But something’s been bothering me for the past few years. Recent surveys have shown that the best, most fruitful years in ministry, actually start after you’ve been at a church for five years. That sounds reasonable. In the first five years, you get the ‘honeymoon’ period out of the way, cultivate relationships, and incrementally build trust so that you can lead with passion and vision.
Other surveys say that most church staff stay at their positions, on average, about three and a half years.
This means there’s a huge gap between when a lot of people are moving on from their church and the time when the really cool, extremely fruitful period of ministry begins.
Many people leave too early.
And that bothers me.
I hear all the horror stories of bad fit, unmet expectations, and bait and switch. So I’ve been thinking that there HAS to be a better way for churches of all sizes to make better hires… more long-term hires… a way to hire staff people that really fit into the church’s theology, culture, personality, and DNA. And there has to be a better way for staff people to know more about a church BEFORE they move their family ten states away to find out that this wasn’t a good move.
So… my friend Matt Steen and I put our heads together and came up with what we think is a solution… a way to connect churches and staff members in way that will hopefully foster BETTER, HEALTHIER, and LONGER-TERM fits. A way that will help staff members to glide past the three and a half year mark, and hit five years plus with ease. A way that sets up churches and individuals for long-term ministry success.
When the right leaders are at the right churches, unbelievable things happen… families flourish and churches thrive. And lives are changed.
What does this mean for you?
Well, if you’re a church that has a need for a new staff member, we can help you by using our new structure to help you find and identify great, long-term fits for your church staff. (A secret: we capture over 100 points of data on each candidate in the areas of theology, church culture/DNA, personality, and skills and experience; then compare their answers with exactly what you’re looking for). Our pre-assessment process will help you quickly identify all the things you have in common with a candidate, and also identify red-flag areas that you need to be aware of before your hire. You can check out our service for churches here. (Oh, and by the way, our services are affordable for even the smallest of churches).
And if you’re a candidate, it means that by submitting your profile to us, you can be considered for any future job that we’re helping fill. In fact, it’s to your benefit to have your profile on file with us even if you’re not currently looking for a new ministry position. We’ll let you know when, in the future, a church is looking for a person just like you. You can add your profile here.
In a way, we’re blowing up the way churches will hire in the future. And we’re totally changing the way the church staff members will find new ministry opportunities.
By assessing both candidates and churches for health and long-term fit on the front end of the search, we think churches and candidates will be much more effective in their Kingdom work.
If you’re a staff member… fill out your profile now if you haven't already done so. It’s free and it takes less than ten minutes. No resume required.
If you’re a church that is currently looking for a new staff member, you can find out more about what we do here… and grab thirty minutes of our time for free to tell us more about what you are looking for.
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. Most recently, Todd’s work with Leadership Network has provided him exposure to the innovative trends in today’s church and inside knowledge of how healthy churches operate and uses it to help churches find a healthy, long-term fit for their next team member. Todd is a graduate of Cedarville University, and lives in Bryan, OH with his wife, Dawn.
