What Staff Position Comes First?

Wow its really been a while since I've blogged. I've had plenty swirling around in the brain to write about, I just haven't had the time to do it. Hopefully I can find some time to catch up because there is a lot that I'd like to share here.

As part of my church planting internship, along with weekly staff meetings I also meet with my supervisor regularly to just talk church planting. He's kind of like Yoda and I'm Luke (sorry if that doesn't work. I'm only mildly a Star Wars fan). Anyways, this week we talked a little bit about staffing as it pertains to church planting. In most established churches the first staff pastor that is usually added is a youth pastor. Now that may or may not be most effective for an established church, but that's for another post.

In the church planting world, conventional wisdom says the first hire is either a children's or worship pastor. There are some who suggest that the first hire should be more of an executive (get things done) pastor. Many propose a children's or worship pastor to be the first hire because if a church is trying to attract unchurched people then the worship (meaning music in these cases) must be high quality and energizing, and the kids must have a lot of fun in a professionally executed children's program.

As our discussion continued I suggested that this approach to staffing is a contextual one. It assumes a few things. One, it assumes that a church plant is aiming to reach families with young kids. What about a new church in a university town filled with unmarried urban professionals? What about a new church that seeks to reach a senior adult community (a weird demographic I know, but I'm just sayin). Two, it assumes a church plant with a corporate worship gathering that involves music. What about a house church, where people meet in a living room and engage in contemplative prayer exercises?

Here's my point. I do tend to agree that to effectively reach people far from God we must prioritize our younger generations and must invite people into holistic and dynamic worship (which is about so much more than just music). In most cases these hires make sense as the first. However, the more important thing is that a church planter listens to her community, to learn the context in which she is planting a church and be faithful to her calling, and not simply just going with the conventional wisdom.

For the sake of dialogue, who do you think the first hire for church plant should be?