Based on the evaluation of growing churches with multiple staff, a realistic ratio of pastoral staff to worship attendance should be no more than 1:150. That is, a church should have at least one full-time pastoral staff for every 150 in worship attendance. Actually, over the last 25+ years the ratio has been decreasing and some growing churches are finding their ratio is now closer to 1:120. While it is difficult to financially support a ratio smaller than 1:100, it is unwise to allow the ratio to go beyond 1:150.
What does this 1:150 ratio tell us? It indicates that each staff person tends to provide for a growth potential of 125 to 150 people. (It is common to see stagnant churches with a pastoral staff ratio of 1:200 or higher.) The addition of a second pastoral staff person does not actually double the productive capability of the senior pastor. A second pastor increases the overall productivity by approximately 80 percent; a third full-time pastoral staff person increases overall productivity by another 75 percent.
The ratio suggests that a church desiring to grow to the next level should add a new staff person before reaching the projected growth level. This is a critical aspect of staffing that churches often don’t anticipate.
Using only the table above, leaders typically wait to reach the next numerical level before adding the new staff person. For example, a church may decide to wait until it reaches 300 people before adding the second staff person or wait until it reaches 450 before adding the third staff. By so doing, however, the church is significantly lengthening the amount of time it will take to reach the next level, if it ever does.
As this table illustrates, it is the addition of the next staff person that actually helps a church grow to the next level. The congregation averaging 150 to 175 in worship attendance should be in the process of looking for a new staff member and not wait to reach 300.
In addition to when you take on a new staff member, seriously consider what he or she will do. Recall our discussion about Class I and Class II ministry roles for laypersons. The principle of inward-focused and outward-focused activity applies equally to staff. Will this person be spending all of his or her time on inward-focused activity, or will there be a good portion of time spent in outward-focused leadership and equipping members and attendees in Class II activities?
A regional district in the Southern Baptist denomination conducted a fascinating study on what happens when a church adds a new staff person who concentrates primarily on Class II activities. They found when the new staff person concentrated primarily on activities like connecting with unchurched people, overseeing visitor follow-up, assimilating new members, and other outward-focused concerns, they actually paid for their salary through new giving units added to the church within nine to eighteen months. And the addition of those new giving units provided the funds to add additional staff (when the time was right) in music, youth, education, or recreation.
What You Can Do About It
The obvious first step is to calculate your church’s pastoral staff ratio. In fact, you might find it helpful to go back over the past twenty or thirty years (assuming your church is that old) and determine whether there has been any relationship between the number of pastoral staff and the worship attendance. If you believe the church has the need for an additional staff person, prepare a proposal for such an addition. (The job may be part-time if finances are a major issue.) The best outline would use the approach of what, why, and when.
Our recommendation is that the job description for your next staff hire include at least a half-time focus on Class II activities. Below is a collection of various responsibilities we have seen in the job descriptions of such positions:
• Create new groups in the church that involve both newcomers and nonmembers.
• Nurture a “Great Commission conscience” within the congregation through a variety of activities and emphases (see No. 4, The Side-Door Ministry Rule).
• Monitor involvement levels of new members for the first year of their membership.
• Identify “people groups” of potential new disciples.
• Develop and oversee a process for assimilating new believers into the life of the church.
• Equip church members in various methods of outreach and evangelism.
• Plan, coordinate, and assume an active role in the new member orientation classes.
• Seek to make every church organization and activity an opportunity for outreach.
• Assist the congregation in developing a sensitivity to and increased participation in world missions.
• Utilize mailings and mass media to present an accurate and inviting congregational image to the community.
• Evaluate community needs and church programs from the standpoint of stewardship of resources, and recommend program revisions as needed.
• Develop a process to help members identify their spiritual gifts and use their gifts in meaningful ministries.
• Identify receptive people in the community and build relational connections to them.
• Lead the church in reaching people in the community who are unreached by any other church.
• Lead in developing discipleship programs that will help new believers grow in their faith.
Imagine the positive effect a qualified person on your church staff would have if he or she were focusing on these Class II concerns! The result would be—and will be—an entirely new understanding of mission and purpose in your church and resulting growth in the body of Christ.
Taken from What Every Pastor Should Know: 101 Indispensable Rules of Thumb for Leading Your Church by Gary L. McIntosh and Charles Arn. Copyright © 2013. Used by permission of Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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