How to Write the Perfect Senior Pastor Job Description (4 Simple Steps!)

Creating effective job descriptions is essential for churches looking to hire the right candidates, especially for senior pastor roles. By focusing on aligning mission and vision, clearly defining responsibilities, setting realistic qualifications, and outlining the application process, churches can enhance their hiring efforts.

• Importance of starting with the church's vision and mission
• Need to focus on five key areas of responsibility instead of excessive detail
• Setting realistic qualifications to attract a broader candidate pool
• Clear next steps for candidates and the significance of application details
• Invitation for listener feedback on hiring challenges and support offered

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Chapters

• 0:08 Crafting Effective Church Job Descriptions
• 10:05 Navigating Church Hiring Challenges

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Today we're going to talk about job descriptions. Did you know, for example, that the right senior pastor job description can make or break your church's hiring process? Same goes with worship pastor, youth pastor. All those job descriptions make a huge difference. I mean, if they're too vague, you're going to attract the wrong candidates. If they're too detailed, you might scare off the right ones. But don't worry, I got you covered. We're going to talk about that today. We're going to break down how to craft, in this case, the best senior pastor job description in four simple steps. I hope you'll stick around until the end.

Speaker 1: 0:41

And this is the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. My name is Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom, and today we're talking about job descriptions, one of everybody's favorite topics. Right, probably not, but job descriptions are really, really important, and I'm going to tell you how to write a really really good job description in four easy steps. All right, so let's get to it. First of all, step one you got to start with your church's vision and mission, so before you even start to jump into job responsibilities, don't even go there yet. Your job description should clearly define who your church is and where it's going. The problem is, a lot of churches don't know who they are and they sure don't know where they're going. So problem is, a lot of churches don't know who they are and they sure don't know where they're going. So this could be a time of introspection, and I think that's actually a good thing. Whenever you're getting ready to hire a new staff person, you should really be introspective about who you are as a church, where you're going and what you need. Because here's the truth the right candidate needs to see if their calling aligns with your church's vision and your church's mission, and you need to know what that mission is. You can't even start, don't think about hiring somebody if you don't know what your church's mission is. So here's what you need to include in step one you need to include a short paragraph about your church's history, about your church's theology and about their core values. So let me give you an example here. This could be something that could be in this first example. You know, grace Community Church is a growing Bible-based church in Tuscaloosa that exists to make disciples and impact our community through authentic worship and outreach Right. So why does this matter and this is I'm just throwing this out there as as as an example. Why does this matter?

Speaker 1: 2:33

Candidates need to know if they resonate with your church culture before they even apply. Okay, matter of fact, you want them to do that because if they don't resonate with your mission and your vision and your values, you don't want them to do that, because if they don't resonate with your mission and your vision and your values, you don't want them to apply. It's just going to be noise okay and it's going to make your job much harder because you're going to have to look at a lot more resumes. So here's a pro tip Avoid using generic language like we love Jesus and we serve people. You know, every church says that. Hopefully, every church loves people and they want to serve people.

Speaker 1: 3:05

Instead, I want you to try and really zone in and highlight what makes your church unique in your city. Okay, so that is step number one, which you have to start with your church's vision and your mission. Okay, I said there were four steps. Here's step number two. I need you, in step number two, to clearly define responsibilities and expectations. Okay, so let's take the senior pastor, for example. A great senior pastor job description is going to balance clarity and flexibility. So here's what you need to do Instead of listing I've seen a lot of job descriptions and you don't want to do this Instead of listing 25-plus tasks, focus on, say, five top areas of responsibility and define what success looks like in this rule.

Speaker 1: 3:55

Break it down into categories, like again, we're talking senior pastor here. Preaching and teaching could be lead biblically sound, engaging sermons weekly Okay. Number two could be leadership and vision casting Provide spiritual direction for staff and ministry teams. Number three could be pastoral care. You know, shepherd the congregation through counseling, through visitations and discipleship. Community engagement, connect with local community and represent the church well. And then administration and team management oversee church staff finances and strategic planning. So, rather than listing out very specific 25 bullet points of all these random areas and specific things that you need your next senior pastor to do, put them into five areas. You're still able to put a lot of different things in those five areas, but here's the pro tip for you on this one okay, I got a pro tip for each one of these. Yeah, you'll love it when you're writing this.

Speaker 1: 4:57

Avoid micromanaging the job description. So, instead of saying things like update the church website weekly, say, ensure effective communication of church activities and vision. So you want to make it a little bit more encompassing, all-encompassing, and a little bit less micromanagement. Okay, if that makes sense, all right, so that's number two. Number three management. Okay, if that makes sense, all right, so that's number two. Number three set clear qualifications. All right, here's the deal.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Without overloading requirements, one of the biggest mistakes churches can make is they write this job description for a super pastor role that nobody can realistically fulfill. We do a lot of worship searches and when we see a job description that's like this, the super pastor we say that this church is looking, we call it Jesus with a guitar. They're looking for Jesus with a guitar. Perfect, but man, he can shred it right. So must have qualifications.

Speaker 1: 6:03

You need to have a deep, growing relationship with Jesus. You need to have strong preaching and we're back on the senior pastor strong preaching and teaching ability. You need a proven leadership experience in a church setting, things like alignment with your church's theological beliefs. Those are the must-haves, okay. And then you can have some preferred but not required sections okay. Again, it makes it look like you're not micromanaging and that you've got these must-haves. Don't even apply, don't even consider applying, if you don't have these things. But then there's some preferred things and I think this kind of speaks to your church's openness and what you're looking for. You know, preferred but not required could be things like an advanced theological degree, but it's not a deal breaker. It could be experience leading a multi-staff team. It could be a track record of church growth and community outreach Okay, so here's your pro tip here.

Speaker 1: 7:03

Community outreach Okay, so here's your pro tip here. If you require 15 plus years of experience and a PhD and fluency in Greek, your candidate pool, it goes from this all the way down to, you know, just a tiny dribble right. So you got to keep it realistic. The number of churches that are 50 people that are looking for somebody with a DMIN and they want to pay $35,000 is immense. There are a lot of churches that are looking for that and I tell you what, when you put that in your job description, you're going to have a hard time attracting any candidates at all. So be realistic. All right, step number four and I told you there were four, so we are on the last one.

Speaker 1: 7:47

You got to make your next steps clear. You know, a job description isn't just about what you expect. It should also tell candidates what to do next if they're interested. Okay, the most important thing is how do you apply? Okay, that's the next step. They're reading the job description. You're. You want them to take the next step.

Speaker 1: 8:05

The next step in a job description, or at least a job posting, is always how do I apply? You know, provide an email or a website where candidates can submit their applications. And what to include. You need to include your resume, preaching samples, maybe a brief doctrinal statement, but those are things that you're going to want to ask for specifically. Those are the next steps. And then let them know what the hiring timeline is. Let them know when you'd expect to start interviews, when you expect when you hope to hire somebody, what the time is.

Speaker 1: 8:43

So here could be an example closing line. You know, if you feel called to serve as a senior pastor at Grace Community Church, we'd love to hear from you. Please send your resume, a brief doctrinal statement and a preaching sample to podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. Now my email box is going to be filled with people that want to be the senior pastor at Grace Community Church. That's okay. I would love to talk with you. But here's your pro tip here If your church is using a hiring firm like Chemistry, link to the application page to streamline the process.

Speaker 1: 9:17

So you're always going to want to put this on your website. You're always going to want to promote this as well, but make sure, if you're working with a staffing firm, that you always kind of put that application page on your job description so that those people move on through the right processes that you've already set up. Okay, so with those four steps, you should be equipped to craft a really powerful, clear and effective job description. I hopefully shared some things with you that will help make it better. Matter of fact, if you take these four steps and apply them when you're writing your job, or take your current job description and kind of overlay these four steps on top of it and make your tweaks from there, it's going to make a huge difference.

Speaker 1: 10:05

I would love to hear from you, though, as you're thinking about hiring, as you're thinking about job descriptions, what's the biggest challenge that your church has faced in hiring? It might be finding candidates, it might be writing the job description. It might be you know how do we know what to pay, all of those kind of things. Those are things that I would love to hear, what your church is struggling with, if there's any way that I can help. I would love to be able to come alongside you and partner with you. That's what I do in my work at Chemistry Staffing.

Speaker 1: 10:37

You can reach out to me anytime podcast at chemistrystaffingcom and I would love to hear from you. Tell me kind of where you are in this process and if there's any way I can help. Just let me know If you're currently searching for a pastor. Let's connect Love to do a free strategy call with you. We can do that anytime and you can catch me again podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. All right, thanks so much. Hope you'll join me again. Always enjoy spending time, always enjoy talking with you here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. We're here every Monday through Friday, so I hope you'll join me again right here tomorrow.