Fired. Parted ways. Let go. Asked to resign. Whatever you want to call it, firing staff is a challenging leadership move in the church.

In the marketplace, hiring authorities typically have more autonomy, and the consequences for firing a staff member in that setting are often not as significant. There’s usually no membership base to get angry, board to appease, or family relationships involved. There are sticky wickets for sure, but the marketplace tends to move on more quickly.

In the church, however, when we fire a staff member, we are firing our brother or sister in Christ. We are letting a church member’s spouse or parent or child or sibling go. We question whether it was a very gracious act. We take away someone’s shepherd. It’s a multi-faceted challenge.

With these difficulties in mind, here are just a few thoughts about firing staff in a ministry setting:

If a biblical, moral, ethical, or legal boundary has been crossed, the best response is to fire immediately. (Insert true story here of how a camp counselor I supervised pulled a knife on a 3rd grade girl as a joke. He was gone before lunch.) Hesitation in times like this undercuts your credibility. Yes, you will have to cancel your plans for the day and shift into crisis mode but neglecting to do so could jeopardize the trust that others have in you.

Set clear expectations when you hire people and evaluate them regularly on those expectations. We hear way too many stories of staff who were let go and don’t know why. “My evaluation just a few months before was stellar” they will say. “There was never a job description, I just had to figure it out” has been spoken way too often. “I only had three meetings during my tenure with the pastor, and one of those was to let me go” we’ve heard. If firing someone for performance is a surprise to them, you’ve found yourself in a leadership failure.

Have a clarifying conversation before you decide to fire. Let your team member know that they MUST change or they will no longer be employed with you. You should be coaching and giving scrupulous feedback as you lead them day-to-day. If they are not responding to that, you need to let them know what’s coming before it hits them. Address the issues in meetings, put it on their evaluations, set up a performance plan. Do whatever it takes for this to not be a surprise and for it to be clearly evident that the job loss is on them.

If you have to let someone go, document the conversations and decisions in writing. Create a factual record that protects you in the case of a legal battle. It may be rare, but if it happens to you you’ll be glad you documented it all. If you can have a witness in the room when you deliver the heartbreaking news, all the better.

Choose carefully who, when, and how you share about the staff departure. Balancing the high road with truth is a must. In terms of who knows, you’ll need to act quickly. News like this often travels far and fast. Get in front of it by having a communication plan in place before you speak with the outgoing staff member, present it to them, and ask them to display integrity by abiding by the plan. Sometimes sharing more detail is the better path, but sometimes being honest with less detail will be the road to take. In your speech be loving, gracious, thankful, and tactful.

Make sure their immediate responsibilities are covered and quickly create an interim leadership plan. In a hard decision like this, it can be so easy to wrap yourself up in the moment and not plan ahead. When this person walks out, as poor of a performer as they may have been, there will be holes left. Who will cover their immediate duties? How will that be communicated? When will a search for their replacement begin? What are the critical path ministries, events, and responsibilities that need thoughtful attention?

If they deserve it, give them a severance. Finding a new role in ministry takes time, especially after being let go. They likely have a family who you love. Be the church to the very end by taking care of them in a reasonable way. Factors that may help you decide how much and how long include their attitude on the way out, tenure, level of responsibility they carried, how long it will take them to find a job in their ministry field, and other individual or personal factors.

I hope you never have to fire a staff member, but you probably will. Letting a staff member go will never be easy, and honestly, it shouldn’t be. When you set clear expectations, document with care, communicate wisely and effectively, and treat the person with grace on the way out, you strengthen your leadership and protect the health of your church.