I am often asked, "how many people work at Paraclete." The question usually is met with a pause, as I consider who is asking. If it's the Department of Labor, they probably want to know how many people are on our payroll (85). If it's a church missions pastor asking about missionaries, I translate that to mean ministering souls, so I include volunteers, but not admin staff (107). If it's the IRS, they might be looking for how many FTEs (full time equivalent employees) (37) in which case two half-time people make one FTE! And if I'm not sure, I just report a head count (118).
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| @ the 2019 Associate Conference |
Paraclete has always been about the people--the folks who serve with us, and the ones they come alongside. We call our people "associates," and we think it gives them broader access than employees or missionaries or ministers. Some of them fit into all three categories.
And the number of categories is growing! We recently added one called International Partner Associate that creates a formal, but non-employment relationship with people who minister in places where we can't legally pay salaries. The first person in this category works as an IT specialist in Papua New Guinea, and volunteers with a Paraclete Bible translation project there.
Paraclete associates have been restrained, like everyone else, during the pandemic. A lot of ministry went online, when that was appropriate. In some cases, we made grants to make ministry possible in places where we couldn't go.
Read the amazing stories of Paraclete associates on the Paraclete website, Face Book and Linked In.
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