Many churches erroneously believe that such a decision is based on the size of their missions budget. However, your church is ready for a missions pastor when its mission strategy is clearly defined, and it is recruiting, training, and sending candidates in order to fulfill that strategy. In short, your church is ready for a missions pastor when it is committed to insuring the effectiveness of its missionaries. If your church merely wants to give money to its missionaries, receive their quarterly prayer letters, and feature them at your missions conference during their furlough every fourth year, you will never need a missions pastor. We want to hire a missions pastor, but can't hire one full-time.
Some churches combine positions in order to have a missions pastor.
For example, a full time member of the pastoral staff might be responsible for both the missions program, and the Christian Education program or the youth ministry. An ideal combination might be a staff member who oversees the entire outreach of your church- both local and worldwide. Missions experience, either on the field or in the local church, is desirable. Unfortunately, when they say that, they're usually talking about the drapes or furniture.