With 2019 almost in the books and 2020 around the corner, it’s likely you have some positions you are thinking of posting. You should plan to make 2020 the year of great hiring. How do you do that? By operating like the church next door. You know the one – the one with the engaged staff, the booming attendance, and the great online presence. And that means hiring like the church next door.
Chad Veach, lead pastor of Zoe Church in Los Angeles (yes, the one you’ve heard of – regular attendees include Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Chris Pratt), says that every church should hire five full-time employees, pay them like eight employees, and work them like ten.
But How many Catholic parishes do that? Not many. In our church culture, it’s far more common to hire four people, pay them like two, and work them like one. (If you’re the exception, congratulations!)
There are plenty of talented lay ministers out there. But what are they looking for in an employer?
- Engaged leaders who are 100% focused on the people in their area as mission territory – not people who are in maintenance mode or simply serving the current generation of parishioners before closing the doors.
- Supervisors who are willing to invest in them, offering above-average pay, good benefits, and plenty of professional development opportunities.
- A challenge, coupled with the support necessary to overcome that challenge.
The old phrase, “You get what you pay for” is also true when hiring parish staff. If you want to improve your ministerial effectiveness in 2020, you need to build the kind of hiring culture that will allow for it. Start hiring like the church next door!
