Recently Thom Rainer wrote a piece entitled “Why it Takes Five to Seven Years to Become the Pastor of a Church”.

In the article, Dr. Rainer gives this timeline for a pastor or church staff member’s success:

Years 1 – 2:  The Honeymoon Period

They like you. You like them. Life is great. Everyone smiles.

Years 3 – 4:  The Conflict Period

Uh-oh. Something happens.  You ruffle some feathers. Make a decision to do something different.  Change things up a little. Not everyone loves it. Not everyone loves you anymore.  Honeymoon over.

Years 5 – 6:  The Recovery Period

By now, you’ve managed the biggest conflicts. You’ve ticked the highly tickable people off (every church has them). And you’re still living to tell about it. Things tend to quiet down during these years, and you can really start the hard work of leading without all the distractions.

Somewhere, hopefully, by God’s grace, you make it through to the fruitful years of ministry… somewhere between years five and seven. This is when Rainer concludes that you are FINALLY the pastor.

(Of course, this doesn’t ring true in every situation. Each church is different.  Church plants move quicker than established works. Church size and location factor in, as does the church polity, your personality and leadership style, and a myriad of other factors.)

But here’s the truth:  Many pastors and church staff simply don’t make it through the conflict and recovery period.

Many, (in fact, most), don’t make it to the other side.

This is why we started Chemistry Staffing.

We knew that there HAD to be a better way for churches to find healthy, long-term staff members that would have the grit to make it through five years of difficult ministry to get to the other side.

And we knew that there HAD to be a better way to match candidates to churches that really fit their theology, philosophy of ministry, personality, and skills and abilities.

When you submit your confidential resume and profile at Chemistry Staffing, we go to work to try to find a senior pastor role at a church that will fit YOU.

How do we do that?

We start with a series of free (and fun) assessments that will ask you questions about your theology, personality, the church culture you feel most at home in, and your skills, experience, and abilities.

We ask all of the churches that we’re working with to complete the same questions.

Then we compare the answers to see which church might be a healthy, long-term fit for you.

While no match is necessarily made in heaven (see what we did there?), we do think that with a little assistance and the right information, the search process can be much better on both sides.

Read below what some candidates that have been through our process have to say about Chemistry Staffing.  And then, if you’re ready, start your Senior Pastor profile.  It should take only about five minutes to set up.

Questions?  We’d love to help!