Staff org charts are absolutely necessary. Every organization, including churches, must have an up-to-date org chart. These charts help all staff (and non-staff) understand who supervises who, where the buck stops, which department has which personnel, and so many other questions. And, as organizations grow and change, the org chart must do the same, too.
Ideally, the church leadership will think about three to five years out and dream about what staff is needed to accomplish the mission and vision of the church. Then, they will put in a timeline of which staff person to hire in which order (as budget funds are available). This planning helps keep the staff and personnel committee focused on its goals and using its people resources to reach those objectives. This is called strategic planning or a strategic org chart.
However many orgs, especially churches, fail to do this. Instead, the leadership reacts to complaints and requests from members who want to have a staff person to take care of a specific ministry area (usually the one the member cares most about). And too often the personnel committee and/or pastor will acquiesce and make that new staff person a priority even if it has nothing to do with the church’s mission and vision. This is called an organic org chart (it is also called a disaster).
Org charts must be intentional and well-reasoned. Otherwise, you may end up with an org chart in which the senior pastor has 10 or 12 people reporting to him; those org charts have the appearance of being a circus tent (which may be appropriate). Make sure your org chart looks well-planned and not like it was created by the monkeys in the circus.
Lead On!