Reflections
AMATEUR OR PROFESSIONAL?
By Harry Heintz
Following a governing board meeting that dealt with staffing, I included the paragraph below in a section of my convictions about staffing. A colleague asked me to elaborate on the matter of when amateur ministry ought to move to professional.
“I want our approach to staffing to honor “amateur ministry.” That is, I want us to promote a climate in which people from the congregation are serving in staff-like ways without being paid. I am concerned about a view of church that sees “professional ministry” (meaning that which is done for pay) as better or more accountable than amateur ministry. I believe that the long-term vitality, spiritual depth, and growth of a church are served by having outstanding professional staff members in key areas, but that such staff members serve best in an amateur spirit, not seeing themselves as a special class within the church. God is most pleased with amateur service, that is, service done for love and not money. The great majority of the people God used in the Bible were never religious professionals. I ask the staff to develop ministers in their ministry areas. The healthiest church is the one least dependent upon professionals.”
Before I go further I need to address the misunderstanding that exists in most mind’s about these words.
- An amateur is someone who is doing something for love’s sake, not money.
- A professional is someone who is getting paid to do something.
A professional may also be working for love’s sake, but not necessarily. An amateur’s expertise and work performance may actually be greater than a professional’s in a given area. The key distinction is whether that work is being done for monetary payment. I will use the words in their original sense rather than the popular sense. Hear them that way. Amateur is never used as a putdown. Professional is never used suggesting superior quality. We want every amateur working at the highest performance standards and every professional working with an amateur spirit. We want love for God and others to motivate all ministries.
Some key questions to ask:
Is this ministry position primarily oversight or primarily hands-on? If it’s primarily oversight there might be good reasons to go professional.
- Can we envision this ministry slot be effectively served by an amateur? If so, let’s pursue that possibility first.
- What models do we see in other churches? This is particularly helpful where there is comparability in ministry size, style, scope, and setting. It is also helpful to look at larger churches and see what they’ve learned.
Some reasons not to move from amateur to professional:
We’ll get better results. We should not think that. This is a repudiation of the biblical understanding of spiritual gifts. Our ninth core value is that “The Holy Spirit gifts every Christian for service.” People getting paid do not necessarily do things better.
- We’ll have more accountability with a professional relationship. Accountability should be built into every ministry area, not just areas of professional staffing.
- If the person is not cutting it, we can more readily fire a professional. Of course we can’t fire an amateur. If we are doing ministry right, however, we will find a way to correct and/or improve the amateur’s performance or to help her/him move out of that area and into one that is a better fit. Firing a professional is never easy. It takes time and process. If not done right it can lead to bad feelings, gossip, and legal action.
Some reasons to consider moving from amateur to professional:
- We can observe a pattern of burnout occurring in the people who have been serving as amateurs in a ministry area.
- There has been considerable growth in a ministry area, such that what once worked is not working as well now and a professional staff person could foster continued growth by cultivating and administering amateur ministry under his/her direction.
- We have used the amateur approach and we know that it isn’t working in an area.
- The amateur workforce has shrunk because of work patterns, demographics, or other cultural factors.
Some reasons to consider moving from professional to amateur:
- A professional worker has so effectively developed leadership and competence in amateurs that he/she is no longer needed in that area; the ministry will go on and thrive without a professional leading it.
- In a time of severe financial need, we may need to make hard decisions about where limited resources can be used most effectively.
- A person who needs no income from the church comes forward to serve in a ministry area. By gifting and calling that person is right for the position.
- There is no reason to “protect” a professional position by keeping dollars there for the future. When and if things change we respond then. We best serve the future by being as wise, visionary, and obedient as we can be now.
Some final considerations:
- The Bible doesn’t speak to all these specifics, but it speaks God’s wisdom for all of life. Let’s seek Biblical wisdom and see if there are specific models in the scriptures. For instance, Paul saw the place for professional pastors and argued for their fair treatment (including pay), yet chose to support himself as a missionary/evangelist for the most part.
- Pray for spiritual (which means practical) discernment.
- Don’t be hasty in making a decision.
- Seek short-term strategies that may bring greater clarity. Sometimes hiring someone to work in a ministry area for a limited term will produce the necessary data to make a final decision about whether amateur or professional is right.
- There may be an answer in a given area that no else has thought of yet. Let’s be open to God revealing a new approach.
- The basic question needs to work in both directions. Not only do we ask when to go from amateur to professional, but when to go from professional to amateur.
- I stand by my final sentence in the statement that generated this paper: “The healthiest church is the one least dependent upon professionals.” Believe me, I appreciate getting paid for what I am called to do and love doing. I am not stretching the truth when I say that I think from time to time of what I would do if things changed so that I could no longer be paid for what I do. How would the Brunswick Church function if, because of circumstances we can hardly imagine, we were not allowed to have a professional ministry staff or could not afford one?
Harry Heintz is pastor of Brunswick Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York.
The above material represents the views of the author and does not necessarily carry the edorsement of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®
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