What Do Church Admins Actually Do? Simple Church Administration Job Description
Every church requires administrative tasks for the business side to function. This isn't always included in the church business plan, so the exact type and kind of tasks depend greatly on both the church size and budget. My mother was the administrative assistant at the megachurch where I ended up being assistant youth pastor, so I will be describing her duties here with a quick church administration job description.
If your church is mid-sized or smaller, one of the pastors or board members may act as the administrator. Whoever is administrating your church should always be acting within the local and national laws as well as your church’s bylaws. All that said, let’s get into this quick article about church admins.
I’ll cover:
- A Typical Church Administrator Job Description
- What Does A Church Administrator Do All Day?
- Key Skills For Church Administrators
A Typical Church Administrator Job Description
In this section, you’ll read a typical job description advertisement for a medium-sized church. Church administration can vary widely from church to church. Very large churches might have these roles spread into several different jobs with a church administrative assistant overseeing them. Smaller churches might lean on volunteers before hiring someone to do these tasks.
Sample Employment Advertisement
Welcome to Generic Christian Church! We have many exciting career opportunities, including an Administrative Assistant position.
Job responsibilities include:
- Attending all staff meetings and taking notes.
- Managing payroll and bookkeeping with oversight from the Treasurer (using payroll software and/or bookkeeping software).
- Coordinating the church calendar.
- Maintaining the church’s membership database.
- Ordering office supplies.
- Hiring other office personnel as needed.
In addition to these responsibilities, the Administrative Assistant must be competent in our church management software, our budgeting software, and be able to keep their skills relevant in our continually changing digital world.
Requirements are a Bachelor’s degree and four years experience in an office setting. Contact our church if you’re interested today!
What Does A Church Administrator Do All Day?
A church administrator wears many hats since churches do not always have the resources of for-profit businesses. This means that the church administrator duties go beyond simple administrative support and can include being the church secretary, the office administrator, and business administrator all-in-one. They might even oversee church staff before you develop a human resource department.
The first rule of being a church administrator is organization. Whether you have a personal calendar book, use an app, or have reminders set on your computer, every meeting, phone call, and conversation should be noted. This way, every step of your day can be accounted for.
A typical day starts with walking into the church and sitting down with your schedule. Prepare any notes for your morning meetings and go. From there, the first phone calls of the day usually happen. At some point, you will meet with the pastors or board members you need to that day.
After lunch, come back and organize the morning’s notes and files. Check the budget and payroll requests. Depending on the day of the month, you would also start writing checks for the Treasurer to sign. More phone calls to vendors for the upcoming church summer picnic, then a break to fix the copier because the youth pastor doesn’t know how it works.
The end of the day comes with a final round of filing and generating your daily reports. Then you leave knowing that the church is running well because you did a good job.
Key Skills For Church Administrators
As I mentioned, organization is key. Without a doubt, the number one skill for anyone involved with your church is the ability to stay organized under pressure. Churches are high-intensity pressure cookers behind the scenes, especially as they grow larger. Without competent organizers, churches beyond the smallest size will start to fall apart at the seams.
My personal second is adaptability. Our world is in the middle of many changes that are coming in rapid succession. An administrator who is stuck in the past will cause your church to be left behind, too.
Finally, the best administrators are the best communicators. A well-trained, certified church admin is the link between the different departments and ministries and even the link between the church and the rest of the world. The ability to effectively and efficiently communicate the needs, the goals, and the plans of the lead pastor and the board to the rest of the church and the world is invaluable to any organization, but especially churches.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Church administrators are one of your most important employees. A smaller church might have the responsibilities spread between the ministry and volunteers (since church volunteer management is such a crucial part of church health), but the requirements are the same. Keep in mind that churches are vision-based organizations. We exist for a purpose beyond ourselves, and our administrative goals should reflect that.
Comment below with questions or with anything you want to add. I’m Lexie Schmidt, and I hope you learned something from me. God bless!
Learn more about setting up church administration here.
