By Warren Bird (brought to you by MAG Bookkeeping)
Larger churches are known for long-tenure senior pastors. Indeed, it’s quite an impressive number of years in office that the average (median) senior/lead pastor of a North American Protestant church has served, according to Leadership Network data:
- 24 years for churches 10,000 and higher in weekly worship,
- 20 years for churches 5,000-9,999 in weekly worship,
- 16 years for churches 1,000-4,999 in weekly worship.
But what about the staff that support these senior pastors? They too have significant tenures, especially when compared to their counterparts in the marketplace. The average tenure for fulltime paid staff in larger churches is 6.7 years, according to a research project fielded by Leadership Network. This average is longer than in most occupations, whether the public or the private sector, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This and other helpful insights come from a short, richly illustrated report titled, “Inside Job: Large Church HR Directors Offer Unique Perspectives on Their Work,” by Warren Bird, brought to you by MAG Bookkeeping. The information comes from a 2016 Leadership Network survey.
Other issues researched by Leadership Network and featured in the report include:
- whether bigger churches have higher or lower staff turnover rates,
- the kinds of churches where staff tend to be younger,
- how long the typical staff search takes,
- what percent of staff are hired internally,
- and the best sources for finding new staff.
The report is a free download available here:
