How to Hire an Effective Church Administrator

A church administrator is essential for smooth church management. Great church administrators can manage your church’s finances, organize events, and connect your church family, often relying on church management software to perform these tasks. On the other hand, an under-qualified church administrator may lead to communication issues and disorganization.

How do you hire an effective church administrator, and what skills do they need to do the job? Read on to learn more.

Why Do Churches Need Administrators?

Churches need administrators because they bring order and accountability to the church. An administrator governs the “business” side of the church, which includes communicating with members, managing church volunteers, keeping finances in order, and so on. A key part of a church administrator’s role will also be managing and using a church software to perform administrative tasks. 

Larger churches benefit more by having a church administrator since there are more things to do and more elements to manage. The role of a church administrator is especially important if your church has a lot of staff members across different teams – the administrator usually liaises between teams to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Many administrators also manage their church’s online presence, working with both church members and the community often through email and text messaging. In this regard, your administrator also acts as the face of the church, meaning it’s essential to find a personable church administrator.

The Duties of a Church Administrator

The duties of a church administrator and an office administrator have some overlap. They both work to ensure that everything runs smoothly by overseeing important processes and communicating with staff.

Here’s a breakdown of the most common duties of a church administrator:

Delegating Responsibilities

One church administrator can’t do everything, so they have to delegate duties to other staff members. If they try to do everything alone, they’ll likely burn themselves out. Moreover, it’s not the Biblical way to run a church.

Moses’ father-in-law Jethro said to him, “You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. 

You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.” (Exodus 18:18-21)

Simply put, Jethro told Moses to delegate work to his followers to prevent him from burning out. Church administration works similarly. The most effective church administrators know how to delegate duties to the right church staff members.

Managing Volunteers and Staff Members

Many church administrators take on a supervisory or mentorship role in the church’s volunteer program. They help volunteers complete tasks, build skills, and coordinate their schedules. 

Administrators also support the church staff by liaising between different teams, maintaining personnel files, distributing handbooks, and managing vacation schedules.

One of the key parts of managing volunteers is to use a church software solution to schedule volunteers.

Supervising Church Finances

Church administrators usually work closely with the church’s financial staff to make sure all funds are used properly. They usually plan the budget, ensure the church pays its operational costs, track its income, and prepare its financial statements on time.

A church software that includes financial management tools like reporting and online giving will help immensely in this area.

Maintaining the Church Office

An administrator’s day-to-day operations at the church also include an office management role. Important duties in this aspect of their job include:

• Stocking stationery and other office supplies
• Backing up important files
• Maintaining the church’s office equipment
• Using a cloud-based software solution for event management, financial management, volunteer scheduling, and more
  
  

Communicating With Church Members and the Community

Church administrators often act as the face of the church, meaning they liaise with members and other people in the community. They also often meet with business owners to discuss sponsorships and talk to church members for weddings or funerals, among other liaison duties.

They may also run the church’s online presence, meaning they’re responsible for announcing events and answering questions via email or even text.

Key Skills for Church Administrators

Like most office administration jobs, church administration needs a blend of technical and soft skills. Here are some important skills for a good church administrator to have:

Organization

A large part of a church administrator’s primary duties requires robust organizational skills. Tasks that need an administrator to be organized include financial management and office maintenance. Many of these duties can be performed with a church management software–meaning that basic tech skills are also necessary (fortunately, an easy-to-use software solution will help with this).

Communication and Negotiation

Communication and negotiation skills are essential for administrators because a large part of their job involves talking to staff, volunteers, church members, and community members. These skills help them convey messages properly, defuse potential issues, and encourage people to support the church.

Planning

Whether it’s volunteer programs, staff training, or church events, a church administrator has to know how to plan and execute events. An event planning tool like Breeze can help with this.

Customer Service

There’s some overlap between church members and customers in that they may have issues they need addressing by the church. Customer service skills are essential for a church administrator because they often answer questions or address the issues raised by church members and the community.

Church Software Skills

Basic technical proficiency and familiarity are important for church administrators because they often maintain digital information like staff records, financial data, and employee scheduling.

Trustworthiness

While it’s more of a trait and not a skill, trustworthiness is one of the most important things for a church administrator. Church administrators often deal with confidential information like staff payroll and member donations – a good church administrator must keep this information secret and not leak anything to anyone. 

Pick a church administrator who exhibits the quality outlined in Proverbs 21:23, “Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.”

Hiring an Effective Church Administrator

Even when you know what kind of person to hire as a church administrator, finding and hiring one is another endeavor entirely. 

Scripture tells us in Proverbs 26:10, “Like an archer who wounds at random is one who hires a fool or any passer-by.” This means you can’t just hire anybody who answers the job posting – you need to find the right person.

Here are six steps to ensure you hire the best church administrator available for your church:

1. Understand What Your Church Needs

Different churches have different needs, so identify what your church needs from the administrator. A good way to identify your needs is to think about what activities in the church can benefit from more organization and planning.

2. Outline the Position’s Requirements

With your church’s needs identified, it’s time to translate them into requirements. For example, if your church’s bookkeeping needs more organization, you need a church administrator who can supervise the financial management process.

3. Write a Complete Job Description

A job description should outline all the church administrator’s responsibilities. Write it with as much detail as possible to ensure everyone applying knows what they have to do if they get the job.

If you’re hiring for an additional or replacement church administrator, ask your current one to help write the job description. If you’re hiring an administrator for the first time, ask for help from the person who currently does the most administrative duties.

4. Build a Candidate Pool

It’s easy to hire someone you already know, especially in close-knit communities like churches. However, it’s beneficial to consider people outside your immediate social circle. 

Make public job postings to fill your candidate pool with qualified people from other hiring avenues. This way, you’ll have a better chance of hiring the best candidate available.

5. Interview Each Candidate

Interviewing a prospective church administrator isn’t just about whether they can do the job well – it’s also about knowing the person beyond the job. Learn more about who they are as a person and gauge whether they can gel with your existing team.

Conflicting personalities may cause friction and potential issues in your church, so prevent this by choosing somebody who's personable and able to work well with others.

6. Choose the Best Person

Once you’ve interviewed all the candidates, make your decision. Pray for guidance and God’s wisdom if you find yourself unable to make a choice; as said in Scripture, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5)

Closing Thoughts

A church administrator is essential to ensure daily operations in your church run smoothly. Find a church administrator proficient in planning, organizing, negotiating, and, most of all, trustworthy.

If you have to choose between multiple qualified church administrator candidates, pray and ask for God’s guidance to help you pick the right person for the job.