Why Church Administration?
by Jeff Nichols
Why did you enter ministry? To make a difference? To help people? To introduce people to Jesus? There may be many things on your list, but somewhere close to the top of that list is to obey Christ’s command to make disciples. That’s why you are giving your life to this grand adventure called ministry. You want to tell people the good news of Jesus Christ. You want to see them be baptized and grow by leaps and bounds as they also share the good news with people around them. When you see growth, progress, and passion in peoples’ lives, you say, “This is why God put me on this planet.” At that moment, the Great Commission is living and breathing in your life.
But when you look at your calendar for the week, you see the following:
- Monday, 10:00 am: meeting with insurance agent
- Tuesday, 7:00 pm: codes Board meeting at City Hall
- Wednesday, 6:30 pm: church budget meeting
- Thursday, 9:00 am: attend church safety/security seminar
- Thursday, 7:00 pm: trustee meeting
Is this why God put you here? For insurance meetings and building permits? Did Bible college or seminary prepare you for this? Do you remember the class assignment on “How to Negotiate a Loan”? It wasn’t there. (Since I attended Welch, they have since added a course in Church Administration.)
Leading a local church, no matter the size, carries with it great joys such as disciple-making, teaching, and worship. But it also carries with it what may seem like extra weight in the form of responsibilities, requirements, and obligations that the government and church have imposed upon you. Is one good and the other bad? Does one get you excited and the other get you down?
In their excellent book The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything, Colin Marshall and Tony Payne describe in detail the tension between the structural elements that hold things together and the organic nature of ministry that moves and changes and grows:
[I]t has occurred to me more than once that most churches are a mixture of trellis and vine. The basic work of any Christian ministry is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of God’s Spirit, and to see people converted, changed and grow to maturity in that gospel. That’s the work of planting, watering, fertilizing and tending the vine. However, just as some sort of framework is needed to help a vine grow, so Christian ministries need some structure and support. It may not be much, but at the very heart we need somewhere to meet, some Bibles to read from, and some basic structures of leadership within our group. All Christian churches, fellowships or ministries have some kind of trellis that gives shape and support to the work. As the ministry grows, the trellis also needs attention. Management, finances, infrastructure, organization, governance—these all become more important and more complex as the vine grows. In this sense, good trellis workers are invaluable, and all growing ministries need them.[1]
The trellis includes the church’s administrative functions: the structures, systems, processes, and functions that keep the pastor out of jail and the ministry from descending into chaos. Are they as exciting as Bible school and worship services? It depends on whom you ask. The Lord has given different gifts to different people in His body. Some people love putting together an Excel spreadsheet as much as you love putting together a sermon. Turn to them and allow God to use them in their area of passion as much as He uses you in yours.
The responsibilities in this area and the questions leaders have usually revolve around three areas of the church: God’s people, God’s property, and God’s money. All three are God’s, not yours. You are a steward. Your responsibility is to use what God has given you to bring Him the most glory possible. The good news is that you are responsible only for the gifts He has given you and no one elses.
God’s People
Volunteers do most of ministry. Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service” (NIV). Pastors’ and leaders’ main responsibility is to find, recruit, equip, and release people for ministry according to their gifts and passions. When do you know you need to start paying people for ministry? While there is not one answer for every church situation, common factors, more than others, influence this decision.
Such factors usually concern church budget and ministry needs. The church budget should be properly planned to prepare the church for adding staff, either part-time or full-time. The other question concerns how much to pay this staff member. Pastors and ministerial staff should be paid commensurate to what the church members in that area in other fields are paid. In addition, good resources are available to help churches determine the average pay for the position being hired (see sidebar).
Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, said “The function of management in a church is to make the church more church-like, not to make it more business-like.”[2]
God’s Property: Insurance and Liability Issues
People often view dealing with the church facilities as a thankless task. When is the last time you heard someone thank you for the restrooms being kept clean week after week? But let a toilet overflow or a paper dispenser be out one Sunday, and you will hear about it. Someone has said people will not come to your church just because of the facilities (e.g., cleanliness, safety, and usefulness), but they will not come back to your church because of its facilities. Ministry is messy, but that does not mean your building has to be. Potted plants that need watering, doorframes that need painting, a church sign that still has the last pastor’s name on it, or lawns that are unkempt may seem like small things. But when people see such wear and tear, they also wonder if the church will use their money wisely or if it will keep their children’s classrooms safe and clean.
The church facilities should help fulfill the church’s mission. Does your church want to reach kids and families? Is there evidence of it in your facilities? Does your church have a heart for the world? Can you prove it by at the look of your facility? Align the church facility to the mission of the church, not the other way around.
Our eyes eventually begin to overlook glaring issues in our church building. That stain in the carpet bothered you the first month but then you started to overlook it. Guests will not overlook it. Ask a friend who does not attend your church to attend your church on a Sunday. Ask them to fill out a simple questionnaire asking such questions as:
- Was there adequate exterior signage to know where to park and where to enter for worship services?
- Was signage helpful or non-existent?
- Was the facility clean, specifically the restrooms?
Your carpet will need to be replaced eventually. Will your budget be surprised when it is time to do so? Or will you prepare ahead of time for maintenance replacements like paving, HVAC units, or painting?
God’s Money
Stewardship [stoo-erd-ship]: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.[3]
The church must steward all three areas addressed in this article. But none is more powerful than appropriately dealing with financial resources entrusted to your care. The church must use the tithes and offerings of God’s children for the fulfillment of the church’s mission. It must set up proper systems and processes to allow this to occur in an ethical, legal, and financially prudent way. Here are common questions to ask regarding your church finances:
- Who handles your cash and how is it handled? Whether cash comes in through the offering plate, camp registrations, bake sales, or silent auctions, proper oversight and management must accompany the handling of cash. Two people must be present whenever cash is being touched.
- Who signs your checks? Who counts your offering? Who balances the accounts? There should be a division of responsibilities in these three areas.
Your church has been given three boxes of gifts. Those gifts come in the form of God’s People, God’s Property, and God’s Money. You are responsible only for what you have been given. You are not responsible for the gifts given to the church down the street or the one you read about online. Take the responsibility of stewarding these gifts seriously and thank God for the privilege of serving Him through the administration gifts of the church.
About the Author: Jeff Nichols is currently the Outreach/Church Life Pastor at The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, TN. He is adjunct teacher at Welch College (2015-p). He has degrees from Welch College (B.S., Bible and Christian Education, 1987) and Trevecca Nazarene University (M.B.S., 2006). He previously served as youth minister at East Side Free Will Baptist Church, Muldrow, OK, 1987-88), youth/children’s minister at Calvary Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church, St. Louis, MO (1989-93), and children’s pastor/executive pastor at The Donelson Fellowship, Nashville, TN (1993-2018).
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[1]Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything (Kingsford, NSW: Matthias Media, 2009), 8.
[2]Bob Buford, Drucker & Me: What a Texas Entrepreneur Learned from the Father of Modern Management (Franklin, TN: Worthy 2014), 95.
[3]Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stewardship.
August 16, 2018
That was a very helpful and practical article.
August 17, 2018
Thanks Terry. Glad it was helpful.