Impulsive Joy

One of the lessons that I learned early on in ministry is that you wear a lot of hats when you work for a church.  Or at least that is what I thought for a very long time.

It never quite made sense to me because I would see fellow directors struggle in one area and really excel in another…. For example, they might love to focus in on the programming aspect of ministry but dread recruiting.  What has a tendency to happen is that people will migrate toward their strengths.  It makes sense really — we gravitate toward the tasks we love and procrastinate — or, in the worst case scenario, avoid altogether — the tasks we dislike.

There is a growing trend where staffing for children’s ministry is taking a new direction.  Rather than have age directors, such as a preschool director or an elementary director, many churches are test driving a staffing structure based on strengths.

The last staffing model I was a part of had 3 departments within children’s ministry that managed babies through 5th grade.

Groups

The Groups team was responsible for recruiting, assimilation and staffing of all our small group leaders and coaches, birth through 5th grade.  Groups also oversaw the small group experience for kids — including the registration process for elementary students.

Programming

This is pretty intuitive.  If there was a stage, it was managed by the Programming team.  They were responsible for recruiting, training and staffing of all tech roles, storytellers, hosts, producers, and prop coordinators.  Our Programming team directed and produced our weekly Family Experience production in addition to the large group environments.

Operations

Our Operations team was responsible for recruiting, training and staffing of our Welcome Center, Operations teams, activity prep and distribution, supplies, check in system and other operational/safety procedures and was a check and balance in maintaining ratios and room capacity.

Even the smallest of ministries can benefit from a strength focused staffing model.  Finding roles that your volunteers and staff will enjoy and excel at will not only set them up for long term success, but it will strengthen all around ministry as well.

What challenges have you found when staffing your ministry?  Have you thought about restructuring you staffing model to allow for people to focus in on a role rather than have to wear multiple hats?