Inside the Large Congregation by Beaumont Susan;

Author:Beaumont, Susan; [Susan Beaumont]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion
ISBN: 1674095
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Unlimited Model
Published: 2011-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

When these three sets of conditions are met, volunteers can and do function effectively as members of a staff team.

How Large Is Big Enough?

Meadowbrook Presbyterian Church is in the midst of a staffing assessment. Leaders have decided it is time to do an in-depth analysis of the staff team to determine if it is the right size and appropriately configured to serve the new strategic plan. The personnel committee has gathered with several members of the session, the senior pastor, and the church consultant to talk about their hopes for the assessment and their concerns about the present structure.

As the dialogue opens, it quickly becomes apparent that leaders have some high-level concern about the percentage of the operating budget that is devoted to salary and benefits. Leaders begin to tell the story about the glory days of the church (back in the 1960s) when the congregation sent half of its annual operating budget to local and overseas mission. As leaders talk about the congregation’s historic commitment to a 50/50 split of the operating budget, it becomes clear that many still think of this as an attainable ideal. “If we get healthy and all is right with the world again, we should be able to get back to this number.”

Today, Meadowbrook’s membership and attendance are about half of what they were back in those glory days. Payroll expense consumes 53 percent of the operating budget, and missional support has been reduced to 15 percent. The staff team has already been through two significant downsizings in the past five years, but the church has not eliminated any programming or ministry in those years. Each reduction in staff has carried with it the expectation that existing staff will somehow carry on, and staff members are exhausted. At the end of the day, everyone wants to know, “How many staff do we really need to run a congregation of this size, and how much should it cost us? Are the old ideals we cling to even attainable anymore?”

Many factors influence the size of a staff team. Among these are attendance, the size of the operating budget, growth or decline rate, affluence of the community, geographical location, denominational affiliation, and the age of the church. The first two factors, attendance and operating budget, are the two factors most frequently cited when people talk about the size of a staff team. Specifically, how many paid staff do we need given the size of our active membership (typically represented by average weekend worship attendance)? And what percentage of our budget should be dedicated to payroll-related expenses?

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