Every church reaches a point in its life when the time comes to hire new staff members. Maybe you have a growing new ministry or maybe an existing ministry needs more help. Whatever your situation may be, every church will come to that place where it is time to grow your staff to better reach the vision of ministry your congregation and leadership has for your community.

Before you craft a job description and start asking for resumes from those with traditional ministry training, you might want to consider if there is a volunteer in your church that is already fulfilling the role you need and would be open to coming on as a full-time staff member. While many churches choose to hire those who have specific ministry training, that is not the only option a church has when it comes to hiring new staff members. 

For example, if you find that your children’s ministry needs more help in developing curriculum, it might make sense to see if there are any teachers currently volunteering in the church’s children’s ministry that would want to put their teaching expertise to use for the church. Teachers certainly have the skills and experience needed to help write curriculum. They can also bring an outsider’s eye to the ministry to see other ways that it could function well that those traditionally for ministry may not see or may overlook. 

Identify Where You Need Help

When it comes to elevation church volunteers to staff members, it is often best to do two things. The first thing is to identify what area of ministry you need help in. It never makes sense to just bring on an additional staff member because it seems like the best thing to do. You want to be sure you have a specific goal and work in mind for whoever comes on as staff. This ensures that the new staff member will be successful and also that the ministry they serve will flourish. 

Identify Who Is Serving In That Role

The next thing you want to do is ask, “Who is already serving in this role?” It is very likely that someone in your church is already volunteering in the position that you need to be filled by a full-time staff member. That volunteer may not have traditional ministry training, but what they do have is a passion for the work and an understanding of what is needed to do the job. Imagine if they also had 40 plus hours a week to figure out how to do all that needed to be done? 

Keys To A Thriving Volunteer Ministry

It may be a bit unorthodox to hire a volunteer as a new staff member, but often those are the hires that make the most sense for a church. They are also often the ones who bring the most passion to a role because, as a former volunteer, they already know how to do the work necessary. The next time your church is looking for a new staff member, keep in mind those volunteers already serving in your ministry, you may already have your next staff member.