Spirit-Filled Church Management: How to Hire Your Next Staff Member

The Church is an organization unlike any other. We abide in a spiritual reality–Jesus’ death, resurrection, and the advancement of His kingdom–but we often rely on “earthly” practices to get the job done. We still need to balance budgets, hold meetings, and hire new employees. 

In this article, we’ll tackle that last task. Bringing in a new hire can feel complicated and even vulnerable for a church organization. But with the right approach, any church can confidently hire new employees with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And making the right hire is vital to running a church well. 

Keep reading for practical insight on how to recruit, interview, and hire your next church staff member.

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Different Strategies for Making a Church Hire

Different churches and denominations handle the task of hiring in different ways. While some traditions and denominations have stringent requirements and processes for hiring a leader, others take a more casual approach. No one way is wrong or right–although there are certainly Biblical requirements for a leader (see below). 

Here’s a breakdown of how different churches might handle hiring. 

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Require Seminary or Similar Education & Training

More traditional churches may require new leaders to go through seminary education or the denominational equivalent. Once an individual has undergone required education or training, they are available to be hired. 

Pros: Hire has education and training for a church leadership position.

Cons: Hire may come in as an outsider, without existing relationships with leadership or congregation.

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Hire From Within the Church

Churches will often rely on their own church members as a pool of potential hires. While laypeople may not have seminary education, they may be preferred because of existing buy-in to the community. 

Pros: Hire has already committed to the culture and vision of the church. 

Cons: The hire may not have sufficient training or education for the role. 

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Rely on a Church Network

If your church is part of a larger network, you may be able to recruit potential hires from outside your church but from within your network. 

Pros: The hire may already have professional experience in church leadership and share your community's general vision and values.

Cons: If they already have experience on a church staff, the hire may not be as teachable. 

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The Hiring Process: How to Interview 

Finding the right staff member for your church goes beyond qualifications. It’s about discerning the will of God to bring in someone who really aligns with your values, culture, and purpose.

This is where the interview process begins–perhaps the most important part of the journey: where you’ll really get to know your hires beyond the resumé and referrals. 

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7 Tips for an Effective Interview

Conducting an interview is about as important as being interviewed. That being said, it’s key to interview potential hires with careful thought and strategy. Here are 7 tips to ensure success.

1. Review and prepare. 

Don’t waste time asking candidates to repeat information they have already offered. Before interviewing a candidate, review their experience and qualifications. 

2. Make it friendly, not formal. 

It’s so important to understand your candidate’s personality. An overly formal interview won’t encourage authenticity, rapport, or laughter. Be friendly, warm, and kind from the get-go; it will set the hire (and you) at ease. 

3. Talk about who you are as a church. 

Even if you’re hiring from within your church, take some time to explain the culture, vision, and values of your community and staff. Give examples: Talk about how your staff runs meetings, expectations for communication, and your fiscal priorities as a church. 

4. Ask about spiritual disciplines and practices. 

Before finishing the interview, you should have a good idea of how your candidate practices their faith on a day-to-day basis. Example questions: What are you reading right now in the Bible? What does prayer look like for you? Do you have a mentor or accountability partner?

5. Ask open-ended questions. 

Every interview should ask about past successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses, and hypothetical situations (“What would you do if….?”), but make sure to keep these questions open-ended. Give the candidate plenty of opportunities to paint a picture of their professional experience and personality. 

6. Provide space for ideas.

It’s so important to know how your candidate will ideate. Give them space to be creative in your interview by asking questions such as “If you had an unlimited budget, what kind of youth ministry would you design?”

7. Pray. 

Pray together at the beginning and end of the interview. Submitting the process to God is critical for both your organization and your hire!

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Questions to Ask in Your Interview

While some of what you ask will depend on the role for which you’re hiring, there are still basic questions that apply to nearly any interview. 

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• Can you share your testimony and how your faith has shaped your life and career?
• What led you to feel called to work in ministry, and what aspects of church work excite you the most?
• What about our church’s mission resonates with you, and how would you embody this in your role?
• How would you describe your approach to teamwork and conflict?
• For married candidates: How is the health of your marriage? How do you plan on investing in your spouse while balancing the demands of ministry?

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Of course, these are just starting points. But they provide a framework for making sure you cover all the bases.

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Making a Decision: How to Hone in On the Right Hire

The right hire may not always be the most obvious choice. Remember that we all have conscious and unconscious biases that can drive us to miss out on the best possible person for the job. A thoughtful, Spirit-led decision process relies on a combination of prayer, discernment, conference with others, and practical considerations. 

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Here are some things to consider before making the final decision. 

Prayer

The most effective way to include God in the process of hiring is inviting Him into it. Pray, ask for wisdom and guidance, and avoid making a hasty decision. 

Confer with Leadership

A hiring decision typically shouldn’t fall on one individual. Confer with a few other trusted staff members or individuals before hiring a new employee. 

Personality Type

Before making a decision, you may want to ask your candidate to submit results from a specific personality test (The DiSC test is a great assessment for workplace personality types). Bonus: You and your team have also taken the same test, allowing you to see who might be a good fit with the existing staff. 

Scriptural Guidelines

What does the Bible say about hiring a leader?

• 1 Timothy 3:1-13 gives direction for elders and deacons, naming such requirements as “above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.”
• 1 Peter 5:1-3 encourages Elders to “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”
• As for teachers, James 3:1 lays out some firm guidelines: “Not many of you should become teachers...because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

The Bible provides plenty of guidelines for raising leaders in a church, mostly involving character. Pay attention to character references and ask forthright questions when interviewing a candidate. Look for humility, self-control, purity, and sobriety when it comes to substance abuse and money. 

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A Final Note: Onboarding a New Hire to Your Church

Once you’ve decided who to hire, you’ll want to make sure you have an efficient onboarding process. Using an all-in-one church management software like Tithely can help smooth out the process by reducing the need to train hires on multiple tools.

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