they have any questions, they talk to the person. And before I decide on a course of action, I will ask the board for advice. Those men, gifted in management and administration, often counsel me wisely on how to handle malfunctioning people. Naturally, they are pledged to confidentiality. Nothing of this sort gets out of the board, not even to their families. Get the person to tell you what you said. When I talk with someone about job performance or about an unpleasant decision, I ask the person to repeat what I said. Because they are caught emotionally off balance in this situation, people may hear things differently than I say them. Letting people summarize what I’ve said during the interview eliminates needless misunderstandings.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Hire and Fire at Church Dismissing a Staff Member What happens at the end of six months when things have not improved? What are the next steps? Give time to find new work. First, we tell the person he will no longer work here after a certain date, but we let him stay on staff three to nine months at full salary and with freedom to interview. During that time, he maintains his responsibilities in the church. Give a gracious farewell. When the person finds another position, we announce to the congregation that he has received a call to another place. We publicly wish him well, although we won’t necessarily praise him for all he did here. Give fair references. As this staff person interviews elsewhere, his potential employers may phone me for a reference. What am I supposed to say? I put the ball in their court. I ask, “What exactly do you want to know about this person?” I make them ask specific questions. I do not volunteer any information. And then I answer honestly. Sometimes other organizations aren’t looking for the same things we are, and a person who failed here can succeed elsewhere.

Even Good Administrators Sometimes Lose In spite of thoughtful procedure and compassionate management, things sometimes go wrong. Even if I do everything right, I sometimes lose, or the church may suffer a setback. I may wind up with an angry member who leaves the church over a personnel decision I’ve made. We may end up hiring a staff member who turns out to be incompetent. Sometimes the problem is the hardheadedness of a board member or my inability to predict the future, not a lack of administrative competence. So in the midst of these tough personnel decisions, I try to do what is best for all concerned, not simply what will make me look successful. My job is not to guarantee success or boast a flawlessly run organization. My job is to make the best decisions I can, and trust that God, in the long run, will use them to build his kingdom. Adapted from “Hiring and Firing,” by Arthur DeKruyter; LEADERSHIPBOOKS

Thought Provokers t Do a volunteer audit. Which positions in your church may require a paid employee to fill? What are your church’s requirements for creating staff positions? t What are your thoughts on hiring from within your membership versus looking outside your church for paid employees? t What are the steps you currently go through during the screening and selection process?

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Discover the Gift of Multiple Staff IT’S TRUE

Discover the Gift of Multiple Staff Uncover your gifts and find your best team ever. by Kent R. Hunter There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord (1 Corinthians 12:4-5). When I arrived at my first church fresh out of graduate school, I was oblivious to the fact that I had walked out of the warm, protected womb of seminary academia into a virtual battlefield of unrest and power plays. Multiple staff problems are so widespread that most pastors are leery about adding staff. The end result is that, as their congregations grow, they continue to try covering all the bases themselves. The effect, of course, is twofold: the quality of ministry deteriorates, and the pastor becomes increasingly frustrated. This frustration leads to anxiety, and when coupled with an overworked schedule, the whole thing becomes a mess. The more one hears about multiple staff situations, the more hesitant one gets about working closely with anybody. You begin to recognize the real meaning behind the humorous takeoff of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he didn’t send a committee.” Yet, on a more serious note, perhaps it is precisely in the beautiful reality of the incarnation that multiple staffs can be built on real hope. That hope is not pious theory, but a sound strategy that works. The strategy is grounded in the incarnate reality of Christ. God loved the world so much that he sent his only Son. His Son loves the world so much that he established his body of believers to be his presence in the world. Jesus Christ loves the body so much that he gives the body his Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit comes God’s strategy for people to work together. It can work, and a growing number of multiple staffs are seeing that it does work. In three years, the staff of my church grew from one young, naive, overworked graduate to 14 professional church workers. Of this large staff, five of us had to work together closely and efficiently, in a way that edified the body and brought glory and honor to the Lord of the church. We differed in age, race, and gender. We differed in educational levels and family sizes. The challenge was clear: As different as we were, we shared one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and we were called to serve one church. The question that faced us faces every multiple staff: What are the criteria that can work for managing a multiple staff?

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Discover the Gift of Multiple Staff Discover Your Spiritual Gifts My introduction to spiritual gifts came by way of the “church growth movement.” Our church is located in a transitional neighborhood. For 30 years, it had been a plateaued or declining congregation. Something had to be done, and the church growth movement spoke to the needs of the church. As a vital part of church growth principles, I learned about spiritual gifts discovery. I soon realized that biblical evidence shows that the use of spiritual gifts is God’s design for the church. The big challenge was how to implement spiritual gifts discovery into the church. Since we were in the middle of developing a staff, it seemed a logical place to begin. We started by discovering which gifts each of the staff members had been given. First, we looked at the biblical passages on gifts; then we answered a questionnaire that helped us discover some of our gifts; and we listed the gifts of each staff member. For many of us, that was one of the most liberating days of our lives. How relieved I was to discover that I did not have gifts that would make me a good counselor. I knew I was adequate, but I knew I wasn’t strong in that area. The staff laughed with me, because they knew it, too! Yet, the staff rejoiced with me when I discovered I had strong gifts in teaching and administration. It was no ego trip; there was no boasting. God gave me those gifts—they were his graces, his gifts to me. We were pleased to see that Neil, my assistant pastor, had some gifts that helped in counseling, and our minister of education, Tony, also was strongly gifted in that area. We knew the counseling load was heavy in our church, and we were grateful that the Lord had given us people to meet those needs. Dave was one of our teachers at the time. He was in his late thirties and had never been married. Although he was a likable person and we enjoyed his company, he often would feel uncomfortable, sometimes almost apologizing that he had never been married. He’d say, “I guess I’ve just never met the right person.” When Dave discovered his spiritual gifts, he found he had the gift of celibacy—a gift that allows certain members of the body of Christ more independence to serve the Lord with their other gifts. For Dave, his discovery helped him to see that what some people considered a liability, God considered an asset, and he had gifted Dave for a special ministry. We also discovered why Joann, our deaconess, was so much better at hospital and shutin calls than were either of us pastors. She had strong gifts of mercy and help. Neil and I would not stop making calls on our people, but we had no hesitancy in allowing Joann to take the lead.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Discover the Gift of Multiple Staff Frank discovered he had the gift of an evangelist. He didn’t feel he had the gift of administration. That was really helpful to know. Since I was his supervisor on the staff, and since I had the gift of administration, I just couldn’t see why he didn’t administrate with the finesse that came so natural to me. That’s where I was wrong: it didn’t come natural to me—it was supernatural. God’s gift of administration was given to me, not to Frank. Immediately, I realized I could no longer expect him to be an administrator. In evangelism, however, he shined. His best place was not in an office or attending meetings—it was in the streets, visiting unchurched people, presenting the gospel to people who had never heard it. As our staff began to see the beauty in God’s design, we recognized that the differences in gifts were our real strength. Soon we memorized each other’s gifts, and it wasn’t long before we began to delegate and transfer functions to one another on the staff on the basis of God’s design: spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts became the modus operandi in our executive staff. Gifts took precedence over any kind of superficial rank: age, sex, race, and even educational background. As head pastor, I sat in the head office. I had enough educational degrees to paper the walls. Yet, every time it was necessary to make an important decision about the future direction of the church, I called upon Frank, the person with the least formal education on the professional staff. Why? Because we’d discovered that besides the gift of evangelist, Frank had the gift of discernment. He would listen, and then ask a couple of questions for clarification of the issue. Then he’d read some Scripture and we’d pray. We saw many times how God could use my education and Frank’s discernment in a positive way for the good of the kingdom. Our staff experienced a beautiful, multiple ministry together. We saw how God can use various gifts. We also noted in Scripture that Paul was absolutely right: when the gifts are used, there is no jealousy. Who can be jealous about someone’s gift, especially when you have your own? We also recognized God’s presence in our daily ministry. We had a mood of cooperation, a spirit of health, and an awareness of God’s power. The spiritual gifts discovery promoted a sense of humility among our staff. We began to experience what it meant to be great in God’s kingdom by being a servant: to one another, to God, to his people. Furthermore, our ministry resulted in church growth. We began to see the results of both internal and external growth. Even in our difficult situation of community change, we saw the body of Christ being edified. We experienced people being reached with the saving gospel. Our professional church workers, functioning on a traditional battleground, had experienced the joy of seeing multiple staff swords being beaten into plowshares.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Discover the Gift of Multiple Staff Were all our problems solved? No way! The reality of sin and human error still existed. We still had disagreements. But we rejoiced in the discovery that one can disagree without being disagreeable. Was the church suddenly without problems? I wish! Yet we had discovered God’s strategy by which we could work on those problems together as a team.

Develop Your Staff through Gifts The staff that ministered together there is now in various parts of the country. God has called us to serve him in ministries at other congregations, colleges, and seminaries. However, we didn’t leave because of staff tensions. In fact, if there is one thing we all miss the most, it’s probably working with a staff on the basis of spiritual gifts. Each of us in our new location is ministering according to spiritual gifts. We’re discovering this can work elsewhere with different people and in different places. Here are some practical steps we used for managing multiple staff on the basis of spiritual gifts: 1. As a staff project, study the biblical material that deals with spiritual gifts: Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4; and 1 Peter 4:l0. List the gifts that Scripture contains. Study the use of these gifts in the New Testament and develop a definition for each of them. As supplementary reading, study one of the many books on spiritual gifts available through Christian publishers. 2. Study the dynamics of spiritual gifts. Concentrate not so much on the specific gifts as on the process that God has designed for a healthy church and staff. Notice the value of the diversity of gifts. Study the complementary nature of gifts working together in the body. 3. Have a series of staff Bible studies on the nature of the church as a living organism. Zero in on the various images of the New Testament, especially the bride/bridegroom, the Shepherd/ sheep, the building of living stones with Christ at the corner, the royal priesthood, and the body of Christ. 4. Study spiritual gifts again, this time helping one another discover his or her gifts. Begin to associate people on the staff not only in terms of personality, academics, age, gender, and race, but also by their specific gifts 5. Make “gifts” a part of everyone’s resume. 6. List the greatest areas of need in the congregation. Make a list of gifts for every need, and every ministry to meet that need. Does the staff have the gifts needed? Is there

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Discover the Gift of Multiple Staff overlapping in one area and absence of gifts in another area? Should staff be added to fill some gaps? Should lay persons who have complementary gifts be trained for more active ministries? 7. Regularly evaluate the ministry of the previous week. Did your staff function most effectively, according to gifts? Ask each staff member to write an evaluation listing those ministries they performed during the week. Which tasks utilized their gifts well? Which tasks should have been delegated to those with other gifts? 8. Rate the gift consciousness of the staff week by week. Ask staff members to rate themselves on a scale from one to ten. See if a consensus can be discovered. Note from week to week if there is significant improvement. Is your staff managing ministry by emphasizing strengths (gifts), or is it still getting mired in the muck of ineffectiveness contrary to God’s spiritual gift design? 9. After two or three months, take a general inventory on the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5). Is there an improvement in the tone of the staff in terms of love, joy, peace, patience? Is there a mutual edifying process in which the staff members see themselves as growing “. . . in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16)? Is there an expression of teamwork characterized by Paul in Romans 12:3-4 when he says, “. . . I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, . . . For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, . . . “? 10. Begin to use the same process with the lay leadership of the congregation; then use the process again with the general membership. The end result of these steps can be a healthy, functioning, effective ministry that, under the blessing of God, leads to qualitative and quantitative growth of the body of Christ. As a congregation begins to develop God’s design for management, staff positions can be filled according to God’s criteria: spiritual gifts. Multiple staffs will never be completely free of problems as long as the reality of sin exists. Yet battles don’t have to be part of the scene when people discover their gifts and use them for one another, as good managers of God’s varied grace. Adapted from, “A Model for Multiple Staff Management,” by Kent R. Hunter; LEADERSHIPBOOKS.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Discover the Gift of Multiple Staff Thought Provokers t Has your staff ever done an assessment of spiritual gifts? If not, what steps will you take to include this in your staff development plans? If so, do the positions your staff serve in fit with their spiritual gifts? t The author recommends making a list of your congregation’s areas of greatest need. When you match the needs with the spiritual gifts required to meet them, do your staff’s gifts match what’s needed?

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Create an Employment Agreement IT’S TRUE

Create an Employment Agreement Let this model show you how. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (John 17:23). The local church, in seeking to fill a staff position, has a myriad of details and decisions to ponder before the calling of the right candidate is concluded. Once the selection has been made, however, the specific details of the “call” or the employment agreement are often hurried over and mishandled. To help you avoid this, we’ll use an employment agreement between a church and a youth pastor. An employment agreement can communicate to both the church and the youth pastor a framework of understanding. Hopefully, this will help extend the youth pastor’s ministry past the 18-month average stint (or is it shorter now?). The agreement has two categories: Basic Benefits and Optional Benefits. Some churches will want to expand the list while others might delete some options. Additional benefits can always be added in future years as the youth pastor gains experience and then experiences ministry growth. The Basic Benefits should be viewed as the “bare essentials” for the youth pastor. Obviously, the numbers will change depending on many factors such as church size and budget, inflation, experience, and other pastoral staff benefits. The list of Optional Benefits shows church committees the wide range of special compensation items. This benefits package may be too generous for many churches, yet it allows a committee to consider many creative ways to care for their staff members. (Some senior pastors will probably ask where they can apply for this job!) Please note that the use of a written employment agreement has two main values. First, it shows what benefits are included. Second, it shows what benefits are not included. This latter feature helps minimize the all-too-frequent misunderstandings between boards and pastoral staff members about assumed benefits and privileges. Churches and candidates that agree in writing and in advance on the compensation package will have a happier and longer life together. The following employment agreement format is designed so that a church committee may adapt portions of it for their own use.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Create an Employment Agreement SAMPLE Employment Agreement Between John Doe and First Community Church [Details: “First Community Church” is a congregation of about 3,000 active members, a $1 million budget, and a large staff. John Doe, the youth pastor candidate, is 30 years old, an ordained college and seminary graduate, married, and has two children. He has 6 years experience as a youth pastor in two other churches.] Dear John: At our church’s annual meeting last week, the congregation voted to extend to you the call of youth pastor of First Community Church. As we discussed with you and your wife when you interviewed here, the following statements detail our salary and benefits package for your first 12 months of ministry here. Believing that a servant is worthy of his hire, the church wants to help in thoroughly equipping you to minister most effectively to our youth, their parents, the church body, and the community. We would like to think that your salary and benefits resemble the average salary of members in our church of like age, education, position, and responsibility. It is not our desire to let you get by on a meager salary because “you’re in the Lord’s work.” We trust the Lord will lead you to accept this call and come to our church family with positive expectations. Although you’ll be ministering to us, we would also want to safeguard for you a stable family life. We want you to have financial stability and be secure enough here so this will not be a short-term ministry. We’d also like you to be a respected member of our community. You should plan on training and delegating much of the work to our lay leadership—our church doesn’t want a “workaholic.” The following items are presented for your careful consideration. Please note that any dollar amounts used are for example only, and may not represent adequate compensation or benefits for an employee.

Basic Benefits A. Salary and Benefits 1. Salary will be $25,000 per year. This may be divided between salary and housing allowance for tax purposes since you qualify as a minister with the Internal Revenue Service.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Create an Employment Agreement 2. A health and disability insurance plan is provided for you and your family. There is a deductible of $300 per person on the health insurance. Included in this policy is $5,000 of life insurance on you. Specific details are available. 3. The church pays the employer’s portion of social security taxes and the state workman’s compensation premiums, as required by law. However, you may qualify to be exempt from social security, or you may prefer to pay it yourself as a self-employed person/ minister.

B. Relocation and First Month 1. All moving expenses here will be paid by the church, including commercial moving and packing costs, gas, meals, and lodging for your family en route, and any telephone costs related to your move. 2. Travel expenses prior to your move for you and your wife to locate a home here will also be paid. 3. During your first month here, you will not be responsible for any programs or ministries. That time is to be used to get acquainted, set up your office, and research the previous youth ministry.

C. Professional Expenses 1. Church-related use of your car will be reimbursed at a per-mile rate (currently at 15¢). 2. Out-of-pocket expenses will be reimbursed if they are within your approved youth budget.

D. Vacation and Time Off 1. Vacation will be whatever you had last year, or two weeks—whichever is greater. 2. One day of vacation will be added each year up to a maximum of three weeks. 3. Vacation time may not be saved for more than one year. 4. Nine holidays are given this year as listed in the staff policy manual. 5. You must take one day off each week during the week, and you are encouraged to take a second day off each week whenever possible.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Create an Employment Agreement E. Working Relationships 1. You will be directly responsible to the Director of Christian Education. 2. A private office will be provided with necessary supplies, equipment, and phone. 3. The written job description you were given will form the basis for your work this first year. 4. There will be weekly meetings with the DCE for purposes of review and evaluation, goal setting, and sharing. 5. Your work will be evaluated by the DCE on a semi-annual basis, with both a written and verbal review. 6. Any serious conflicts that may develop between you and your superiors that are not easily resolved may be taken to the personnel committee of the church board. 7. An annual written report and evaluation of your ministry, along with your goals and objectives for the next year, must be submitted to the church board each December.

F. Community and Family Responsibility 1. Take time to be with your wife and family. 2. Be an active participant in the local ministerium or youth pastors fellowship. 3. While we encourage your wife and family to be active in the life of the church, we don’t expect you to drag them along to every meeting or event “because the church members expect you to be there.”

G. Continuing Your Ministry with Us 1. Increases in salary, or special bonuses, shall be considered annually by the personnel committee in consultation with the DCE and pastor. 2. This agreement shall be updated and signed by you, the DCE, the pastor, and the church board chairman each year. 3. It is understood that either you or the church may terminate your ministry here by giving 30 days written notice. We look forward to a positive response from you and your family, and request that you give us written notice of your answer within 15 days of today’s date. If you have additional questions, please call me or the DCE. Cordially yours, Personnel Committee Chairman

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Create an Employment Agreement Optional Benefits (The following Optional Benefits could be adopted for various church situations). A. Salary and Benefits 1. The church is willing to loan you up to $5,000 at 11 percent annual interest for a down payment on a home. This would be paid back in monthly installments, or the entire amount would be due when you leave the ministry of this church. 2. Beginning with your 25th month of employment (and continuing thereafter), the church will contribute an additional 10 percent of your base salary to a retirement plan of your choice.

B. Relocation and First Month Upon arrival, you will receive a cash allowance of $200 for “resettlement costs,” such as phone installation, drivers’ licenses and license plates, utility company deposits, and miscellaneous home items and adjustments.

C. Professional Expenses 1. An annual expense account of $500 will be provided for: a) Food costs of entertaining and hosting youth meetings in your home b) Meals in restaurants on church business c) Activity, social, and retreat fees for you and your wife when you are required to attend d) Babysitting costs for your children when both you and your wife are encouraged or expected to attend activities, meetings, retreats, and conferences 2. An education and enrichment budget of $500 may be used for: a) Books, magazines, and professional journals b) Travel, fees, and expenses for at least one professional seminar or conference a year c) Tuition for an approved program of continuing education or work on an advanced degree (not to exceed 15 credit hours or $300 per year) All professional expenses are subject to written guidelines of the church board. Major expenses such as tuition and conferences should be planned in advance with the DCE. All requests for reimbursement of expenses must be submitted on the appropriate form and approved by the pastor and treasurer.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Create an Employment Agreement D. Vacation and Time Off 1. Seven days each year are provided for your ministry to other groups, such as camps, speaking engagements, and consulting. This time may not carry over from one year to the next. 2. Beginning with your third year, a week of sabbatical shall be given each year. These weeks may be saved up. The use of a sabbatical shall be for study and research, and must be approved by the pastor.

E. Working Relationships 1. The church will provide you with a secretary for 20 hours per week for the first year.

F. Community and Family Responsibilities 1. The church provides a membership for all staff members at the YMCA. 2. We encourage you to join a community service organization at our expense. 3. We encourage you to participate on denominational boards and committees, or to volunteer your leadership for a local Christian organization. 4. Expenses incurred by your activity in community or other Christian organizations shall be covered by the church as planned from year to year.

G. Continuing Your Ministry with Us 1. To provide you with the necessary resources to continue your ministry at the church, an automatic cost-of-living increase in salary will be given each year, based on the statistics for our city as provided by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Cost of Living Council.

Benefits Not Included at this Time The following benefits are listed below to be sure you understand that they are not included in your benefits package: 1. Dental insurance for you or your family 2. Financial help if you experience difficulties in selling your present home 3. Expenses for your wife at conferences or seminars she is not required to attend 4. The church van is not available for personal use.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Create an Employment Agreement This sample employment agreement can pave the way to an effective ministry for any church position. If the church and the candidate will discuss these suggestions carefully, the work of the ministry will not be sidelined because of inadequate personal finances, irregular time off, or lack of long range family security. In some instances, a candidate may determine that the church is offering as much as is possible, but the compensation is still inadequate to care properly for his family. The candidate must communicate this to the church in a frank and loving way. The bottom line in a staff member’s compensation package is “you get what you pay for.” If the church’s programs are to be dynamic and forceful ministries to tomorrow’s church leaders, competent staff must be adequately paid and appreciated. Adapted from, “How to Create an Employment Agreement” by John Pearson; Leadership journal.

Thought Provokers t What basic benefits do you include on your employment agreements? What benefits do you hope to add? t How does a good benefits package affect the quality of staff you hire and the turnover rate on your church staff?

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Why Caring for Your Staff Matters FOR LEADERS

Why Caring for Your Staff Matters Church members are watching. What are you teaching? Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood (Acts 20:28). For several years in Seattle, I owned a sailboat that I loved to take out on Puget Sound to get away from it all. I kept a picture of it on my desk, and it provided a fantasy outlet for me. If things get really bad, I thought, I can get on that boat and sail right out of here! Well, things never got that bad, thanks to the fact that so many people were caring for me, not the least of those being my wife, Hazel (in spite of the fact that last year she talked me into selling the boat!). Through my years in ministry, though, I’ve recognized my need for continuing care as a pastor. And if I need it, so do the other leaders—the staff and elders. Ministry is too tough to go it alone. Lay leaders and staff need pastoral care as much, if not more, than the men and women in pews.

A Model for Models In churches as large as University Presbyterian or the Crystal Cathedral, obviously I cannot be available to every person who walks in off the street. But I’ve had a policy that members can always see me. If it’s not urgent, it may take a couple of weeks to get an appointment, but I am available. I need to be, if, for nothing else, to be a relevant preacher, one who is aware of the hurts and needs of the congregation. But for me, pastoral care centers on the staff and elders, or church officers. They’re the ones I pastor first; they get the major part of my time and attention. For example, at UPC, we had 36 elders on Session and 12 program staff members. Those 48 people were my primary responsibility. Modeling, we’re told, is the most effective teaching method. Early on, I learned that if I want a tithing church, I have to tithe. If I want a praying church, I must pray. And if I want a small group church, I need to be in a small group. So in my ministry, I strive to model how an authentic leader relates to other people. As the elders and staff observe my ministry style, my priorities, my way of approaching life, I hope they will see certain qualities: openness, vulnerability, the ability to put people ahead of assignments, a steadfast commitment to the Lord, and a genuine relationship with him.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Why Caring for Your Staff Matters If the staff and elders take up this style of ministry, then they, in turn, become models for the church. People are watching them and observing their lifestyle to discern what this Christian life is all about. That’s why I tell our elders: “Your primary job is not to draw up budgets, spend the money, and run committees. Rather, it is to demonstrate how the family of God behaves. We need to be upfront if we’re angry (instead of carrying resentment), preferring one another in love, quick to support and help one another. The people of the church are watching us closely. They see the quality of our relationships with the Lord and with one another.” One phrase seems to sum up that philosophy for our Session: Elders are not simply big-E elders who serve Communion, spend money, and decide programs; we are also small-e elders who are ministers that care for people, beginning with the other elders. This kind of mutual caregiving between the church staff and elders is bound to permeate the entire congregation.

Caring for Staff What are my pastoral-care concerns for staff members? I want to encourage them to be real people, not super saints. My first concern isn’t that they produce tremendous amounts of work (which, of course, I wouldn’t discourage), but that I help leaders realize they can cry, they can say no when there is too much on their plate, they can take a day off without guilt. Mainly I want them to remain genuine and spiritually healthy. For instance, one pastor leading worship began the prayer of confession: “Lord, I’m sorry I put my fist through the wall this week.” We could all picture that much better than vague generalities about falling short of God’s best and not doing some things we ought to have done. There is no power in confessing we are generic sinners. But when we say something like, “Lord, I was preoccupied with selling my house this week and neglected you,” that’s specific confession. That helps people grow in their understanding of godliness. And that’s the kind of staff member I want my pastoral care to enable and encourage. Staff members have a great deal of responsibility in any congregation, so the weekly staff meeting is an important time that ought to include more than job-related problems. Staff members need personal support as well. One former associate just came through a divorce. His wife left him and their four children after 20 years of marriage. He continued on staff through this trauma, and the church wept with him and grew with him. It was tough for him to be a homemaker and father and pastor. But at his time of heartbreak, he had a pastor and a church to share his hurt and share his ministry. This kind of pastoral relationship within a staff doesn’t come automatically just because

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Why Caring for Your Staff Matters offices line the same hall; it has to be developed—usually by the head of staff. When Hazel and I arrived at the church, we invited the four other pastors and their wives to our home for dinner. I made my two-alarm chili, and we talked and dreamed the evening away. When they left, Hazel said, “Didn’t that feel good? Let’s do it again.” “We can’t make a practice of this,” I protested. “I may have to fire someone, and I can’t do it if we’re the best of friends.” “Oh, let’s just try it,” Hazel urged, not willing to let me off the hook. So twice a month we met at our home for dessert and sometimes dinner. We met as a family. We laughed and cried and weathered tough times in some of our lives. What we did was blur the image between the professional and the personal. I know that may fly in the face of some management advice, but it worked for us. I sometimes had to lay down the law as head of staff, but when I did, I had the advantage of knowing the staff members, and they, in turn, knew and understood me. We became intimate friends, family even. Sure, we were competitive and insecure sometimes, but we were family, so when one scored a goal, everyone cheered. I sometimes consider how different this is from a lot of church staffs. One senior pastor I know hasn’t spoken to one of his staff members for five years. I can’t believe this kind of strain doesn’t show up on Sunday mornings when both stand before the congregation to lead worship. A church is not a clinic in which a faceless and interchangeable staff services the clientele by showing up and handing out pills. I believe the staff of a church is a living, breathing family. We may wrestle at times. We may injure one another sometimes and rescue each other at others. But we’re in it together and need one another. Ministry is not my profession; it’s my life. My colleagues are not mere coworkers; they’re my brothers and sisters. Adapted from “Caring for Key Leaders,” by Bruce Larson; LEADERSHIPBOOKS.

Thought Provokers t What kind of practices do you have in place to care for your ministers, staff, and volunteers? Who is protecting them from burnout? t Do you blur the lines between the professional and personal? What are some ways you do this and still maintain authority over your staff?

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Employment Essentials THE LEGAL SIDE

Employment Essentials What the law has to say about your HR practices. by Gayle Postma And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (Colossians 3:14). A generation ago, most churches employed one pastor and possibly part-time help for custodial or clerical work. But times have changed. Now churches have several ministers on staff, paid custodians, facility engineers, sound and lighting engineers, day care staff, kitchen staff, music staff, and more. As the size of a church’s staff grows, so does its responsibility as an employer. Church leaders must be aware of the laws that govern hiring and firing in order to avoid litigation. A good dose of planning and common sense remains the best protection. Rex Frieze, a church consultant and certified public accountant in Orlando, Florida, says that employment litigation involving churches is on the rise, both because churches are hiring more people and because churches are not immune to society’s litigation craze. “If people aren’t treated fairly, they know they can turn to the courts,” Frieze says.

Under the Law What laws apply to churches as employers? In most cases, the same ones that apply to any business. And Stephen Chawaga, an attorney at Monteverde, McAlee, & Hurd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, points out that, as churches employ more people, their responsibilities change. “Churches may find themselves subject to different laws as they grow in size,” he says. “For example, some occupational health and safety statutes generally apply to businesses with more than 15 or 20 employees, and that will include churches, even if they haven’t noticed that they have slipped over that line.” Nonetheless, there are a couple of major exemptions for churches when it comes to hiring and firing. Churches, unlike businesses, are allowed to hire and fire based on religious matters. For example, a church in Michigan fired an employee of its day care because her supervisors discovered she was living with her fiancé. The Michigan attorney general’s office filed suit against the church, claiming that the worker had been unlawfully discriminated against based on marital status. However, the church’s attorney said that the day care center was a ministry of the church, and, as such, the church’s prohibition of unmarried cohabitation by employees was an enforceable rule.

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Employment Essentials The state eventually dropped the suit. The other major exception granted to churches in employment matters involves ordained personnel. Laws about the separation of church and state prohibit the state from getting entangled in matters of religion. Michael Snapper, an attorney with Miller, Johnson, Snell & Commiskey in Grand Rapids, Michigan, says that the courts often have declined to get involved in the relationship between a church and its minister because that relationship is wrapped up in matters of theology and religion.

Common Sense Guidelines In many cases, legal problems can be prevented by simply planning ahead and using common sense. Provide written job descriptions for every position to prevent confusion down the road. Without a job description, employees and managers have nowhere to turn for objective guidelines on what type of performance is expected. Have more than one person involved in hiring decisions. Some churches have a personnel committee to deal with hiring issues, while other churches leave it up to the minister. Chawaga suggests having at least a couple of people involved in the hiring process. Don’t discriminate. When interviewing prospective employees, churches may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, marital status, disabilities, or age. The only exception to these general standards, as mentioned above, is religion. Despite this exemption, some churches don’t like to hire employees from within their congregation. Jay Sage, church administrator for the past five years at Community Church of Vero Beach, Florida, explains why his church doesn’t hire from within. “One of the reasons is that if an employee doesn’t perform adequately, it creates an unpleasant situation and families may become involved,” he says. “I myself am not a member at this church. If people see me at a church function, it’s human nature to pull me aside to ask about this or that. So by worshiping elsewhere, my worship time is free and apart from my work.” Check references. While it may seem obvious, Frieze says churches still need to be reminded to contact prior employers and references before hiring someone. “Someone will come in based on an ad in the paper,” he says, “and because the pastor is too busy, he or she will hire that person on the spot.” Frieze points out that church members must be screened, especially if children are cared for on the church premises. Chawaga agrees. It isn’t that a church is responsible every time an employee does something wrong, he says, but the church can be held liable if someone should have foreseen the problem. Two cases show the distinction. The Second New St. Paul Baptist Church in the District of Columbia was sued because some children were sexually assaulted by the church janitor. The Court of Appeals said that the janitor was not acting

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Employment Essentials within the scope of his employment, and there was no proof of negligent hiring. So the church was not held responsible. However, in Virginia, the Victory Tabernacle Baptist Church was found in part to be negligent after a church employee sexually assaulted a child. The mother of the child alleged that the church should have foreseen the problem when it hired the employee because he had recently been convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a young girl.

Orientation and Reviews Once an employee is screened and hired, proper orientation to the job is essential. “I’ve found that some people have the misconception that working in the church is going to be a breeze,” church administrator Sage says. “A proper orientation will relieve them of that notion. We have 2,000 members, deadlines, lots of programs. It gets hectic, and we have pressures just like in any business.” Both Sage and Frieze recommend a 90-day period of probation. “After 90 days, there has to be a meeting of mutual sharing to see how all the parties feel it’s going,” Frieze says. “That way, everyone is forced to be on the same page.” Frieze recommends an additional meeting six months later. And every employee should be evaluated once a year, from the senior pastor right on down. Sage adds that there should be a written record of all evaluations.

A Civil Termination When termination is necessary, a church should handle the employee with care. “You’d think a church would be sensitive to this,” says Chawaga. “Civility and consideration at the time of termination can go a long way in preventing lawsuits. Avoid giving an employee who is already embarrassed something to seize on and commence litigation.” Chawaga says that, as when hiring and reviewing, more than one person should be involved in a termination situation. “That provides witnesses and a second voice,” he says.

Outside Help Sage says that one of the best things his church has done is make use of employment agencies. The staff has grown to 60 at Community Church, including preschool staff, teaching staff at the academy of performing arts, clerical and custodial staff, and ministry staff. “An agency prescreens the applicants and the employee is on the agency payroll for 90 days before they go on our payroll. It gives us time to see how someone works out,” he says. For ministry and supervisory staff, Sage says they use the services of the Omnia Group in Tampa, Florida www.omniagroup.com). “[Omnia] provides a personality type evaluation

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Employment Essentials that we ask people to take before we hire them. We give [Omnia] a job description and a profile of the supervisor so we can see how the [prospective employee’s] profile matches up to the needs of the job and the supervisor. Applicants fill in the form, we send it to Omnia, and within 24 hours they fax back to us.”

Thought Provokers t What resources have you turned to for help in understanding employment law? t What is included on your staff job descriptions? How do these need to be fine-tuned to more accurately reflect the scope of responsibilities for each position? t What questions do you ask when you are checking references for a potential employee?

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Resource Center LEADER’S GUIDE

Resource Center Quick tips and recommended resources May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus (Romans 15:5).

Tips for Using Articles Consider these options for the use of articles and information in this download: t Pass the HR Policies Checklist (see “Assessment” section above) around at your next board meeting and have a 15-minute discussion. t Following the steps in the article, “The Gift of Multiple Staff,” lead your staff through a discovery of what the Bible says about spiritual gifts and teamwork. t After reading through an article, choose questions to pose at a scheduled meeting and discuss them together. t Copy one of these articles, pass it on to the staff, and tell them you want to discuss it at the next staff meeting. t Determine how you church could adapt the sample agreement in “Creating an Employment Agreement” before you make a new hire.

Web Resources t www.churchlawtoday.com, Church Law Today t www.ChurchLawTodayStore.com, Church Law Today Store t www.dickbaggett.com, Dick Baggett

t http://www.guideone.com/SafetyResources/Churches/wcindex.htm, Employee Safety & Workers’ Compensation Resources from Guide One Insurance

t http://www.christianitytoday.com/lawandtax, Law and Tax Resources for Church Leaders

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff | Resource Center Books, Kits, and Other Resources t 2007 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff: provides a comprehensive analysis of practices to help you determine compensation and benefits packages. t Application Booklet Kit for Church Employment: provides key forms your church needs in the selection and hiring of nonminister employees. t Pastor, Church, & Law, Volum 3: Employment Law by Richard Hammar: This fully updated reference book provides practical, down-to-earth information on one of the most problematic legal areas facing churches today. t Church Law Special Reports: Quick and easy updates on the critical issues that continually concern the church. t Financial and Administrative Resources, from Christianity Today International. t Inspection and Safety Checklists: 12 modules for assessing and improving facilities, and safeguarding activities. t Risk Management Assessment Pack from Christianity Today International. t Risk Management Handbook for Churches and Schools by James F. Cobble, Jr., and Richard R. Hammar t Selecting and Screening Church Workers: provides instructions for using each of the following three application booklets: Application Booklet for Ministers, Application Booklet for Church Employment, and Volunteer Service Booklet. t Selecting and Screening Kit for Church Employees: designed exclusively for use with nonministerial employees.

Additional Articles “Fiddlin’ with the Staff,” by Calvin Miller; Leadership, Winter 1986 http://www.ctlibrary.com/le/1986/winter/86l1104.html “Growing Your Own Staff,” by Robert C. Bradford; Leadership, Spring 1984 http://www.ctlibrary.com/le/1984/spring/84l2084.html “How to Run a Great Staff Meeting,” by John Sommerville; Leadership, Winter 2004 http://www.ctlibrary.com/le/2004/winter/21.75.html “Overseeing Staff,” by Don Cousins; LeadershipBooks http://www.ctlibrary.com/lebooks/masteringministry/masteringmanagement/mstmin11-11. html “Setting Staff Salaries,” by Wayne Pohl; LeadershipBooks http://www.ctlibrary.com/lebooks/masteringministry/masteringfinances/mstmin08-12.html “Seven Reasons for Staff Conflict,” by Wayne Jacobsen; Leadership, Summer 1983 http://www.ctlibrary.com/le/1983/summer/83l3034.html

step-by-step

churchsafety.com SIMPLE

SMART

STEP - BY - STEP

Best Practices for Managing Church Staff “Explaining Unhappy Staff Departures,” by Douglas J. Brouwer; Leadership, Spring 1998 http://www.ctlibrary.com/le/1998/spring/spring-1998-explaining-unhappy.html

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. “From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.” Copyright © 2008 by Christianity Today International. All rights reserved.