Your Next Job

Dear Pastor

Your Next Job

How things have changed in the recruitment of Pastors. Back when some of us started in pastoral ministry (in the 70’s and 80’s) there was a strong emphasis on the idea of calling. It was this mostly unspoken idea that God will call you to a specific ministry position and when He does, you say, I will. The implication was as follows:

• Don’t ask to many questions
• God will take care of the details
• The family will adjust
• When God calls He will lead and provide.
• All will be well

The result of this thinking was that pastors were ‘invited’ or today we might say ‘shoulder tapped’ to consider a new position. Vacancies were rarely advertised. Personally I found the whole process was shrouded in mystery and very few pastors I met actually applied this. I certainly didn’t. In practise pastors who were considering new positions did a lot of ‘due diligence’ (DD). They asked a lot of questions, checked out housing, schools for the kids, employment opportunities for the spouse, proximity to the coast (I kid you not) etc. Not to say anything about questions to do with the job itself including salary and allowances. So, we talked about a call (which of course sounded very spiritual) but in reality we practised a normal recruitment process which came from the field of Human Resource Management.

Today vacant or new ministry positions are most often advertised and that includes overseas missions positions/jobs. Typically it works like this.

1. The Employer prepares a bunch of papers including a comprehensive profile of the church and a job description (JD). Over the years I have seen lots and lots of JD’s. Honestly in most cases not even Jesus would qualify.
2. The employer advertises publicly (open field) but may also send the ad to one or two people that they think might be interested. A low key shoulder tapping if you like but no promises.
3. Interested people ‘express their interest’ and ask for all documents.
4. If the documents read well and after some personal research, prayer and conversation the prospective employee might formally apply.
5. Employer now does DD on each candidate including comprehensive reference checking.
6. Employer short lists if they are fortunate enough to have more than one potentially good candidate.
7. Interviews.
8. Recruitment decision.

Here’s my advise if you are looking at a new job.

1. Adopt a no surprises approach. What I mean is that both you and the employer are committed to 100% transparency. Each must ‘tell the truth’. No fudging issues.
2. As you are the one picking up sticks and moving you should take your time and ask any question you want. And when you think you’ve exhausted all the questions ask some more.
3. You need crystal clarity around the ‘employers expectations’ of you AND your spouse and the terms and conditions of the position.
4. You should feel completely free to ask for some things to change and/or be put in place should you agree to come if you felt that was necessary.
5. On the really important stuff have it written up and agreed to. You may need this document down the track sometime.
6. Get a decent sized notebook and fill it with your observations, questions and concerns.

Remember, moving to a new town or city with a family is a big deal. Some teenagers and even pre-teens don’t handle a move well. Actually, some wives don’t handle it all that well either. You just can’t afford to get it wrong.

Finally. Pray without ceasing that God will show you through this process what He wants you to do.

Blessings
Alan

Announcement
I would like to commend the Family Forum to you on Friday 9th July in Auckland. Bob McCoskrie always puts together a great day of interesting speakers and challenging topics that speak right into some of the big issues facing us as Christians and as a nation.

Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.