In my last issue, I mentioned the illness of my dad. Thanks for your kind words.
And here is this week’s summer classic rerun, originally published in 2023. It has been slightly revised and updated.
One XP asked – “A staff member also wants to add an outside part-time job because they feel they can’t make it on what we pay. They are a good team member, and we don’t want to lose them. They didn’t ask for a raise, and we think we pay well. What should we do?”
It was a productive discussion, and please don’t interpret the following statements as legal advice. Each state is different.
There have also been articles during the current remote work era claiming that some (non-church) employees have been working two full-time jobs without their employer's knowledge. When they investigated, however, there was no legal prohibition in their agreements against doing so.
One of the first questions asked was: Could we even prevent it if we wanted? Would a team member even be required to inform you as the current employer? In many staff positions, is there a distinction between work hours and non-work hours? Do we make distinctions between pastors and other staff?
I found an old document where I answered this for another church some years ago. Perhaps it will be helpful.
Some Historical Context
Only in the past 100 years have we seen the advent of a multiplication of paid staff positions, even in larger churches. While large churches 100 years ago had building personnel and administrative staff, key positions that are now full-time pastoral or director staff were once the province of volunteers.
Remember that most churches in the U.S. and Canada have a long tradition of bi-vocational ministry.
In these cases, ministry leaders were expected to pay their primary bills from other work, and ministry was a calling that received some remuneration but not a “full-time” job.
Today, we live in a different time. Many of the larger churches we serve have sizeable full-time staff. Some are provided with adequate salaries, benefits, and working conditions.
Let us also assume that we are primarily discussing full-time pastoral staff and key ministry directors who receive full-time compensation and benefits from the church. In some cases, the same standards apply to administrative assistant roles where a full-time agreement is in place.
Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum
Three Stances
In general, after reviewing the policies and from numerous conversations over the years with Lead and Executive pastors:
Discouraged:
This stance holds that being on the staff of this church is an honor and privilege. Because we expect pastors and key staff to be available almost 100% of the time to conduct ministry and critical functions that anyone else cannot cover.
In these cases, the church discourages any outside income-producing activity.
I would say this was much more prevalent 20 years ago with our clients than it is now. Even in those cases, a few incidental income things were exceptions.
I recall that one person was an expert fishing fly tier who sold flies to local fishers. Another case was a person whose “hobby” was old car restoration and who used those restorations to fund their kid’s college tuition. While officially discouraged by their primary employers, everyone was aware of the skills of the two people, and it was agreed that this incidental and irregular income stream was ok. Part of that is that I think the fly-tier’s supervisor was his best customer!
The next two come after the ad
Another great church in the Senior Pastor Smart Succession process has released its public profile for its next Senior Pastor.
The Founding Pastor of Westwood Community Church, a multisite church west of Minneapolis, will be stepping down later this year.
Pastor Joel Johnson helped launch the church 30 years ago. (And they have a great video about their 30-year celebration, using Joel’s words from the initial core group gathering to underscore what God has done there over that season.) Plus, he looked just like Steve Carell at the time see it here)
See the whole process and profile here: https://www.westwoodcc.org/pastorsearch/
Now it's time to provide them with a resume and a letter describing how you fit the profile.
Westwood is conducting a nationwide search. Please send it to people you know who might be a good fit for this great church.
Additionally, I am pleased to announce the Public Profile for The Church at Severn Run in the Anne Arundel County, Maryland area for their next Senior Pastor. This church will also do an external search.
This is a vibrant, multicultural, community-serving, Bible-teaching church with a significant influence on strategic decision-makers in its community.
Their pastor for the past 27 years, Drew Shofner, will retire and move to Oklahoma with his family.
See more information here: https://severnrun.com/pastoraltransition/
This is another great client and a great church. The church is growing, vibrant, and healthy, and is an excellent place for a future leader to take it to the next level.
Do you know someone who needs to see these profiles? Please forward the links to them.
Again, this illustrates how every Senior Pastor Smart Succession ™ looks different from every other one.
Both healthy churches are making great strides in God’s kingdom work for the future.
I am very proud to serve both of these clients. Could yours be the next great church I serve?
Reach out and let’s talk.
Story continues…
Permitted:
This stance holds that it is allowed with proper permission and guidelines. It becomes an issue between team members, supervisors, and the church's leadership.
The guidelines vary significantly among the churches. This will be discussed in my next issue. But issues arise when there seem to be inconsistencies between what upper-level staff are granted vs. other staff. In some cases, outside paid ministry is permitted, but paid commercial activities are not.
Encouraged:
This stance encourages full-time staff to develop other income-generating streams. This stance acknowledges that other organizations and companies also seek many of the same skills that make for effective staff team members. Those with this stance believe that their team member's interaction in these other fields helps the church’s overall ministry. It is also thought that this helps retain high-performing staff by allowing this type of work.
One Executive Pastor mentioned a team member who does woodworking, building custom tables, cabinets, and the like. This person does this during the evenings and does not detract from their paid staff work.
Similarly, one said they had a staff member who was an excellent photographer who did several weddings and special events a year, which did not take them away from their role at all.
Others mentioned consulting with other churches in areas of expertise. This was encouraged as long as it was limited appropriately to the time spent away from the church field. “That leader takes their paid time off to do so. It would be a problem if they always flew off elsewhere instead of serving here.”
I observed that the “permitted” stance is currently the predominant stance among larger churches. Encouraged is also catching on with some guidelines provided by the church.
For those churches that tend to be in the “Encouraged” or “Permitted” camps, there are other questions to consider.
In Part 2 (coming July 2), I will discuss some additional considerations. That will come in two weeks.
I do my best thinking when I take client questions, consider them for a while, and try to formulate a written response. So if you have a question, send it on, and perhaps soon you will see it in Church Leader Insider!