Hiring another minister is an exciting moment in the life of a church. It usually means the church has grown, its ministry opportunities have expanded, or its current leaders have reached the limits of what they can reasonably do.
It is also an easy decision to get wrong.
When a church begins discussing its second ministry hire, the conversation often starts with a position title. For example:
“We already have a preaching minister, so now we need a youth minister.”
Perhaps that is exactly what the church needs. But it should not be assumed. Before deciding what position to fill, church leaders need to ask a more important question:
What kind of person does this church—and this ministry team—need next?
Church Size Changes the Job
I want to say a bit about church sizes. There are no good or bad-sized churches. A big church is not inherently a better church than a small church. But size does determine a lot about the experience of church life.
A small church is not merely a large church with fewer people. It requires a different approach to ministry. Here’s a good rule of thumb:
The smaller the church, the more its ministers will ordinarily need to function as generalists. The larger the church, the more its ministers can become specialists.
This is not a statement about which kind of ministry is more important. It is simply a matter of scale.
In a smaller church, a minister may preach, teach classes, visit the hospital, organize volunteers, plan events, help with technology, communicate with members, and occasionally figure out why a toilet is overflowing.
In a large church, several of those responsibilities may belong to entirely different staff members or departments.
Research into contemporary church staffing has found this same general pattern. Leaders of smaller congregations often have to “do it all,” while larger congregations increasingly employ people with specialized responsibilities in areas such as worship, administration, communications, youth ministry, and pastoral care.
As the church grows, division of labor becomes possible.
Generalists and Specialists
A small church ordinarily needs a good all-around minister who can move comfortably among several kinds of work. Hopefully, that person will also bring one or two areas of unusual strength.
Perhaps the minister is especially gifted at preaching, working with teenagers, organizing volunteers, providing pastoral care, or leading worship. That additional strength can be a tremendous blessing, but the person still needs enough flexibility to serve beyond that specialty.
A large church can approach the search differently. It may be able to hire specifically for communications, children’s ministry, counseling, administration, or another focused responsibility.
In that setting, the church looks for someone with deep ability in a particular area—and then makes sure that the person can also function well as a minister.
Medium-sized churches often live in the complicated space between these two approaches. They need increasing levels of specialization, but they may not have enough staff members to allow anyone to do only one thing.
Such churches often need either:
- Full-time utility players who can lead several related ministry areas, or
- Several part-time employees who each provide a more focused skill set.
Neither approach is automatically better. A full-time generalist may provide greater availability, continuity, and relational connection. Several part-time specialists may provide stronger skills in particular areas at a manageable cost.
But multiple part-time employees also require coordination and supervision. A collection of part-time positions does not automatically become a unified ministry team.
My Experience in a Smaller Church
When I was the preacher for the Rose Bud Church of Christ in rural Arkansas, I preached, but I was not only a preacher. I provided pastoral care. I did evangelistic Bible studies. I taught two Bible classes each week. I participated in vision casting. I also wrote, printed, and prepared the weekly church bulletin.
Those responsibilities were not distractions from my ministry. They were my ministry. In a smaller church, serving people often requires wearing whatever hat the moment calls for.
Many of the things that were completely normal for me in that setting are not now part of my weekly work in a larger congregation.
That does not mean I am doing more important work now. It does not mean I am working less. It means a larger staff and volunteer base allows each person to focus more deeply on fewer responsibilities.
My preaching is better than it used to be. Some of that improvement has come from years of experience, study, and growth. But I am also afforded more time to pursue it with excellence because I no longer have to wear every hat I once wore.
Specialization allows people to invest more deeply in their strongest areas. But a church must be large enough—and sufficiently staffed—to make that specialization realistic.
Don’t Hire a Position Before You Study Your Team
Suppose a church has one minister. He is an excellent thinker, a careful student, and a strong teacher. He is also quiet, introverted, and uncomfortable initiating relationships with people he does not know.
Should the second hire simply be a youth minister because that is the traditional next box on the organizational chart?
Maybe. But before choosing a title, the church should pay attention to what the current minister contributes—and what he does not.
The church may need someone who is naturally relational. It may need someone who enjoys gathering people, developing volunteers, visiting members, welcoming newcomers, and building connections throughout the community.
On the other hand, perhaps the first minister is charismatic, spontaneous, and highly relational, but struggles with organization and follow-through. In that case, hiring another energetic visionary may give the church two people who generate ideas and no one who turns them into sustainable ministry.
The second hire should not merely duplicate the first.
More important than hiring for an assigned role is hiring someone who strengthens the ministry team as a whole.
This does not mean looking for an “opposite” personality in every respect. Personality difference can create conflict just as easily as balance. The goal is to identify the contributions the church presently lacks and find someone capable of supplying them.
Hire for complementarity, not contrast for its own sake.
Begin With the Work, Not the Title
Before posting a job opening, church leaders should spend time studying their present reality.
Ask:
- What work is currently being neglected?
- What responsibilities are consuming too much of the current minister’s time?
- What can our current minister do unusually well?
- What important ministry tasks consistently drain or frustrate that person?
- Which needs require a paid staff member, and which could be entrusted to equipped volunteers?
- Does the church need another minister, or would an administrator or ministry coordinator create more capacity?
- Do we need one broadly capable full-time person or several focused part-time people?
- Can we describe what success in this role would look like after one year?
- Are our expectations possible within the hours and compensation we can offer?
That last question is important. Churches sometimes advertise for a “generalist” when what they really want is several full-time specialists crowded into one underpaid position.
Flexibility is reasonable. Limitless expectations are not.
A utility player still needs priorities. If everything belongs to the new minister, nothing truly belongs to the new minister.
Titles Still Matter, But They Come Later
None of this means job descriptions are unimportant. In fact, generalist positions may require even greater clarity because their boundaries are naturally more porous.
A church should eventually give the position an understandable title, defined responsibilities, appropriate authority, and clear accountability. Otherwise, the second minister can become the dumping ground for everything no one else wants to do.
But the title should describe the church’s discernment, not replace it.
Do not begin with, “Every church like ours needs a youth minister.”
Begin with:
“Here is who we are. Here is what God has given us to do. Here is what our present staff does well. Here are the people and ministry opportunities that are not receiving enough attention. What kind of leader would help this church serve faithfully in its present season?”
The answer may be a youth minister. It may be a family minister, associate minister, worship leader, administrator, pastoral-care minister, or a broadly capable utility player whose eventual title matters much less than the contribution that person makes.
Build a Team, Not an Organizational Chart
An organizational chart can show who reports to whom. It cannot tell you whether the people on it make one another better.
Especially in a smaller church, the second ministry hire will shape the entire character of the staff. The new person will affect communication, congregational relationships, decision-making, volunteer development, and the daily experience of ministry.
That means character, theology, humility, trustworthiness, and relational chemistry remain essential. A complementary skill set cannot compensate for poor character. Neither can a winsome personality compensate for an inability to do the work.
Churches should certainly ask, “What position are we hiring?”
But first, they should ask, “What is missing from the ministry God has already entrusted to us?”
Hire the person who can help supply what is missing.
The smaller the church, the more broadly that person will probably need to serve. The larger the church, the more deeply that person may be able to specialize. Either way, the goal is not merely to fill a vacancy. It is to build a ministry team that helps the whole church flourish.
In a nutshell: Size determines how much specialization is possible; the existing team determines which contribution is needed next.
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