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Often, when a church is starting out, full-time staff is at a minimum because funds are at a minimum. New churches have to be scrappy early on and usually need to limit the number of staff members.
However, as a church grows, it is likely that the day-to-day operations of the church and its related administrative duties will require a significant amount of time and attention to maintain. This is when it makes sense for a church to consider hiring an executive pastor.
Hiring an executive pastor can free up your senior pastor to focus on the spiritual and relational aspects of ministry. Like any staffing decision, timing is an important decision for a church, and there are several factors to determine ideal candidates for executive pastor positions.
Let’s take a look at five key factors that can help determine when your church is ready to hire an executive pastor.
Some senior pastors may be quick to hire an executive pastor because they recognize their limits and know that if they want the church to operate effectively and have opportunities for future growth, they need some leadership help. However, some senior pastors may be slower to hire an executive pastor because they are timid about ceding control to another leader.
Perhaps there is another kind of senior pastor, too—the kind who isn’t quite sure when is the right time to expand church leadership and hire an executive pastor. If you’re unsure of when is the right time to hire an executive pastor, keep an eye out for some of the following indicators that it’s time to make room for another leader at the table.
If the church is experiencing significant growth in terms of membership, programs, and ministries, it may be time to hire an executive pastor. But what size church needs an executive pastor?
The general consensus is that churches that reach 800 to 1,000 in attendance will begin to feel growing pains that can be cured by hiring an executive pastor. The “right” number may vary from church-to-church depending on various contextual factors, but this is a good general rule to consider.
As the number of church attendees increases, the number of counseling situations increase, the number of event participants increase, the number of physical needs increase, and the wear-and-tear on the property increases. With more people comes more needs of varying kinds, and so with more people should come more help to shepherd and care for your flock.
When a growing church hires an executive pastor, it takes a significant weight off the senior pastor’s shoulders. The executive pastor can focus on the organizational leadership of the church and administrative responsibilities while the senior pastor can focus on shepherding the congregation.
Of course there is overlap here—the executive pastor can counsel or preach and the senior pastor can lead meetings—but this separation of responsibilities can make church leadership much more efficient and effective.
No matter how many people are attending your church on a given weekend, it is important to consider the workload of your current church staff when you evaluate whether or not it is time to add an executive pastor to the mix. Because, frankly, plenty of senior pastors could use help managing the day-to-day operations well before weekly attendance gets close to the 800–1,000 people.
When a senior pastor begins to show signs of struggling to manage the church budget, lead church staff, or oversee other administrative functions of the church, it’s time to find an executive pastor.
Why? Because central to the role of executive pastor is managing the day-to-day operations of the local church, overseeing the staff, and handling administrative tasks such that the church not only functions week-to-week, but also can grow into a more robust version of itself. When a church hires an executive pastor, that person can come in and immediately improve staff efficiency and even morale, especially if the senior pastor has struggled to lead the team effectively.
Every church is different, but in many churches it is the role of the senior pastor to cast vision and help shepherd the church spiritually to better serve its community and glorify God. Many senior pastors, because of gifting, temperament, or otherwise, aren’t as good at managing the details that go into turning a vision into reality as they are casting a vision and motivating people to pursue that vision.
This is where an executive pastor comes in handy. One of the chief roles of an executive pastor is to come alongside the senior pastor and do the hard work necessary to bring about the senior pastor’s vision for the church. All of those details that go into making the vision a reality that the senior pastor couldn’t handle? The executive pastor will take care of those.
Executive pastors ought to be masters of strategic planning and execution, and if your current church staff struggles in these areas, bringing in an executive pastor to oversee this portion of church leadership would be beneficial for the life and ministry of your church.
Of course, adding any number to the headcount of your church should not be taken lightly. Most local churches aren’t swimming in extra funds, so the financials that come along with adding an executive pastor to the staff of a church should not be taken lightly.
Hiring an executive pastor is a significant financial commitment, and the church should have the resources to support this position. Ensure that the budget can accommodate the added expense without compromising the core ministries and missions of the church.
At the same time, consider how much money your executive pastor could help save the church (or at least better allocate) and recognize that such efficiencies introduced by the executive pastor would help offset the cost of the role.
Church governments operate differently, so the degree to which a church congregation needs to be formally involved in the hiring of an executive pastor may vary. But regardless of formal church governance rules, all church leaders should strongly consider how vital it is for church members to understand the role of executive pastor and be on board with the decision before adding it.
It is the church members who will fund the role, and it would help foster and strengthen trust between church leaders and the congregation if the leaders involve congregants in the consideration of hiring an executive pastor.
Once a church has decided that it needs to hire an executive pastor, the most important portion of the process commences: finding the right person for the job. Executive pastor duties are many and diverse—not just any newly-minted seminary student can step into this sort of role. It is important that churches and committees find the right mix of heart, experience, and skills to serve the church well in this new role.
When a church makes the decision to hire an executive pastor for the first time, that decision (and the person hired into the role) must align with the church’s overall vision and strategic objectives, and this process must be cradled in prayer and biblical principles.
