There’s an area of ministry that many churches really struggle with today. It’s an area they actually pay money for and openly advertise without the slightest hint of shame or remorse. It’s an area where the consciences of many churches have been seared as with a hot iron so they’re no longer capable of feeling the immediate pain… pain that would undoubtedly prevent catastrophic results down the road.
The area many churches struggle with is the process of hiring and firing ministry staff.
The FIRST tragic trend in hiring and firing ministry staff is that many churches hand off this essential church ministry to secular companies such as Shepherd’s Staffing, Celebration Staffing, Chemistry Staffing, Vanderbloeman Staffing, et.al.
While these secular companies don’t do the actual hiring, they are responsible for whittling down the candidate pool to either a single individual or a handful of “viable” options. In theory, it might sound amazing, but so did the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even though Scripture reveals the enemy masquerades as an angel of light... while prowling around looking to devour ministry by stealing, killing, and destroying... many of us don't truly live as if we believe it. There's an insurmountable gap between removing ALL the high places in our lives versus merely the ones we can live without.
Imagine if Samuel had chosen to hand off his God-given responsibility of locating and anointing the next king of Israel to a secular company because his kid had a soccer game or music lessons. Imagine if the Grecian Jews of Acts 6 had outsourced the God-ordained ministry, which the Apostles charged specifically to them, simply because they had other social obligations, demonstrating their willful choice to ignore the invitation to the wedding banquet (Matthew 22).
If either the prophet Samuel or the Grecian Jews of Acts 6 had hired outsiders to handle their ministry, the outsiders would have had their own challenges and contemporary issues to deal with: nepotism, bribes, political corruption, political correctness, inclusion & diversity standards, etc. Judgments would have unavoidably been swayed by all kinds of personal, emotional, political, and theological biases and baggage - whether conscious or subconscious.
In Samuel’s case, the selection process would have ended up being a dog and pony show of superficially “qualified” candidates as Jesse’s sons were paraded (1 Samuel 16:10). Meanwhile, David, God’s choice, was completely excluded from consideration. David was busy tending to the flock.
In the case of Acts 6, had the Grecian Jews handed off their responsibility of vetting and selecting deacons to others, then the group of candidates selected would have undoubtedly been nothing more than Pharisees rather than men full of The Spirit and wisdom. The outsiders would have ended up choosing the same kind of men who killed Jesus rather than choosing Stephen.
Like it or not, the truth is that outsiders, i.e. secular organizations, regardless of all their experience, tools, tricks, and tests - are not equipped to do the work of Christ's Bride. They will never ever land on God's choice. They will always choose the Sauls and the Eliabs and will never choose the Davids and Stephens - ever. Despite this profound truth, many churches today tragically hand off the privilege of ministry staffing to these professional secular organizations.
Without David being selected as King... all of humanity would have been doomed. We wouldn’t have the majority of the Psalms, including Psalm 23. There would be no story of David's victory over Goliath and the Philistines. We’d have no kingship, no temple, no Solomon, and no promise of the Everlasting Messiah coming from David’s royal line. We’d have never heard or known about this incredible man after God’s own heart.
Without the early church accepting the Apostles' challenge and embracing their ministry of selecting deacons, Stephen would have never been selected. We’d know nothing about Stephen's boldness in the face of opposition, and his martyrdom. The church would have never exploded with exponential growth.
Without Stephen, Saul wouldn’t have wasted his time persecuting a small, divided, insignificant group of religious crybabies who were divided over who got more chicken nuggets. Without Stephen, Christians would have never been considered a threat. They would have never been persecuted. They would never have been dispersed throughout the entire known world. The Gospel would have never left Jerusalem.
Without Stephen, Saul would have never wasted his time pursuing “Followers of The Way” (Christians) as far as Damascus. Saul would have never encountered Christ on the Damascus road, and he would never have been born-again as The Apostle Paul. Without Paul, the greatest missionary who ever lived (apart from Christ Himself), the majority of the New Testament would have never been written.
Without the early church devoting themselves to the God-ordained ministry of vetting candidates for themselves, rather than handing it off to outsiders, Christianity would have undoubtedly withered in the face of persecution and fizzled out within a few months or years.
But Christianity didn’t fizzle out. It exploded with exponential growth because the people of God have always taken seriously the ministry of The Holy Spirit in their lives and within the life of Christ's Church. Christ's Body and Bride doesn't hand off our ministry obligation to outsiders because NOTHING - not careers, businesses, education, kids’ sports, hobbies, personal dreams, private aspirations, or anything else will ever take precedence or priority over our devotion to Christ, to the ministry of the Gospel, and to one another. They didn’t take the shortcut of outsourcing God-ordained ministry given exclusively to them, and neither should we.
The SECOND tragic trend in hiring and firing is that many churches are reluctant (or flat-out refuse) to admit they got it wrong.
When - after all the hype and hoopla - it turns out the person hired is a total bust, rather than simply accepting it, owning it, ripping off the bandaid, and moving on… our inflated, prideful, religious egos often get in the way.
After all the hoops jumped through - the Zoom calls, interviews, questionnaires, obstacles navigated, backgrounds checked, ink blot tests, drug tests, fitness tests, personality tests, lie detector tests, biblical knowledge tests, biblical qualifications... after all the rituals, ceremonies, and secret handshakes performed… after all that, it’s impossible for us to even fathom that maybe we missed it. Maybe we got it… (insert dramatic gasp) wrong!
The hiring and firing of ministry staff is an area many churches struggle with because of sin. The sin of spiritual lethargy on the front end and the sin of prideful egos on the back end are deeply embedded and entrenched in our religious systems and traditions. These are just a couple of subtle “high places” of idol worship within the contemporary church.
When churches today hand off the privilege of hiring ministry staff to secular organizations, those employed will inevitably select the “King Sauls” and “Jesse’s sons” of the world based on their externals: interview skills, charm, connections, charisma, GPAs, or how many letters they have in front of or behind their names - rather than based on hearts surrendered to God demonstrated through an indisputable call to shepherding His flock and feeding His lambs.
The same churches that hand off hiring ministry staff to secular organizations will inevitably wonder why their ministry staff is disconnected. They wonder why their ministries are impotent, why established families leave, why new families don't stay, and why their congregations deteriorate as they conform more and more to the pattern of the world: not addressing ALL the high places, serving secular idols even while worshipping, and sacrificing their children to the gods of culture - all the while rocketing down the wide path that leads to destruction.
Just as the religious leaders of Jesus’ day chose to murder Him rather than give up their traditions and cushy seats in the Synagogue, many Christians and churches do the very same today. The solution is simple: the local church must devote itself to Christ, His Church, and His Mission. We must take full ownership of ALL our divine responsibilities, including the hiring of ministry staff. No more handing it off to professional outsiders.
Grace and Peace,
Kevin M. Kelley
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