Earlier this week, Jim Sheppard shared excerpts of a conversation he had with two members of the Vanderbloemen Search Group, which seeks to help “churches and large parachurch ministries find the right senior leaders.” William Vanderbloemen (pictured at right), founder and CEO, has fifteen years experience as a Senior Pastor as well as human resources experience with a Fortune 200 company. Justin Lathrop, Executive Search Consultant, has ten years of local church ministry experience and presently serves as an Executive Pastor. In the interview, both men indicated a trend of growing churches to seek to fill positions that didn’t exist just a few years ago. For example:
Justin: We’re seeing lots of new staff positions emerging that haven’t before, particularly among the larger, innovative (and smart) churches we get to work with. My hunch is that their innovations will become much more common in the near future. For instance, several of our clients are now employing a Pastor of Social Media. It’s a step up from simply having person who is good with social media to a person who has pastoral skill and is good online . . .
William: Another new staff position we are seeing is a Pastor of Generosity. This is pretty much a Chief Fundraising Officer that has pastoral skill.
So What?
When I went to seminary, I didn’t take any classes on social media (it hadn’t been invented yet). I also didn’t take any classes on budgeting or accounting nor on donor facilitation or managing an endowment (although I did encounter those topics within my coursework). I have, however, invested significant time into learning more about both disciplines. While I have learned much in the years since seminary, I will focus here on just my last call:
- Social media
- Responsibilities: Create policy and implement the congregation’s initial social media efforts
- Learning: Study leave, blogging, and interacting with those with more experience
- Generosity
- Responsibilities: Manage fundraising for directed appeals (i.e. facility improvements and mission projects)
- Learning: Reported to someone with as much fundraising experience as any living person within that denominational tradition
In your local congregation:
- As your church considers its staffing model, does the leadership team begin by assuming certain pastoral and lay positions are a given? If so, how often do you believe those assumptions should be challenged?
- What positions (including part-time) have you added or considered adding in recent years?
- If a position (or positions) were added, how have they positively impacted the life of the congregation?
- If positions are being considered, what specific responsibilities and goals will they help the congregation achieve?
- If you are a part of a small congregation with limited staff, how are you equipping staff with the skills needed to be effective in these areas and/or others that are emerging as important in your context? How do you empower volunteer leaders to utilize their knowledge, skills and abilities in these areas?