You can’t build a flourishing church without quality leaders on your team. So that’s where church staffing services come in; they can be a valuable tool to help you find the perfect hires for your ministry.
When you’re hiring church staff, you don’t just need candidates with the right qualifications and experience, but you also need someone whose beliefs, theology, and personality align with your church culture.
You probably have many other responsibilities, and the process of searching for candidates, interviewing, and hiring can be overwhelming. A church staffing agency could help you save time and avoid turnover.
Below, we’ve put together a list of seven reputable church staffing agencies that can help you find the best fit for your ministry team. We’ll also discuss the pros and cons of using church staffing services.
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
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Why Choose a Church Staffing Service?
A good staffing service will have a database of qualified candidates and do all the legwork of vetting applicants, so you don’t have to. They can also help you find candidates who have the correct skill set and fit with your church’s culture.
This can be a welcome alternative to listing a job on your church website and hoping someone in your congregation has a friend looking for a job!
And, in many cases, they’ll take care of the paperwork and logistics so you can focus on more important things, like the interview. So if you’re looking for a hassle-free way to staff your church, here are a few significant ways a staffing service can help.
- Saving time: Church staffing agencies will do the tedious work of sifting through resumes and applications. Also, many sites will push your job posting out to multiple career sites.
- Broadening the search: Church staffing agencies often have an extensive database of nationwide candidates and access to exclusive job postings. A wide-ranging search gives you a much broader pool of qualified applicants than relying on word of mouth locally.
- Filling multiple positions: Church staffing agencies can help you fill multiple staff openings within your church. This can be especially helpful if you’re planting a church, starting a new campus, or growing rapidly.
- Sharing a neutral opinion: When you’re desperate to fill a position, it’s easy to lower your standards or compromise. Church staffing agencies can provide an objective and critical eye to help you wait for the actual best candidate.
What’s the Difference Between a Staffing Agency and Online Job Board?
The list below contains both professional church staffing agencies and job posting sites. However, there are unmistakable differences between the two.
Staffing firms or placement agencies provide a personal, professional touch. You’ll work with a consultant who will get to know you and your goals for your overall team and the particular hire. This consultant will then work to match candidates with church positions that fit your skills and experience.
These firms typically provide additional benefits like sorting through candidate applications, conducting initial screening interviews, and support and coaching for your staff. They also do staff coaching and can help with other staffing needs like succession or transitioning someone off the team.
In contrast, online job postings provide a database of open positions and sometimes a resume bank. The significant benefit of online job boards over staffing agencies is the cost. Job boards are substantially cheaper, and the pricing is straightforward.
However, the downside of job board sites is that you’ll have to do all the tedious work of sifting through applications. You don’t have anyone dedicated to facilitating the right match, you’re relying on applicants to reach out to you or you’ll need to go after them.
7 Church Staffing Services to Build Your Winning Team
Church staffing services sound like the perfect solution to save time and find your ideal candidate. But with so many options available, how do you know which one to choose? We’ve narrowed down seven church staffing agencies and job sites you may want to consider.
1. Vanderbloemen
One of the most well-known church staffing services out there was founded by William Vanderbloemen. He has 15 years of experience as a pastor plus professional corporate and executive search experience.
In addition to staffing services, the Vanderbloemen podcast, blog, newsletter, and other content are widely distributed among ministry professionals. The team is committed to educating on best practices for healthy HR, hiring, leadership, and team dynamics.
Vanderbloemen is also known for its strong commitment to culture, values, and mission. These principles are at the forefront when providing services which include:
- Executive search
- Staff consulting
- Background check
- Succession consulting
- Compensation and benefits report
- Culture and staff health
Vanderbloemen serves churches, education, family offices, nonprofits, and value-based businesses. Reach out to the team for more information and pricing.
2. Slingshot Group
The Slingshot Group caters to churches and nonprofits. They understand the challenges that churches face when hiring staff and have a team of experts who will help you find the perfect candidate.
An experienced team provides their coaching and church staffing services. The Slingshot Group staffing process has three primary steps:
- Preparation – ministry questionnaire, an onsite visit, and creating a position profile
- Process – connect and search for candidates, interview and evaluate candidates, and present you with qualified applicants
- Placement – prepare the offer, complete background checks, prepare for the new hire’s first day and launch the first 90 days (optional)
They offer several solutions, including executive search, specialized search, succession, coaching, staffing assessments, and compensation consultants. Learn more about their pricing by connecting with the Slingshot Group team.
3. The Shepherd’s Staff
The Shepherd’s Staff is a church staffing service formed in 2006. This team is committed to spending time getting to know you so they can effectively vet candidates and find the right fit for your team.
The average search from discovery session to hire is 4-6 months. The Shepherd’s Staff can also partner with your search committee in the hiring process.
Services provided by Shepherd’s Staff include:
- Retained search
- Discovery assessment
- Opportunity profile
- Training your search team
- Help with releasing people
- Vetting your candidates
- Succession planning
Although you must contact the firm for detailed pricing, they promise to commit to an exact fee with no loopholes for the church staffing services you require.
4. Chemistry Staffing
Co-founded by Todd Rhoades and Matt Steen, Chemistry Staffing has a large team of coaches for both churches and candidates. Chemistry Staffing is committed to helping you attract the right candidates, screen for a healthy long-term fit, and invest wisely in your church’s future.
Over the years, Chemistry Staffing has identified five essentials for a healthy long-term staff fit which include theology, culture/DNA, personality, skills, and chemistry. They’ve found that without matching these criteria, the new hire will be short-term or potentially toxic to your culture.
Some of the unique aspects of Chemistry Staffing include:
- Work is focused solely on churches
- 100% virtual work to save time and money
- An assessment with 125 data points is done on each candidate on the front end
- Affordable flat-rate
- No cost for travel expenses for the firm
- Coaches with a wide range of real-world ministry experience
Chemistry Staffing can help you whether you’re hiring new staff, restructuring your staff, senior pastor succession, or transitioning your current staff.
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation to determine your staffing needs and pricing.
5. Context Staffing
According to their tagline, Context Staffing helps churches hire leaders. Like most church staffing services, Context Staffing provides opportunities for individuals to post their resumes as they look for opportunities and also helps churches to find the right candidates.
The Context Staffing search process includes the following steps:
- Initial call with the team to understand the context search process
- Kick-off meeting
- Building a profile
- Marketing launch
- Proactive recruiting
- Vetting process
- Candidate phase
To connect with your next hire through Context Staffing, visit their “Find a Leader” page and schedule a free consultation.
6. ChurchStaffing.com
Now, let’s move on to a couple of sites that fall more in the church directory category than being a staffing agency per se. The ChurchStaffing.com website contains a large database for job-seekers and churches looking to hire. Jobs are searchable by job title or category, state, and denomination.
Job seekers can sign up for a free account and post one resume for free. The free basic membership also gives exposure to be posted on their partner site preaching.com.
Employers can post single jobs for one to three months or purchase job post bundles of three, six, or 30 job postings. The job post also includes
- Job post syndications – allowing you to reach a wider audience through partner websites.
- Resume database access – ability to access 85,000+ resumes.
- Unlimited applicants – receive applications from job seekers as long as the job is posted with no caps or limits.
Learn more about their church staffing services.
7. ChurchJobsOnline.com
ChurchJobsOnline has been around since 1997. They offer a simple way to search through church job openings by job title, keyword, organization name, or category.
Posting jobs on this site has many benefits, including:
- Promotion of your job on the homepage of ChurchJobsOnline.com and the ChristianCareerCenter.com
- Distribution of your job posting to Indeed.com, Glassdoor.com, SimplyHired.com, ZipRecruiter.com, LinkedIn.com, Google Jobs, Jooble.com, and Adzuna.com
- Integration with Google job search engine
- Free resume access to over 26,000 resumes
- Job postings distributed in newsletters and on social media
- And more
Pricing for a “Featured Job Posting, Resume Access & Bonus Distribution Membership” is currently $99 for one month, $199 for three months, and $299 for twelve months.
You can also post a single limited job posting or purchase a bundle of multiple job postings. Find out more about pricing on the ChurchJobsOnline website.
What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Church Staffing Service
Now that you know a little more about some available church staffing services, it’s time to decide if this is the best plan for your church. There are potential drawbacks to consider if you go this route. Here are three big ones.
Cost
Church staffing services generally charge a percentage of the salary for each position filled which can add up quickly, especially if you’re filling multiple positions. You’ll want to be sure that you have the budget to cover these fees before moving forward and that there are no hidden line items.
Also, make sure you account for additional travel and interview costs for the staffing agency and candidates.
Time
These services can save you time in the long run by finding the right hire who won’t turnover, but there is still an initial investment as you’ll need to meet with the agency and provide them with detailed information about your church and the positions you’re looking to fill.
Be prepared that the hiring process can take six months or more in some cases.
Location
Hiring someone from within your congregation is often the best option. Church members are already committed to your church family and bought into the mission. They’re also planted in the local community and don’t have to relocate and start over.
With these caveats in mind, a church staffing service may still be a great option for you. Especially if you have a limited HR department or you’re looking at making major changes.
The Benefits of Church Staffing Services
In conclusion, church staffing agencies are a great way to find long-term solutions for your church staff’s needs. On your own, you may be tempted to plug open holes with the easiest temporary fix. But when you work with a church staffing agency, you’ll be committed to investing in the process of finding high-caliber candidates.
With patience, you can find a long-term fit for your staff who has the DNA, culture, and skills you need. Building the right team will take your church to the next level and create a thriving community.
