Mistakes in Church Staff Hiring

Todd Rhoades has a fascinating post up about common mistakes made in church hiring and the awful task of firing a church employee:

A common illustration of this big mistake, though there are many variations, is when someone needs to be released from the church staff. How can a loving, redemptive leader fire a fellow brother in Christ? Don't they know he has a family to feed? What kind of compassion is that!? After all, the young couple that the pastor proposes to let go is pregnant and it's December with only two weeks to Christmas.

Aside from poor timing, the problem is likely that the pastor or the people don't know how to separate redemption and results. Said another way, they find it difficult to separate benevolence and productivity. If the person cannot get the job done, then they should not receive a paycheck. It's that simple. (It's not easy, but it is that simple.)