Selecting and Enlisting Leaders

When pastors become interested in managing the human resources of the church, they become interested in staffing. Staffing is one of the basic tasks or functions of leaders, along with planning, organizing, guiding, and controlling. Staffing is the task of finding the right person for the right position, and providing the training needed to make the person effective and fulfilled in that position. Staffing in the local church involves working with paid staff and with volunteer staff. The leader handles paid staff differently than volunteer staff. The focus of this section will be on lay or volunteer leaders.

If you studied the literature on volunteerism (both church and other non-profit organizations) for definitions of volunteers, you would find a lot of similarity. The two basic considerations are: 1) a volunteer willingly accepts the positions without being forced, and 2) serves without financial compensation.

Staffing with volunteer workers involves four parts: selecting, enlisting, training, and retaining. This chapter and the next one will treat these four parts.

 Every believer is called not only to salvation, but also called to ministry. The Bible plainly teaches that Christians are to serve (1 Thessalonians 1:9). The doctrine of the priesthood of the believer (1 Peter 2:5, 9; Revelation 1:5–6; 5:9–10; 20:6) strongly implies that all Christians should be involved in serving God. The images of the church as a body, with every member functioning or serving, teaches this same thing (1 Corinthians 12:12–26, Romans 12:4–5; Ephesians 1:22–23). The Bible also teaches that every Christian has a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11) and these gifts are to be used to build up the church. Equipping believers for ministry is the task of the pastor. He is not to do ministry, but to equip the laymen to do it. The role of the pastor as equipper, or enabler, based on Ephesians 4:11–12.

Importance

The local church is responsible for enlisting and training its own leadership. There may be help available from publishers, denominations, and other sources, but the basic responsibility rests on the local church. A local church must depend largely on volunteer leaders for most activities. The demands of church program organizations are such that volunteers must be used, and lots of them. Every church needs more volunteer workers. The church is to use paid staff members, but not expect professionals to replace the laymen. In fact, one of the major jobs of all paid staff members is to develop the church membership and to equip them for service (Ephesians 4:11–12).

The rapid turnover in volunteers shows that churches have not done an adequate job of training and retaining. The average period of service for church volunteers is 3–4 years. There are many reasons for this turnover. Our mobile society is reported to have 20% of the American families moving every year. A growing church will also require additional workers to accommodate the growth. Some workers will backslide spiritually each year and either quit or have to be removed.

The nature of the church’s mission demands the best trained workers that are possible.

Problems

1. Abuse – Churches have a problem with abuse, where some workers that do not say “no” are overburdened with work. Some of these will actually change churches to get out from under the burden. One worker plus overwork equals burnout. It is said that 20% of the people are doing 80% of the work. These 20% are abused.

2. Disuse – Churches also have a problem with disuse, in that there are many church members that are only pew sitters and they are doing nothing. This problem is increasing, and many churches are called spectator churches.

Many people born in the 1940s and 1950s have reached the point where they want to pass on the leadership roles for church and community. “We have done our share,” is the feeling expressed.

There is also a problem with the availability of workers. The availability of volunteers has diminished. Economic needs often dictate that both parents be employed outside of the home; single parent families have grown in number; vocational pressures are of greater intensity; and the number of organizations seeking volunteers has multiplied significantly.

Even the change in types of vocations has an impact. More persons are involved in service jobs than ever before in history. Many of them find they are constantly being asked to direct their energy flow toward meeting the needs of others. For some of these people, opportunities to serve in church leadership positions may seem to be one more involvement which continues to drain and deplete them. They simply feel they can’t give any more, even though the opportunities sound worthwhile.

3. Misuse – Churches also have a problem with misuse, where people are put into a position of service for which they are not qualified or trained. Most churches work from vacant positions to find a person to fill the vacant positions. It would be far better if the church would help the members to find the right position. When the church considers the spiritual gifts, the natural abilities, the personality, and the desires of the members, and works with them to find the right position for them, the problem of misuse will disappear. The goal should be to involve every member of the church in some area of meaningful service.

Responsibility

What person or persons should be made responsible for this task of staffing? Pastors sometimes insist that the task of staffing belongs exclusively to them. These men “hold the reins too tight” and limit their ministries. A nominating committee is sometimes given the responsibility of selecting and enlisting all the workers for a church. This has advantages and disadvantages, but is probably not the best way.

The plan I prefer is to make every supervisor responsible for selecting, enlisting, training, and retaining their own staff of workers. The selection may require approval of the next level, or even the approval of the pastor, a nominating committee, or the board of Christian education. The approval will give some measure of control to the process, but by transferring this responsibility downwards in the organization, the load is not heavy on any one person or small group, and the enlisting and training can be more personal. The person who will supervise a worker is in a much better position than anyone else to tell the worker what the job is. The professional staff can concentrate more on developing the church membership, maintaining a file of potential workers list, and assisting with training the workers.