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Standard Name:Staff Levels
Scope:U.S.-based Career Field Staff
Revision Date: March 13, 2023
Last Review Date:April 26, 2023

Staff Level titles and descriptions were updated in February 2022. If you have questions about your staff level, please reach out to your program team.

Field Staff Statuses
General policy: Reliant field staff are ministers of the gospel who exist to support the Great Commission as found in Matthew 28:18-20. "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching  them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you  always, to the very end of the age.” 

Descriptions

LevelResponsibilities / Experience

Level 1

  • Entry-level responsibilities
  • Directly supervised in job/tasks
  • Limited decision-making ability related to budgets or church/organization direction
  • No supervisory duties of other employees
  • No experience needed

Level 2

  • Mid-level responsibility
  • Increased decision-making ability
  • Individual contributor or limited supervisory duties (volunteers or another staff member)
  • Typically at least 3 years of experience in ministry or a similar field

Level 3

  • High level of responsibility
  • Supervises other staff, leads a main ministry, and/or manages a department within the church or organization
  • Managed by the leadership team
  • Typically at least 5 years of experience in ministry or a similar field
Church or Ministry Leadership Roles (e.g., pastor, leader of a ministry or non-profit)

Level 4

  • Either a pastor or equivalent church role, director of a ministry organization, or member of the organizational leadership team
  • Provides leadership for significant functions of the church or organization
  • Supervise staff, manages budgets, and/or heads organizational initiatives
  • Responsible for financial accountability of the church or ministry organization, whether solely or as a part of a leadership structure
  • Typically 3 years of supervisory or mid-level management experience or equivalent education or ordination
  • This is a similar level to what was previously called pastor, minister, field manager

Level 5

  • In addition to Level 4
  • Vision casts for the church or organization and sets the overall direction of programs
  • Has responsibility for the church's or organization's staff
  • Has significant impact on the organization either financially, directionally, or due to the number of people managed 
  • May represent the congregation or ministry in denominational, church network, and/or community affairs
  • May supervise or coach other pastors or leaders
  • May have significant leadership responsibilities either for a region or group of churches or ministries
  • May be responsible for several departments or ministry areas
  • Typically 5-10 years of experience in a leadership (Level 4) role

Level 6

  • In addition to Level 5
  • Leads a large, multi-faceted ministry, a group of churches, or a region
  • May be on church network boards or provide oversight for groups of churches in other ways
  • Typically 5-10 years of experience in a senior leadership (Level 5) role

Other Staff Levels

Interns

Intern 1 (1-4 months - Short-term)

This is typically for a student in a period of preparation and training while both the individual and the organization consider a possible longer-term commitment. They are typically interns in a specific three- to four-month ministry internship program.

Intern 2 (5-24 months - Long term)

This is for a ministry worker in a period of preparation and training while both the individual and the organization consider a long-term commitment. This can also be interns in a specific one- or two-year program. These interns may be paid at an Intern level or may be paid in proportion to long-term staff levels, depending on the nature of their ministry program, the work they are doing, their experience, education, etc.

Fully Administrative Staff

Fully Administrative

From time to time, Reliant may hire someone who will be performing only administrative tasks for a church or ministry. These employees would not be raising support and would only be supported by their local church. For these employees, the applicable federal and state employment laws would be followed.


Related pages


23 Comments

  1. Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org)

    Mike Swann I think keep this page here. It seems like we would deal with it much more than payroll. I'm deleting the page out of payroll but can add it back if you disagree.

  2. Mike Swann

    Sounds good Ed

  3. Mike Swann

    user-1a794, I made some edits to this page that I think will help explain these levels.

    Tom Mauriello and Dave Meldrum-Green, they are here if you want to look at but I don't think this needs any approval, I just explained the levels more.

    Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org), if you want to look it over for design that's great

  4. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Mike, wondering if we should add this to Level 2?

    Missionary Staff 2

    Missionary Staff 2 generally have a mid to high level of responsibility and generally are progressing toward deacon or elder level maturity.

  5. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Mike....is this always the case with Level 3?

    Missionary Staff 3

    A Missionary Staff 3 tends to have a high level of responsibility and meets the qualifications of a deacon.

  6. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Mike, maybe tweek this a little for Level 3?

    In many church settings these missionaries are often licensed or commissioned ministers, but usually not an elder or ordained pastor.

  7. Mike Swann

    Thanks Dave Meldrum-Green, good thoughts, I made the adjustments above.

  8. Mike Swann

    user-1a794 for review

  9. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Mike Swann did we mean to say "a minister of the gospel" here under this title?

    Calling them a missionary of the gospel could possibly undermine our FLSA position...

    Field Manager 1

    A Field Manager, though a missionary of the gospel,........

  10. Mike Swann

    Tom Mauriello, Dave Meldrum-Green and Sarah Swann, these have been updated verbiage-wise. Not sure if we need this for the August 2016 board packet in making compensation decisions.

    1. Tom Mauriello

      Thanks for updating.  We don't need this for the board, its more detail than they will want.  The ranges single page is sufficient for them.  

  11. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Tom Mauriello I assume that we are taking the position that all the above Missionary Staff Levels are considered ministers for the sake of FLSA except....Fully Administrative Staff, Correct? And if so, then that means we are considering both Missionary Interns 1 & 2 to be ministers for FLSA.

    1. Tom Mauriello

      Yes, anyone with any MTD at all is a minister, so only fully administrative and fully funded might not be.

  12. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Tom Mauriello thanks for that confirmation. That leads me to be a little concerned then about our description for Missionary Intern 1 - Typically a student or someone with little to no work/ministry experience.....   This is not something I'd feel comfortable defending while we are saying an Intern 1 is a minister. Mike Swann I'd like to see this re-worded to sound a bit more like Intern 2. I suggest:   

    This is for a missionary in a period of preparation and training while both the individual and the organization consider a possible longer-term commitment. They are typically missionaries in a specific 3 - 4 month ministry internship program.

  13. Tom Mauriello

    We might be ok with it.  There was a case where ministerial exception was applied to a person in a one year starting internship that also included janitorial duties in their work, along with studies and ministry training.  The key is that its a ministry program with some elements of training and learning alongside even administrative or menial / entry level tasks.

  14. Mike Swann

    I edited Dave's a little bit. How does this sound?

    1. Dave Meldrum-Green

      Mike Swann I could live with that. 

  15. Unknown User (kate.pendola@reliant.org)

    user-1a794 - per our discussion in MR meeting today, it might be valuable to add a note to this page that International Missionaries don't fall in any of these categories because their salary is needs-based, not market based (and these levels help to determine a market based salary). In the event that an International Missionary transitions to a role in the US, then a staff level from this page would be assigned. Mike Swann FYI.

  16. Julie Thomas

    CJ White & Mike Swann, I won't be publishing this for a few weeks, but could you take a look at this page with the new staff levels? I'll also have a supervisor page with some additional information. I'll tag you in that one when it's ready.

  17. CJ White

    Julie Thomas This looks good and my only question is at the end with the "fully admin" level. This might be confusing as we have several "partner funded" missionaries who are still placed with a staff level even if they are only performing admin tasks. Might not be a big deal but wanted to hear the thoughts of adding that staff level. I like the idea and it works but might need clarification that there are others who are "partner funded" that will still have another staff level. 

    1. Julie Thomas

      Mike Swann - your thoughts on this? I copied the intern and admin staff from the old page.

  18. Mike Swann

    Julie Thomas and CJ White - In the Collegiate term, we are thinking about taking away the long-term intern as a category. They would just be Staff 1 with a year or 2 spans. 

    1. Julie Thomas

      I think we may need to keep the Intern staff level for Fixed Term. CJ White, let's connect about the US Admin level since I'm not as familiar with that level.