Protecting Your Ministry During the Hiring Process
Hiring a new staff member to your ministry team is both exciting and anxiety inducing, all at the same time. You develop a vision for what the right person could accomplish, but simultaneously weigh the frustration and cultural disruption that will ensue if you pick the wrong one. This tension often leads ministries to rely on instinct, hoping for the best.
That approach, however, leaves your ministry exposed to unnecessary risks, from legal challenges to a toxic team culture. The best way to find the right person and protect your organization is through a thoughtful, structured, and compliant hiring process. It's not about being overly corporate. It's about being a wise steward of the people, resources, and culture God has entrusted to you.
Creating a Legally Compliant Job Description
The foundation of any good hiring process is a well-crafted job description. This document does more than just list tasks; it sets clear expectations for the role and serves as a legal benchmark for hiring decisions. It is your first and best tool for defining what success looks like for a new team member.
Your job description should accurately detail the position's essential functions: the core duties the person holding the job must be able to perform. This is a vital component of ADA compliance, as it focuses on a candidate's ability to perform the job, with or without reasonable accommodation. Vague or inaccurate descriptions only lead to confusion and poor candidate fit down the line. Remember, even if you're being descriptive, the language you use matters! Writing compliant job descriptions also means avoiding phrasing that could be interpreted as discriminatory. (Check out this article to unlock the full potential of your job descriptions and attract the right candidates while staying legally sound!)
Where and How to Post Your Church's Job Opening Fairly
Once you have a solid job description, decide where to post it. While it may be tempting to rely solely on word-of-mouth or an announcement in your organization’s newsletter, this can inadvertently lead to a narrow candidate pool and even raise discrimination concerns.
To align with Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) principles, post your opening in a variety of places including your ministry's website, denominational publications, or online job boards. (We really love the ministry-specific staffing services Chemistry Staffing and Church Staffing are doing!) The broader your reach, the more qualified individuals are given opportunity to apply!
Reviewing Applications Without Bias
As applications start rolling in, your goal is to review them consistently and fairly. Unconscious bias can easily creep into this process, leading you to favor candidates who seem familiar or have a similar background to your own. Don’t make this mistake and end up overlooking highly qualified individuals and can bring diversity and new ideas to the table.
To actively combat this, create a simple scorecard or checklist based on the required qualifications in your job description. Evaluate every employment application against these same objective criteria. This structured approach helps ensure your candidate assessment is based on skills and experience, not gut feelings.
Take time to review each candidate's alignment with your beliefs. As a faith-based nonprofit, you can require employees, especially those in ministerial roles, to agree to your Statement of Faith or abide by a Staff Lifestyle Agreement, but it’s key that those beliefs are backed up by documented Scripture references and consistently to all applicants for that specific role.
Making this a part of the application process ensures transparency. Candidates understand your ministry's convictions from the start, and you gain consistent standards for evaluation.
How to Conduct Effective and Legal Interviews
The interview is your chance to go beyond the candidate’s resume and assess their character, skills, and potential fit within your team's culture. A structured interview process, where you ask all candidates for a specific role the same core set of questions, is the best way to make fair comparisons.
Focus on questions that ask candidates to share specific examples from their past experiences that reveal behavioral patterns. Questions like, "Tell me about a time you had to handle a conflict with a coworker," or "Describe a project you managed from start to finish," provide real insight into how a person actually performs.
This method helps you gather concrete data for assessing ministry fit, beyond just a personality match. It shows you how a candidate's past behavior aligns with the values and demands of this role and your organization.
Interview Questions That Could Put Your Ministry at Risk
While trying to get to know a candidate, there are still certain topics that are off-limits. Federal and state discrimination laws protect applicants from being asked questions about their age, race, gender, national origin, disability, or religion (unless it’s a bona fide occupational qualification for a ministerial role). Straying into these areas, even accidentally, can expose your ministry to legal claims.
To conduct legal interview questions, focus solely on the applicant's ability to perform the job's essential functions. Many well-intentioned interviewers make the mistake of asking seemingly innocent questions that are actually illegal, and avoiding these common hiring errors is a major step in protecting your ministry.
Here are examples of questions to avoid:
Are you married or do you have children?
What year did you graduate high school?
Do you have any disabilities or health conditions?
Where are you from originally?
Who watches your kids during the day?
Are you planning to have kids?
(You can read more about our most seen hiring mistakes and how to prevent them on this blog!)
Best Practices for Background and Reference Checks
Before hiring, it is important to conduct thorough due diligence through background and reference checks. These two processes serve different but complementary purposes, and provide a final layer of protection for your ministry.
Reference checks involve speaking with a candidate's former supervisors to verify their work history and performance. Do this before making a formal job offer. Prepare job-related questions ahead of time, focusing on topics like their strengths, areas for growth, and reason for leaving a previous position. Remember to treat this conversation with the same professionalism as the interview itself.
Background checks are a formal review of criminal and other public records. For any role, but especially those working with children, youth, or finances, these are non-negotiable. This process is highly regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which requires written consent from the candidate before running the check. The actual check must take place after the formal job offer has been made. Just be sure to include in the offer that it’s only contingent upon the candidate passing the background check.
The screening process for staff should be just as involved as your volunteer screening policies, if not more! Consistency in screening everyone who serves in your ministry is a powerful form of risk management.
Writing A Proper Offer Letter
At this point you’ve found the right candidate and the next step is to extend a formal, written offer of employment. A verbal offer is not enough; the written offer letter clarifies the terms of employment and protects both the ministry and the new hire from any future misunderstandings.
The offer letter should include the position title, start date, starting salary, and reporting structure. It should also reference any contingencies, such as the successful completion of that background check. This document formalizes their invitation to join your team.
Most importantly, your offer letter should include an at-will employment statement. This clarifies that the employment relationship can be terminated by either the employee or the ministry at any time, for any lawful reason. This little sentence offers significant legal protection! Creating compliant documents like these is an essential part of building a solid HR framework for your ministry.
I-9 Forms and New Hire Reporting
Once an offer is accepted, then begins the new hire paperwork. One of the most time-sensitive requirements is the Form I-9 verification. This federal form verifies your employee's identity and authorization to work in the United States.
This process has a strict timeline: the new employee must complete Section 1 of the form on or before their first day of employment. You, as the employer, must then review their original identification documents and complete Section 2 within three business days of their start date. Failing to meet these deadlines or filling out the form incorrectly can result in fines.
Setting Up for Success with a Structured Onboarding Plan
The offer letter is signed, and the paperwork filled out, but the hiring process is not yet complete. A new hire’s first few weeks are formative, and a structured onboarding plan can make the difference between a successful start and a frustrating one. Onboarding is more than just paperwork; it’s about integrating your new team member into the ministry's culture and vision.
Create an onboarding checklist to ensure you cover all the bases. This should include everything from setting up their workspace and email to scheduling introductory meetings with key team members and providing an overview of your ministry’s history and goals. A thoughtful plan helps the new hire feel welcomed, valued, and prepared to contribute.
This strong start sets the tone for a long and fruitful working relationship. Investing in a structured onboarding process is an investment in your new employee's long-term success. If you're building these systems from the ground up, an HR Foundations Package can provide the templates and guidance needed to create a comprehensive and compliant process.
A disciplined hiring process is one of the best ways you can protect your ministry’s resources, reputation, and people. It is an act of stewardship that honors God, respects applicants, and helps you build the strongest possible team to carry out your mission. These steps aren't just about avoiding legal trouble; they are about creating a healthy and effective organizational culture from the very first interaction with a potential new hire.
By replacing informal habits with intentional, fair, and consistent procedures, you significantly increase your chances of making a successful hire. This frees you from the anxiety of uncertainty and empowers you to build your team with confidence, knowing you have done your due diligence to find and integrate the right person for the right role.
Authored by the HRMS Team, a group of dedicated church HR experts who draw from extensive ministry experience to keep your organization compliant and healthy. Schedule a call and find out how we can help you simplify your organization’s HR here.