Does The Church Understand HR

No, church leaders and their congregations don’t understand HR.  I’m not suggesting they should understand HR.  I’m also not suggesting that lacking an understanding of HR is a bad thing. 

Here are a few reasons why church leaders and their congregations don’t understand HR.  First, on the surface HR and the church have nothing in common hence, most people won’t connect the two.  Second, the average church size in the U.S. is less than 100 https://www.barna.com/research/small-churches-struggle-to-grow-because-of-the-people-they-attract/.  With a congregation that small there probably won’t be any HR issues.  There is nothing that connects HR and the church.   

In my second post on “HR In The Church” I talked about people not having a business perspective of the church.  Most people don’t view the church as a business.  In the same post I stated that a church has expenses just like individual people.  A church has rent or mortgage, a water bill, phone bill, electric bill, gas bill, internet service, insurance on the property, etc.  I’m not trying to get people to view the church as a business.  If people view the church through the lens of having monthly bills they will have a holistic view of the church.  In 2025 we need congregations to have a holistic view of the church.

Another reason people in the church don't understand HR is because they view HR as secular.  Mixing the sacred and the secular is problematic for many people.  Anything that isn’t related to God is viewed in a negative way.      

Most church leaders and their congregations don’t know and/or understand HR functions.  Churches literally don’t know what they don’t know.  Whether it’s payroll, negotiating a salary, or determining staffing levels, when it comes to HR church leaders and their congregants are in the dark.  Churches need to be empowered with a working knowledge of HR.