When it comes to staffing, every church has a specific way they think about it, whether or not they actually say it out loud. It affects more than staffing, it is something that is in the DNA or the culture of the church. It affects everything.
You have two choices essentially when it comes to staffing in a church: you can staff FOR growth, or you can staff in RESPONSE to growth.
At Revolution, we staff for growth.
I was talking with a mentor once and told him some things we would do if we had more resources available. He looked at me and said, “Faith and risk will not just show up in your church because you have more people and more money. It is either in the DNA of your church or it isn’t.”
Now, staffing for growth means that you staff in expectation of what God is going to do. You staff before you need it. This can be dangerous. It can be stupid, you can get ahead of God. This takes a lot of prayer, counsel and trust that you are on track with God.
It also says, “God, we trust that you care about this church more than I do and we believe you want to do great things.” Then knowing what God is doing, how He is moving and calling you to move and then doing it. Essentially, faith.
Staffing in response to growth is waiting for things to happen and then jumping on board. It becomes more passive, while staffing for growth is active.
We are there right now. Not only did we hire Paul before we needed him, but now we need him. So he was here before we needed him and it has made a huge difference. We hired Jennifer recently to oversee Planet Rev. and I know that it is the right decision and will pay huge dividends in the lives of our kids and families.
The key is to not go overboard, that is easy to do and say, “We’re being idiots and spending more than we have and trusting God to move.” That isn’t prudent and is not being a good steward of resources. Sometimes though, you need to take the leap and say, “We believe God is calling us to this and we’re going to follow.”
Being a leader is about knowing what you’re called to and doing it regardless of who comes along.
I don’t want to get into the discussion about finances and whether or not a staff member pays for themselves (they do), but that isn’t part of this discussion (it is and it isn’t). This is essentially a discussion on faith and risk. Too many churches and pastors do not have faith in what God has called them to and the courage to risk it all to follow after Him.
Perry Noble always asks this question to leaders: “If you could do anything for God and it would succeed, what would you do?” Then he asks, “Why aren’t you doing that?”
