How Many Team Members Does Your Church Really Need?

How many staff members does your church truly need to thrive? We're tackling this complex and often daunting question head-on. Join Todd Rhoades, co-founder of ChemistryStaffing.com, on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast as we challenge common myths about church staffing. Do traditional staff-to-member ratios really hold up? Is a bigger team always better? You'll find out why these assumptions might be leading you astray.

In this episode, we provide research-backed insights and actionable tips to guide you in determining the ideal number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) for your church. Learn how to balance your budget effectively, aiming for personnel costs between 45-55% of your overall budget, and discover how weekly attendance figures can offer a ballpark range for staffing needs. Most importantly, we emphasize the significance of aligning your staff size with your church's unique core ministries and programs. Whether your congregation is small or large, this episode is packed with valuable guidance to help you achieve a healthy, effective ministry team.

Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com

Be sure to subscribe to The Healthy Church Staff Podcast wherever you regularly listen to podcasts.

- - - - -

Is Your Church Hiring?
If your church is searching for a new staff member, reach out to Todd for a conversation on how he might be able to help.

Are You Looking for a New Ministry Role?
If you are open to a new church role in the next few months, add your free resume and profile at ChemistryStaffing.com.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Hey, welcome to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Today we're going to tackle a question that's as common as it is complex how many staff members should our church really have? Hi there, my name is Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders of overchemistrystaffingcom and your host here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. It's a question that keeps many leaders up at night. If you have too few staff, you run the risk of burnout and missed opportunities, but if you have too many staff and you strain your budget and create inefficiency. So how do you find that sweet staffing spot, or staffing sweet spot? I guess you should say I'm going to give you the consultant answer here first of all, and then we'll dig in a little bit. There's no one size fits all answer. The ideal staff size for your church depends on a bunch of different factors, including your church's size and your budget and your vision and your community contacts. But don't worry, I'm not going to leave you hanging. Let's dive into some kind of some research-backed insights and practical tips to help you determine, hopefully at least the right number range of FTEs or full-time equivalents for your ministry team.

Speaker 1: 1:16

Okay, so first let's debunk some of the common myths. All right, myth number one there's three of them here. Myth number one is hey, there's a magic ratio. You might've heard the 71 to 75 to one ratio, 75 members per one full-time staff, equivalent a staff member or similar benchmarks. And while these can be helpful starting points, they're not hard and fast rules for every church, because every church, your church, every church is unique. Okay, so that's myth number one, that there's a magic ratio. Put that out of your head. Myth number two is bigger is always better. More staff does not always automatically equal more effectiveness. In fact, sometimes overstaffing can lead to redundancy and inefficiency and even conflict. Bigger staffs are more people, more personalities, and they can produce more conflict. Bigger isn't always better. That's myth number two. And then myth number three is that small churches can't afford staff. Even small churches can benefit from having staff. Now, sometimes those can be shared staff positions, sometimes those can be part-time staff positions, sometimes they're just very key volunteers. I get that, but sometimes, when you're smaller and you don't have a large budget and you need or you'd love to have a staff member, there may be some creative ways to go about it. All right. So those are the myths.

Speaker 1: 2:38

How do you actually determine the right size for your church staff. Here are a few factors to consider. Well, the first is budget. You have to be realistic, obviously, about your financial resources. Your staff budget normally typically should fall somewhere between 45 and 55 percent at least that's the average of your overall budget. Should be personnel costs 45 to 55 percent%. I've seen some really lean staff staffed churches that are 35 to 40%. I've seen some overly staffed churches that are 65, 70%. That can be really unhealthy, but be realistic. If you're in that 45 to 55 percent, I always like to tell churches if you can keep it under 50, man, that really allows you a little bit of buffer room to do ministry All right. So budget is your first determiner. The second is attendance and while this isn't perfect, your weekly attendance can give you a general idea of your staffing needs, can give you a general idea of your staffing needs. Churches with a few hundred attendees might have three to four full-time equivalents, while larger churches 10 or more. Some churches have 50 or 100 when they're really large. Attendance isn't the perfect indicator but it can give you kind of a general idea and you can check with other churches about your size and compare the number of staff that you have to the number of staff that they have to see if you're wonky in that area.

Speaker 1: 4:06

Number three is ministry priorities. What are your church's core ministries and programs? Each area may require a dedicated staff member or a team to drive. There are churches that are just incredibly almost over-programmed or they are over-programmed and it takes a huge volunteer base or a huge staff base just to manage those ministries. Other churches are hey, we're going to keep the main thing and we may have worship ministries and youth ministries and small groups, and that might be it. So if your church has just a few core ministries, that can maybe mean you can get away with a little bit less staff. If you're a highly programmed, you can get away with a little bit less staff. If you're a highly programmed church, you might need a little bit more.

Speaker 1: 4:47

Number four volunteer base. How active are your volunteers? Are you a volunteer-driven church? Are you a staff-driven church? If you are a volunteer-driven church and you have a really strong volunteer base and they're very active, you can accomplish a lot more with a smaller staff. If you are very much staff driven, then you have to hire staff or change to more of a volunteer type of a base.

Speaker 1: 5:13

And then, lastly, what are your growth goals? Are you planning to launch new ministries? Do you want to expand your reach? Do you want to plan a new campus? These initiatives, things like this, may require additional staff to support your growth and a lot of churches will call us hey, we're staffing for growth and you can do that for a short period of time. You can't do that for a long period of time.

Speaker 1: 5:37

Usually, churches that are staffing for growth are kind of pushing it out. They want to grow, they want to try new things, they want to do new things. So they're hiring probably more staff than they normally would if they weren't gearing up for growth and they're probably in most cases pushing the top percentage of what that budget is. So if normal is 45 to 55 percent, if you're really being aggressive in staffing for growth, it's going to be probably well above that 55% for a season. Like I said, you can do that for a season a lot of times if you're healthy financially, but you can't do that for a long, long term.

Speaker 1: 6:16

Those are kind of some considerations, but remember, staffing is just not about the numbers. As a matter of fact, it's more important that you find the right people for the right roles and you need to find individuals that are passionate about your mission and aligned with your values and gifted in the areas where your church needs support. Matter of fact, a smaller staff that's really dialed in and really on course with you and your church and your mission. A small, dedicated team like that can be much better than a larger team that's all over the place. So here's your bottom line. Unfortunately, there's no magic formula for determining the perfect staff size. I wish there was man, I would write a book and I'd make a million dollars. But if you consider your budget and your attendance and your ministry priorities, your volunteer base and your growth goals, you can make a pretty informed decision that will help your church to strive.

Speaker 1: 7:15

Now, if you're listening and you're saying, todd, I still thanks for making everything much muddier. If you're struggling with some staffing decisions or you need some help evaluating your current team, that's what I do and what we do over at Chemistry Staffing. So please don't hesitate anytime to reach out to me. I'd love to be able to have a conversation with you and see if there's any way that I can serve your church. Reach out to me anytime. The email address is podcast at chemistrystaffing, and I am here to help you, however I can. So remember your staff many times is your most valuable asset. So invest wisely, hire strategically and create a team that's not just the right size but also the right fit for your church and for your unique ministry content. Okay again, need anything? Reach out to me. Podcastchemistrystaffingcom. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back here again tomorrow. I hope you'll join me on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Have a great day.