By Darrell Girardier

Let’s be real: hiring in ministry isn’t just about filling a seat. It’s about shaping culture. And if you get it wrong? You’ll spend the next 18 months managing friction instead of building momentum.

I’ve seen it happen—someone looks great on paper, nails the interview, but six months in you realize they’re not aligned with your mission, they’re clashing with the team, or they’re already hitting their ceiling. Sound familiar?

That’s why you need a framework that helps you slow down, ask the right questions, and make decisions that fuel your mission instead of distracting from it. Around here, we use the Four C’s: Character, Chemistry, Competency, and Capacity.

The Four C’s in Action

Character

This is non-negotiable. Integrity, humility, teachability—those are the things that can’t be trained. If a candidate doesn’t have the spiritual and moral foundation to lead well, don’t move forward. Period.

Chemistry

Will this person raise the team’s ceiling—or drain it? You can’t measure that in a conference room alone. Take them to lunch, invite them to sit in on a working session, or even a casual meetup. Watch how they interact. Are they collaborative? Do they listen well? Or do they bulldoze?

Competency

Can they actually do the work today? Don’t just take their word for it. Review portfolios, ask for work samples, and throw them a real-life scenario from your ministry context. Better to know now if they can’t problem-solve than discover it after they’re on payroll.

Capacity

Here’s where a lot of leaders miss it. They ask, “Can this person do the job right now?” but skip, “Can they grow with it?” Ministry expands. Roles evolve. You need people with grit, self-awareness, and the ability to stretch as the church grows. One of my favorite questions: “Eighteen months in, if you’re frustrated, what went wrong?” Their answer tells you a lot about expectations, resilience, and whether they’re wired for long-term impact.

Look Beyond the Résumé

Hard skills are easy to measure. It’s the soft skills—coachability, conflict posture, follow-through—that determine whether someone thrives or burns out.
That’s why I like performance-based questions:

• “Tell me about a time you got tough feedback. How did you respond?”
• “What happens when you strongly disagree with your leader?”

Pair those with simple assessments (DISC, Working Genius, MBTI) to understand how they’ll fit your team’s dynamics. You’re not just hiring for a job description—you’re hiring for a culture.

Guard the Culture

This isn’t just about team fit; it’s about org fit. Does this person align with your theology, mission, and ministry philosophy? If they don’t, Sunday will feel like a mash-up of competing agendas instead of a unified vision.

Hiring well protects your church from mission drift. It keeps staff meetings, cross-campus collaboration, and even your Sunday language pointing toward the same North Star.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, it’s simple: hire people who love Jesus, love the church, and love the work. Then give them the context to run with their gifts.

If you skip the hard work up front, you’ll pay for it in frustration later. But if you use the Four C’s—character, chemistry, competency, and capacity—you’ll build a team that’s not just talented, but aligned, resilient, and ready to advance the mission.