--- title: 7 Times When Your Church Should NOT Hire Staff description: Thom Rainer, the president of LifeWay offers these seven times that your church should NOT hire staff. image: https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/hubfs/stop.jpeg --- [Skip to content](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/7-times-when-your-church-should-not-hire-staff#main-content) [![cropped-chemistry_logo_homepage-342x95](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/hs-fs/hubfs/cropped-chemistry_logo_homepage-342x95.webp?width=342&height=95&name=cropped-chemistry_logo_homepage-342x95.webp "cropped-chemistry_logo_homepage-342x95")](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/) - [How We Help](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/what-we-do/) - [How We Help Candidates](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/candidate/) - [How We Help Churches](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/church/) - [Our Team](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/team/) - [Our Mission & Strategy](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/what-we-do/) - [Churches](https://chemistrystaffing.com/church) - [Hire New Staff](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/2021-churches-new-staff-hiring/) - [Free 30-Minute Church Consult](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/lets-talk/) - [Chemistry Solutions – You Don’t Have to Do Ministry Alone](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/solutions/) - [Final Fit Assessment](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/final-fit-assessment/) - [Senior Pastor Succession](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/succession/) - [Job Seekers](https://chemistrystaffing.com/candidate) - [Add My Resume / Profile](https://chemistry.fyi/kwq) - [Current Openings](https://chemistrystaffing.com/jobs) - [Free Resume Assessment](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/free-resume-self-assessment/) - [Step-by-Step Job Search](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/cjb) - [How Chemistry Can Help](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/candidate/) - [Resources](http://www.chemistrystaffing.com/candidate/) - [Free Playbooks & Downloads](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/resources/) - [Chemistry Blog](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/) - [2024 Youth Pastor Compensation Survey](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/resources/2024-yp-compensation-survey/) - [Contact Us](http://www.chemistrystaffing.com/lets-talk/) - [Candidates](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/candidate-contact-page/) - [Churches](http://www.chemistrystaffing.com/lets-talk/) - [Find a Job](https://chemistrystaffing.com/jobs) - [My Church is Hiring](https://www.chemistrystaffing.com/lets-talk/) [Staff Hiring](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/tag/staff-hiring) # 7 Times When Your Church Should NOT Hire Staff Thom Rainer, the president of LifeWay offers these seven times that your church should NOT hire staff. ![stop](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/hubfs/stop.jpeg) # Here are seven things to consider BEFORE you start your next staff search. Thom Rainer, the president of LifeWay offers these seven times that your church should NOT hire staff.  See if this is helpful to you: **1.  When it takes ministry away from the laity/volunteers.** Don't take the temptation to have more 'hired hands'.  Volunteers should be the backbone of your ministry. A new pastor or staff members should actually INCREASE the number of volunteers, not decrease those serving.   **2. When you add staff according to the way it's always been done.**  Everything is changing in the church today.  You might not need that position that you've had filled for the last 20 years.  Always look for opportunities for new positions (and ways to consolidate or delete obsolete positions) when the opportunity arises.   **3. When it's not a smart financial decision.  **Don't move someone and their family across the country to serve at your church when/if you can't afford it. Be sure you have the resources to support this new staff person for at least a couple of years.   **4. When a particular group in the church pushes its own agenda.**  Bringing a new staff member into an area of known division is never a good idea.   **5. When a friend needs a job.**  Friends can make great staff members.  Many a friendship has been lost because of hiring a friend as well, so do so cautiously.  But never hire just because a friend needs a position. That's a recipe for disaster.   **6. When it's just to copy another church.  But this never happens, right.** Don't hire an IT director when your network consists of two macbooks and a Windows 98 machine. Just because the church down the street hired that new, hip position doesn't mean the pressure should be on you to as well.   **7. When you are unwilling to deal with a current ineffective staff member.**  I would go as far to say that you should not hire any new staff member when there is conflict on your current staff. Deal with the problems in the family before you marry or date someone else.   OK... these were my thoughts on Thom's suggestions.  And they're probably not as good as Thom's own thoughts. [ You you can read them here.](http://thomrainer.com/2014/02/22/seven-occasions-when-you-should-not-hire-more-church-staff/) At Chemistry Staffing, we can talk you through the right time to hire staff. We do this every week with churches. We can help you with job descriptions, budgets and compensation, and help you determine which type of position makes sense for your next phase of ministry?  [Want to talk? Let's do it!](http://chemistrystaffing.com/lets-talk)   ### [![Todd Rhoades](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/883a0d42581424e9bbe7c77dccfeed6b) Todd Rhoades](https://blog.chemistrystaffing.com/author/todd-rhoades) Todd has invested over 30 years in serving churches, having served as a worship pastor for over 15 years, a church elder for more than a decade, and in various ministry leadership roles in both the business and non-profit sectors. As the original founder and developer of ChurchStaffing.com, Todd fundamentally changed the way thousands of churches search for pastors and staff on the internet. Todd is a graduate of Cedarville University, and lives in Bryan, OH with his wife, Dawn. 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