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June 17, 2010

Part 2: Doing Staff Reorganizations Well

Why churches should re-evaluate the staff titles they use.

 by Paul Clark


Editor’s Note: Paul Clark, the Operations Pastor at Fairhaven Church in Ohio and a Contributing Editor to Your Church, recently underwent a major staff reorganization. Last week, we published the first in a four-week series on what Fairhaven sought to change and how. Step One involved dissolving the executive team. Today, he writes about Step Two.

Step Two: Establishing a New Title Structure.

Titles can be extremely difficult to manage as a staff’s size increases and roles become more diverse and specialized. In order to reduce some of the problems mentioned in Step One, we decided to simplify and de-emphasize titles. Five general titles will remain, with clearly defined parameters. All staff will fit into these five employment categories:

Lead Pastor: This designation is reserved for the individual providing overall organizational leadership and reporting directly to the Governing Board.

Pastor: This designation is reserved for individuals who: 1) possess Bible college or seminary education; 2) are licensed (or are in the process of licensure by the District), making them eligible to perform sacerdotal functions; and/or 3) manage ministries and/or have other paid staff under their supervision.

Director: This designation is reserved for individuals who manage ministries and have other paid staff under their supervision, but do not have formal Bible college or seminary education.

Specialist: These individuals possess specialized technical education or training.

Ministry Assistant: These individuals provide ministry assistance to various ministries and ministry leaders.

No more executives, assistants, associates, and all the other title nuances that were intended to convey hierarchy. The reporting structure is defined by the Organization Chart, not by titles. This will create less formality and foster a better sense of being one team.

We labor over titles when the reality is that what we do is vastly more important than what we're called. Our people find their own natural way to understand each person's role, in spite of the fancy and somewhat convoluted titles we apply. Function naturally trumps formality.

So my functional, no-nonsense title becomes: Paul Clark, Pastor, Operations

I earned the title, "Pastor" based on my education and credentials, and my functional responsibilities are in the area of operations. That's all anybody needs to know. If, for some reason, somebody cares to know who reports to me or where I am in the reporting structure, they look at the Organization Chart. It's very clean and simple.

Already, in just a short time in the new structure, I've seen these two steps pay dividends. The younger staff members feel like the playing field has been leveled. There's a feeling that we're all on the same team. People are opening up more and feeling valued.

Next week, Paul addresses “Step Three: Creation of a Management Team.”

Paul Clark has served as a pastor in the areas of administration and operations for 15 years, holding a BA from Moody Bible Institute and a MBA from Xavier University. His passion is management in the local church and supporting others in leading the church organization, which he has done through teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level. He has taught for Alliance Theological Seminary and currently serves as an adjunct professor at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. He has presented workshops on church management at Cedarville University, Moody Bible Institute's Pastor's Conference, and the CLA and NACBA national conferences. He’s been published in Your Church, where he serves as a Contributing Editor, and discusses church management issues on his blog, http://visionmeetsreality.org.

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Posted by Matt Branaugh on June 17, 2010 8:00 AM

Related Tags: administration, business administrators, church, Communication, conflict, executive pastors, hiring, leadership, ministry, office, pastors, planning, staff, Teamwork

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