How to Welcome a New Person to Your Church Staff

Written by Rick Ezell

Pastor, when a new staff hire arrives at the church office, you show the new staff person the office and church facility, complete the necessary paperwork for taxes, insurance, and retirement, and let them know about all the peculiar procedures of the new church. While this orientation is needed, the most important orientation may be missed.

The Minister's MBA

Hiring staff is a lot like dating someone two or three times before marrying them. The dating stage of getting to know each other is done in the first few weeks and months the new staff person is on the field. Granted much of this will have been talked about in the interview process, but time spent orientating the new staff to your preferred style, values, and vision will avoid misunderstand and miscommunication and the potential for conflict later on.

Consider the following four suggestions as you set them up for success:

1. Talk about your management style.
As Senior Pastor one of the first things I share is what I call “My personal credo in management and ministry relationships.”

I seek to do the right things the right way, but I don’t want to be overly critical or hard to please.
I tend to be thoughtful and analytical, but I will not be a perfectionist or become disengaged.
I work hard and often long hours, but I will not sacrifice my relationship with God, my family, or my health.
I am frugal, but I won’t be overly cautious, or cheap, or miss an opportunity to invest in those things that make an impact for the kingdom.
I value fun and creativity, but I don’t want to trivialize what we do or how we do it.
I can’t promise to be perfect, but I will be trustworthy and real.
I am not a micromanager, but I will expect you to perform you role with a high degree of competency, efficiency, and effectiveness.

While your statements will vary, helping the new hire understand where you are coming from will be helpful to both parties later on.

2. Remind the new hire what success means to you.
I love what Erwin Lutzer, Pastor at Moody Church, Chicago, wrote, called “Success in the Pastorate.” I share it often.

Praying is more important than preaching.
Preaching is more important that administration.
The family is more important than the congregation.
Faithfulness is more important than competition.
Love is more important than ability.

We want to succeed. Success means different things to different pastors. Determine what it means to you and then communicate it to the new staff person.

3. Share your personal values.
Values are like the banks of a river, they determine the course of one’s life. For me, my personal values are:

Integrity in my personal life
Effectiveness in my career
Authenticity in community
Excellence in essentials
Celebration in worship
Transformation in communication
Trustworthiness in relationships
Review the driving force of the church.

This would include a review of the church’s stated mission, vision, strategy, and implementation and the new staff hire’s role in that process, giving attention to the job description.

4. Review the personal requirements.
I have copied and pasted the following statements on every ministerial staff’s job description. Their importance is to get the right people in the right positions and to recognize that this role is more than a job and that we function as a team.

Called: This person will have a deep purpose about their life that flows from a strong awareness that God has directed them to serve his church by using their passion and giftedness.
Character. This person will have demonstrated a high moral integrity that exhibits itself in their personal life, their spiritual life, and their relational life. In other words, they are truthful, faithful, sincere, hard working—a person worthy of respect.
Committed. This person has displayed a spiritual authenticity through a mature and consistent commitment to Christ and his kingdom purposes.
Compatible. This person will be a good ministry fit, a relational fit, and a skill fit with the pastoral staff team and the church.
Coachable. This person will be aware of their own limitations and inadequacies and eager to learn and to improve. In other words, they will never stop learning as a person and as a minister.
Competent. This person will have demonstrated a high degree of effectiveness in their previous roles and continue that high level of proficiency.
Congruent. This person will be a strong supporter of the church’s position in relationship to the denomination, having earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, with doctrinal views which are in harmony with this church and/or its Pastor.

While there are many more issues that need to be discussed these few will get the professional and ministerial relationship off on the right foot, making for a happy “marriage.”

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