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Mary recently took a job as office clerk at her church. The church was growing and needed help in the church office to input data and do secretarial work.

But Mary didn't want to work full-time. Her husband, Jim, is a traveling salesman, and at times Mary accompanies him on trips throughout the Midwest. Occasionally she also likes to take time off to take her grandchildren on outings.

So Mary worked out an arrangement with another woman to share the church job. Both work half-time on a regular basis. But when one needs time off, the other fills in so the job continues uninterrupted.

Job-share arrangements such as this are common in the church today. Ushers, greeters, choir members, orchestra players, preschool teachers, and Bible study leaders pool their talents, filling in for each other when necessary. Even at the seminary where I teach, professors work as a team, relying on the professional skills of each other and filling in when someone on the team isn't available.

Job-sharing works for the church, yet the church has all too often made use of such arrangements without thinking through their administrative and legal implications. If you're spreading full-time work around to save money on salaries and benefits, for example, perhaps it's time to take a closer, more honest look at job-share arrangements.

No question about it, there are many advantages for both employer and employee in job-sharing:

• A larger number of individuals become involved, providing opportunity for a broader use of the gifts of church members or employees.
• When someone chooses to take time off or gets sick, qualified substitutes can fill the void.
• No one individual feels responsible for the entire workload. It's more comfortable feeling part of a ministry group.
• Job-sharing offers people the opportunity to pool different skills and abilities that no one individual may possess.
• Job-sharing develops individuals for greater responsibilities and potential leadership positions.
• Job-sharing allows flexibility in scheduling to accommodate the different times that individuals are available to work.

Job-sharing can work in many areas of church work, but how well does it work with ministry positions? Can you have two ministers of music, a team of youth pastors, a true copastorate?

The list goes on. Could a worship leader and choir director split one job? Could two worship leaders share the work of planning services? Could a teaching pastor conduct the liturgy on Sunday morning and another pastor take charge of parish duties during the week?

The answer to these questions is yes. It's also "it depends."

Jerry Vines and Homer Lindsey have been copastors for many years at First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Florida, one of the largest churches in the nation. They say their arrangement works because it's based on teamwork. And teamwork most often works when it includes these principles of management:

Adequate supervision . Regardless of how many people are on a team, each should be responsible to someone for the work he or she does. A designated administrator should assign, administer, and evaluate the work done by copastors, administrative assistants, or Sunday school teachers.

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