Should we allow/encourage paid church staff to do outside work?
Dave Travis
Coaching Leading Churches and Leaders to Multiply Ministry Momentum in Succession Situations
The question came through our Executive Pastor forum call that my colleague Greg Ligon leads every week. (to get more information on that – contact?[email protected])
One XP asked –?“a staff member also wants to add an outside part-time job because they feel they can’t make it on what we pay. They are a good team member, and we don’t want to lose them. They didn’t ask for a raise, and we think we pay well. What should we do?”
It was a good discussion, and please don’t read any legal advice into the following statements. Each state is different.
There have also been articles during the current remote work era claiming that some (non-church) employees have been working two full-time jobs without employer knowledge. When they investigated, though, there was no legal prohibition in their agreements from them doing so.
One of the first questions asked was:?Could we even prevent it if we wanted? Would a team member even be required to inform you as the current employer? In many staff positions, is there such a thing as work hours and non-work hours? Do we make distinctions between pastors and other staff?
I found an old document where I answered this for another church some years ago.?Perhaps it will be helpful.
Some Historical Context
Only in the past 100 years have we seen the advent of a multiplication of paid staff positions, even in larger churches. While large churches 100 years ago had building personnel and administrative staff, key positions that are now full-time pastoral or director staff were once the province of volunteers.
Remember that most churches in the U.S. and Canada have a long tradition of bi-vocational ministry.?In these cases, ministry leaders were expected to pay their primary bills from other work, and ministry was a calling that received some remuneration but not a “full-time” job.
Today we live in a different time. Many of the larger churches we serve have sizeable full-time staff. Some are provided with adequate salaries, benefits, and working conditions.
Let us also assume we are talking primarily about full-time pastoral staff and key ministry directors who receive full-time pay and benefits from the church. In some cases, the same standards apply to administrative assistant roles where a full-time agreement is in place.
Three Stances
In general, after reviewing the policies and from numerous conversations over the years with Lead and Executive pastors:
Discouraged:
This stance holds that being on the staff of this church is an honor and privilege. Because we expect pastors and key staff to be available almost 100% of the time to conduct ministry and critical functions that anyone else cannot cover.?In these cases, the church discourages any outside income-producing activity.
I would say?this was much more prevalent 20 years ago with our clients than it is now.?Even in those cases, a few incidental income things were exceptions.
I remember where one person was an expert fishing fly tier who sold flies to area fishers. Another case was a person whose “hobby” was old car restoration and who used those restorations to fund their kid’s college tuition. While officially discouraged by their primary employers, everyone was aware of the skills of the two people, and it was agreed that this incidental and irregular income stream was ok. Part of that is that I think the fly-tier’s supervisor was his best customer!
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Permitted:
This stance holds that it is?allowed with proper permission and guidelines.?It becomes an issue between team members, supervisors, and the church's leadership.
The guidelines vary significantly among the churches. This will be discussed in my next issue. But issues arise when there seem to be inconsistencies between what upper-level staff are granted vs. other staff.?In some cases, outside paid ministry is permitted, but paid commercial activities are not.
Encouraged:
This stance encourages full-time staff to develop other income-generating streams. This stance recognizes that other organizations and companies also desire many skills that make solid staff team members. Those with this stance believe that their team member interaction in these other fields helps the church’s overall ministry. It is also believed that this helps retain high-performing staff by allowing this type of work.
One Executive Pastor mentioned a team member that does woodworking, building custom tables, cabinets, and the like. This person does this during the evenings and does not detract from their paid staff work.
Similarly, one said they had a staff member who was an excellent photographer who did several weddings and special events a year that did not take them away from their role at all.
Others mentioned consulting with other churches in areas of expertise. This was encouraged as long as it was limited appropriately to the time spent away from the church field.?“That leader takes their paid time off to do so. It would be a problem if they always flew off elsewhere instead of serving here.”
I observed that the “permitted” stance is currently the predominant stance among larger churches. Encouraged is also catching on with some guidelines provided by the church.
For those churches that tend to be in the “Encouraged” or “Permitted” camps, there are other questions in consideration.
In part two, I will discuss some other considerations. That will come in two weeks.
I do my best thinking when I take client questions, consider them for a while, and try to formulate an answer for them in writing. So if you have a question, send it on, and perhaps soon you will see it in Church Leader Insider!
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I’ve worked on this issue since 1995 with larger churches working with long-term pastor-led churches across dozens of denominations and traditions. I’ve worked personally and privately with over 180 congregations, their pastors, and leaders to help them continue their momentum through the next leader and their mutual journey. These are not mere conversations but ongoing relationships and consultations to help the system move down the tracks at a deliberate pace toward good outcomes.