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Strategic HR Planning

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Above Reproach

How does God expect us to treat our employees?
Ronald F. Smedley | Outcomes, Jun/Jul 2008

The problem was clear, the answer obvious. I had just completed a wage study and audit for a ministry, and several staff positions were conspicuously misclassified as exempt from overtime pay.

The CEO explained. "We can't afford to pay overtime," he said. "Besides, our people believe in this ministry. They don't mind working extra hours and have agreed to work for a set amount. God has called us to carry out our ministry, and I believe this calling supersedes the law. So what's the problem?"

Such poor reasoning is ethically bankrupt and far too prevalent among today's Christian leaders who don't realize the nonnegotiable role and responsibility of human resources management in today's ministry organizations.

As the relative truth of a postmodern "me first" world continues to infiltrate all aspects of life, churches and parachurch organizations find themselves thrust under the public microscope of doing what is right for their employees. Because most labor regulations apply to ministry as well as business, Christian ministries need to do more than merely manage human resources in accordance with established laws. A Christ-centered organization must go further and ask the real question: Above and beyond meeting our basic legal requirements, how does God expect us to treat the employees he has placed in our care?

For the answer, we need to look at how our Lord Jesus Christ treated people during his public ministry and what patterns of his character may be applied to today's ministry leaders.

Jesus treated every person with dignity, respect, compassion, and integrity no matter what their situation in life, their employment, or their social, political, or religious class. Whether it was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, a Samaritan woman, or a blind beggar like Bartimaeus, he gave them equal attention and compassion. Why? Because he knew every person was created in the image of God and therefore had both value and worth.

How do we account for how he treated people differently? Why did he blast the Pharisees and not the disciples, for instance? Jesus treated people differently based on their talents and abilities and how they performed their respective responsibilities associated with those abilities. Abilities in this respect means the gifts and talents one brings to a vocation, whether as a CEO, administrator, janitor, or pastor.

Jesus differentiated his treatment of others based upon what they were doing with their talents, not who they were as human beings created in God's image. He served and ministered to others similarly on the basis of their intrinsic worth, even as he challenged, corrected, and led those who were equipped and assigned to carry out God-given roles and responsibilities.