Multi-Site: How Many Staff Should You Hire for a New Campus?
Q:
Can you talk about what staff roles we should launch with at a new campus? Does this change when you go from portable to permanent location?
[Question submitted in a recent Confab gathering]
A:
We have answered this question in multiple ways over the course of thirteen campuses. Before the digital ink gets too dry on this post, we might answer it yet a different way. (So take notes fast.)
Translated: there’s no one right way. I’ve talked with multi-site churches who “hire” high-capacity volunteers to launch a campus: in other words, their staffing costs are zero. While we’ve done variations of that in the past, our current model is to hire staff in full- or part-time roles to lead out in various areas of ministry.
Roles to consider when launching a campus
Not everything on the list below should be considered a full-time hire. Not everything should even be considered a paid position. But if I’m advising you on the roles to keep in mind on launch day, these are absolutely on the list:
- Campus Pastor
- Worship Director
- Guest Services Director*
- Kids Director
- Student Director
- Small Groups / Membership Director
- Production Director
- Women’s Discipleship Director
- Men’s Discipleship Director
- Campus Admin
*Our Guest Services Director will typically also serve as the set up / tear down coordinator for portable campuses (as well as our primary point of contact for the host venue). For permanent campuses, they typically handle facility rentals and campus operations.
What factors affect the choice / scope of roles?
Because no two campus launches are exactly alike, no two staffing / hours mixes will be identical. That said, there are specific mitigating factors that help drive our staffing decisions:
- Size of campus at launch. A larger weekly attendance will dictate a larger launch team.
- Demographics of the community. If a campus is launching in a primarily older community, a full-time kids or student person might be overkill at launch.
- Portable vs. permanent. Mobile setup each week vs. owning the building would affect certain roles such as production, facilities, campus admin, etc.
- Potential for / speed of growth. There are some campuses that might not start out with the need for x role to be full-time, but every projection says that role will go full-time within a year. This has to be factored in to the who that you hire. In other words: are they willing / able to go full-time soon?
- Potential for doubling roles. When a campus is smaller, there are roles (like small groups / membership) that a Campus Pastor can easily own. Likewise, the Small Groups Director could double as Men’s Discipleship Coordinator, or the Campus Admin could lend support to Kids. While this is not an ideal long-term solution, it could help stretch staffing dollars in the early days.
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