In addition to adding 7 new positions and revising 17 out of our 18 legacy categories, ChurchSalary is organizing all 25 into a series of 8 departments.
Each of these 8 departments is designed to reflect the org charts and staff page structures we observe in the real world. While your church may not have all 8 departments or they may overlap, we believe this structure will help you better categorize your staff.
To learn more about the positions within each department, consult the following resources or Help Center articles:
- Announcing 7 New Positions
- Revising Our 18 Legacy Positions
- Expanded Job Descriptions for All 25 Position Categories
Click here to learn more about all the new ChurchSalary 3.1 features and apps.
8 Departments with up to 25 Positions
Only the largest churches will have all 25 positions and up to 8 different departments. But to help churches quickly categorize staff, we have grouped all of the new options into the following ministry team structure. In alphabetical order, they are:
- Administration
- Adults (DiscipAdministrationleship & Groups)
- Children
- Communications (Media, AV, & Online)
- Facilities
- Leading / Preaching
- Worship / Music
- Students / College / Young Families
Administration
- Executive Pastor or Director
- *Operations Director
- *Finance / HR Director
- Administrator / Office Manager
- Accountant / Bookkeeper
- Administrative Assistant
- *Ministry Support Staff or Coordinator
- *Event Coordinator or Director
Within the Administration department, we have added 4 new positions to match the types of employee we are seeing hired at larger churches.
As churches continue to grow in size and complexity, they start to hire staff to handle administrative duties. As the church continues to grow the complexity of the organization demands that staff become more and more specialized. Only the largest churches will have staff that fit into all 8 positions within the Administration Department.
The Administration Department churches may evolve in the following ways as the congregations grow from a tiny handful of members to a megachurch. Note that the hierarchy at your church may vary and/or some staff may sit at the same level.
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Adults
- Adult Ministry Pastor or Director
- Christian Education Pastor or Director
Staff who care for, disciple, educate, and minister primarily to adults fits into this department.
The general distinction between these roles revolves around education and groups.
- If a pastor/director is responsible for only adult education and/or adult groups, they likely fit into the Christian Education Pastor or Director category.
- If they are responsible for a specific ministry (Men’s, Women’s, Congregational Care or an age demographic (Young Adults, Senior Adults, etc.) they likely fit into the Adult Ministry Pastor or Director category.
Children
- Children’s Pastor or Director
- *Preschool or Kids Coordinator
- Childcare Worker
As churches grow in size they go through phases of hiring for their Children’s Department.
- Phase 1 = A Preschool or Kids Coordinator oversees and manages a growing team of volunteers caring for children of all ages.
- Phase 2 = A dedicated Children’s Pastor or Director oversees multiple volunteers and/or some Childcare Workers. Sometimes the Preschool or Kids Coordinator role is promoted to become the Children’s Pastor or Director.
- Phase 3 = A team of paid staff, which the Children’s Pastor or Director oversees, includes a mix of one or more Preschool or Kids Coordinators who help to manage and oversee volunteers and several paid Childcare Workers.
Communications (Media, AV, & Online)
- Media / Tech Pastor or Director
- Communications / AV Staff
A Media / Tech Pastor or Director oversees a team of volunteers and paid staff to run the church’s media, communications, online experience, and/or technology. Often, but not always, a Media / Tech Pastor or Director supervises one or more Communications / AV Staff. At some churches a dedicated but part-time Communications / AV Staff member may report to another pastor (e.g., executive pastor or worship pastor) and/or a pastor who oversees multiple ministries.
Facilities
- Facilities Supervisor or Manager
- Custodian Worker
Our recent in-depth analysis of how churches categorize their staff revealed that our old Maintenance / Facility Worker position is now primarily being used to price staff who function as a supervisor or manager for the entire Facilities Department.
To reflect this shift, the newly created Facilities Department includes two positions in which the Facilities Supervisor or Manager typically is in charge of one or more Custodian Workers.
Leading / Preaching
- Lead / Senior Pastor
- Solo / *Teaching Pastor
- Associate Pastor
- *Campus Pastor
Of the 25 total positions, 4 are primarily focused on leading and preaching either to the entire congregation or to a campus.
We have grouped all 4 of these positions together into a new Leading / Preaching Department. To learn more about the revision of the Solo Pastor to the new Solo / Teaching Pastor category, please read our article on Revising Our 18 Legacy Positions.
Worship / Music
- Worship / Music Pastor
- Musician / *Instrumentalist
Staff who help coordinate, execute, and share the worship service(s) at your church fit into the newly created Worship Department. To learn more about the distinction between these two roles, please read our article on Revising Our 18 Legacy Positions.
Students / College / Young Families
- Student / Youth Pastor or Director
- *NextGen Pastor or Director
As churches grow in size and complexity, we observe two kinds of specialization in the Student / Youth Pastor role.
First, the youth ministry is subdivided into smaller groups for
- Middle or Junior High School
- High School
- College
Second, the ministry to students expands to include young families and/or young adults and sometimes a NextGen Pastor is created. This NextGen Pastor may be in charge of several specialized Student / Youth Pastor or Director employees.
To learn more about the new NextGen Pastor or Director category, read our Announcing 7 New Positions article.
