This is one of the more eye-opening metrics we share with churches as we help them take next steps. We determine the ratio of the number of worship service attendees per full-time equivalent staff person. Here’s what our data has confirmed:
As you can see the average ratio of attendance to staff is 86:1. In other words for every 86 people in attendance including adults and kids, there’s typically one full-time employee.
This includes all paid staff at the church including administrative, support and ministry employees. It also includes both full-time and part-time staff. We calculate the full-time equivalent (FTE) number by adding the total average number of hours part-time staff work and then dividing by 40. That number is added to the number of full-time staff to get the FTEs. As an example, if there are 12 full-time employees and 10 part-time employees working a combined average of 240 hours per week, that is 18 FTEs.
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