The C's of Hiring Church Staff/Pastors

Last week a member of our personnel team and I met to discuss vision and leadership. During the breakfast we also discussed what to look for when hiring a person to serve in a church. My response to that question on what the main things are when being or looking at a candidate are 3 C’s (I think I got these from Bill Hybles ):

1. Chemistry – are they the type of person you want to spend time with
2. Character – are they the type of person you want to be like personally, in your marriage and family, walk with Christ
3. Competence – are they the type of person you want as your lead pastor in areas of service, theology, past work, maturation, church growth

While I see that a pastoral candidate must have a clear walk with God, they must also have a clear vision for where they want to lead the church (or ministry area). With this is mind, vision and philosophy of ministry are extremely important as well. The final added consideration would be to look at the makeup of the candidate to determine if they would have synergy with the ministry setting. These are thoughts I have had to think through in recent weeks.