How Many Staff Does a 300-Member Church Actually Need?
Simple Formula included!
Ask any pastor after Sunday lunch and you’ll get the same shoulder-shrug: “We’re doing the best we can.” Translation: everyone is stretched, the kids wing feels understaffed, and the worship leader just texted that she’s out with the flu—again.
Here’s a rule-of-thumb you can scribble on the back of your sermon notes: one full-time staff member for every 75 people who show up on a normal Sunday. Not the Christmas crowd, not the Easter surge—just the sleepy, ordinary third weekend in February. At 300 average, that lands you at four paid staff.
What four roles?
Lead Pastor – Preaching, vision, shepherding the sheep.
Next-Gen Director – Kids and students eat time like locusts; one adult who can train volunteers and text parents is gold.
Worship/Production Lead – If the slides lag or the mix is muddy, first-time guests assume the gospel is, too.
Operations/Admin – The person who remembers the baptistry heater, the background checks, and where the communion cups are stored.
That’s it. Everything else—small-groups, outreach, pastoral care—runs on volunteers who are gifted and scheduled. Ephesians 4 says leaders exist to equip the saints for works of service, not to perform every service themselves.
But let’s make the math real in two minutes.
Grab your average in-person head-count for the last 12 Sundays (ignore live-stream views).
Example: 317, 289, 305, 298, 322 → average = 306.
Divide by 75.
306 ÷ 75 = 4.08 FTE.
Round to the nearest half-person, because most churches hire in 0.5 FTE chunks.
4.08 → 4.0 FTE.
Map the 4.0 to actual paychecks.
• 1 Lead Pastor
• 1 Next-Gen Director
• 1 Worship/Production
• 1 Operations/Admin
Check your current payroll list.
• If you’re running 3.5 FTE, you’re close—maybe ask a high-capacity volunteer to take the 0.5 role before you post the job.
• If you’re at 5.5 FTE, you’re 1.5 FTE over. Multiply 1.5 × average salary (say $52 k) and you’ll see an extra $78 k/year walking out the door. That’s a new kids wing or six months of benevolence ministry.
Quick stress-test:
• Volunteer ratio: aim for 1 adult volunteer per 7 kids and 1 per 10 adults. If you’re missing that mark, staff up or double-down on recruitment before you blame the budget.
• Burnout red flag: if any staffer averages >50 hours for three straight weeks, you’re probably understaffed even if the math says 4.0.
Prayer-and-pivot moment:
Print the sheet, circle the gap, and hand it to your elder board with two questions:
“Who can we raise up?” and “What ministry might need to sunset so we can fund the gap?”
Staffing isn’t a statement of faith; it’s stewardship. God gives the growth (1 Cor 3:6), but He also supplies the workers. Our job is to count the cost, release the control, and trust that when the fields are ripe, the laborers—paid and unpaid—will be, too.
