Administrative roles in churches are changing
Because the Church is changing.
Most churches have a staff member who serves as the hub of details and communications. This person might be called a parish or church administrator, executive or administrative assistant, or secretary. (I’ll simply use “admin" in what follows as a shorthand.) Admins have a range of duties depending on whether they are part time or full time, but those responsibilities generally include interacting with those who visit or contact the church office, keeping the congregational calendar, and letting staff and church members know what is happening through a variety of means.
This job is so important because the person in it is tasked, essentially, with hospitality on behalf of the congregation. The admin serves as the church’s first impression on weekdays, manages the details that allow members to participate fully in ministries and thus connect with one another and God, and often holds and imparts unwritten knowledge about how the congregational system functions so that the pastor can establish and strengthen healthy relationships.
And, the role of admin is evolving in many contexts. Here's why:
Changes in tech platforms. Churches aren't always early adopters of new technology, but the pandemic forced many to become more savvy with some combination of video conferencing, livestreaming, social media, cloud sharing, and online giving. While admins doesn't necessarily need to know how to do all of these things, it is no longer enough to be able to use word processing documents and the occasional spreadsheet. Pastors are feeling the strain of keeping some of the tech pieces they picked up during Covid when their admins don't have the skills to take them over.
Changes in church office culture. Before the pandemic pastors generally spent most of their (official) work hours in the office with the occasional day at a coffee shop or at home to focus on sermon writing or other deep work. Church members would drop by regularly either for a specific purpose or because they were in the neighborhood. The admin would need to be physically present to greet people, answer the phones, and sometimes gatekeep for the pastor. After years of remote work, though, staffs tend to be more distributed (i.e., work in different places with some intentional times set aside for connection and collaboration), and weekday church drop-ins are fewer and further between.
Changes in volunteering. Most pastors I talk with are struggling to fill boards and committees and to get people to sign up for one-off ministry opportunities. There are many reasons for this reality, but it means that some work that once belonged to members is now being moved to staff, including to the admin.
Changes in staff size/structure. In our current climate, a few churches are gaining new members and growing their available resources. Most are not, which is resulting in staff shakeups. Admins that were once full time may have their hours reduced to part time, which might not be financially tenable for the people currently filling those roles. Positions might be combined so that someone who was once only responsible for admin duties is now tasked with something like bookkeeping as well - and those new aspects might be outside the current admin's skill set.
These changes are causing stress in admins, pastors, entire staffs, and congregations. Change is always hard because it's disorienting. Many admins are beloved. Some are also reluctant to add new skills or more work to their plates. If your church is feeling the strain, here are some questions to consider:
What is the role of the admin in our church system? What does this mean for the skills our admin needs to have?
Is our current admin willing to develop new skills? If so, what learning resources are available?
How much admin work is the pastor doing, meaning there is less time and energy for pastor-specific work even as pastoral work is never-ending? What would it take to shift those tasks over to the admin?
What are financial projections, to the best of our church's estimation? What does sustainable staffing, including in the administrative area, look like given the budget?
If there needs to be some combination of roles, what skill sets go together well, either for current staff or for the search for a new hire?
Because the admin role is both functionally essential and an embodiment of a key value - hospitality - these are important questions for pastors and personnel committees to be discussing. If you discern that a change in the admin role is warranted, proceed with thoughtfulness, clarity, compassion, and gratitude.