Church Administration Is an Equipping Ministry

Church administration truly is an equipping ministry. As church leaders understand, accept, and practice this concept of ministry, the church will be mobilized, its resources liberated, and the work of the church will be accomplished in almost unprecedented effectiveness. Church administration, an equipping ministry, is a function-al field. A field is an area of activity. The field of church ad-ministration may be viewed in several ways as one attempts to delineate it. The primary view of the field as presented in subsequent chapters of this book is to identify and describe the various functional areas which together comprise the total field.

Identifying Some Groups in Church Administration Helps Give Visibility

One way of envisioning the field is to identify some of the groups which are commonly found in the activity area that is church administration. These groups represent some of the organizational forms in which administrative functions take place. Examples of these groups are these: church staff, church officers, basic church programs, and the church membership at large.

Church staff members work through others

Staff may be defined as those persons who make their work contributions through other people not under their supervision in ways which make the other people accountable to them. Staff members in a church are usually compensated partially or fully (in terms of subsistence) for their services.

Many times these persons are not only staff in functioning (working through others), but are also line workers in that they assume or are assigned certain responsibilities for personal production or services which they render substantially alone. Illustrative of church staff positions are pastor, minister of education, minister of music, church business administrator, minister of youth, associate pastor, and many others. Church officers render specialized administrative services. —Church officers are individuals chosen by a church to render specialized administrative services to the church membership at large. “Church officers usually fill positions that require only one person.’’

Some churches commonly have these church officers:

(1) a presiding officer, usually called the moderator. The pastor may or may not serve in this office.

(2) A clerical officer, who is usually referred to as the church clerk. With the development of church staffs with one or more secretaries, many churches have a secretary who either works with or in place of the church clerk.

(3) A financial officer, who is usually called the treasurer. Again, the treasurer may be assisted by a church staff member, such as a financial secretary.

(4) Legal officers, who are called trustees. A church which is legally incorporated must designate persons to be officers of the incorporated body, some of whom most likely serve the church in one of the areas enumerated above, in addition to being officers of the corporation.

Church officers serve generally to enable the church to transact its affairs properly with its own membership, with other churches, with other church bodies, and with certain other individuals and institutions in society, notably business and governmental. Their work, and that of the persons whose work relates most closely to theirs, is largely administrative.

Basic church programs have administrative requirements. A basic church program is a set or group of basic continuing tasks of primary importance in moving a church toward fulfilling its purpose and objectives. The leaders of these programs in many churches work together with one another and with other leaders in the church in order to advance the cause of Christ through their programs.

Examples of programs identified in some churches are: (1) pastoral ministries, (2) Bible teaching, (3) missions, (4) music ministry, and (5) church training.

The organizational medium for the cooperative work of the program leaders in many churches is the Church Council. Usually led by the pastor, and often assisted by other church staff members, the Church Council performs administrative services with and for the church.

Major concerns of a Church Council include helping a church discover and understand its nature and purpose, making the church program relevant to the church and community needs, helping avoid unproductive duplication and overlapping responsibilities and activities, scheduling church activities, helping plan and use resources wisely, and enriching the fellowship. Program leaders and others whose work relates to the pro-grams of the church are at the heart of the church administration activity. The organizations they lead are of major importance in a church. Together their work is the church’s ministry, almost in its entirety.

Service programs assist the church and its programs

Many churches have organizations to assist the church and its basic programs in strategic ways. They may be referred to as service programs. These organizations provide media services, recreation services, and administrative services. Service programs make the work of the church and its basic programs more efficient and effective. Relating these services most appropriately to the church’s total ministry is an administrative responsibility.

Church committees provide administrative services to the church

Almost all churches do some of their work through church committees. The work performed by church commit-tees is almost always administrative. A committee is a group of persons designated by a parent group and assigned to perform one or more continuing or temporary specialized services which the parent group either cannot do, will not do, or chooses not to do for itself. Generally there are two types of committees in a church.

“Regular” committees work on assignments which have continuity, usually throughout the year. “Special”? committees carry out assignments usually short-term and of a unique nature. Upon completion of their assignment the special commit-tee is usually thanked and dismissed.

Churches use committees for many essential services, such as assisting in nominating workers for church offices and organizations, leading in stewardship and financial affairs, advising in matters regarding properties and space, helping with church staff administration, and many others. Work with church committees comprises a significant and large segment of the field of church administration.

Church members are the church

The church members are the total body of persons who have been received officially into the membership of the church, with all the rights, privileges, responsibilities, and relationships pertaining thereto. Sometimes the term congregation is used as a synonym for “the church.”

Congregation is a less precise term for the church than what one usually means when he refers to the body, the members. A congregation is a gathering of people. The church is more than any gathering, unless the gathering includes the members. In churches operating on the congregational polity pattern, the rights and privileges of membership usually include entering into deliberation and discussion of the church’s decisions, expressing choice by voting one vote, and holding office or position for which one might be duly elected. In Baptist churches the privileges extend to participating in the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

The rights and privileges are determined by each church. Each church also determines the responsibilities and relationships of its members with regard to the church and other entities. Churches may vary widely in their hopes, expectations, and requirements in this area. Some churches adopt a statement, either a “standard” covenant or one of their own devising, which is intended to guide particularly with regard to member responsibilities and relationships. Often the rights and privileges receive more attention of members than do the responsibilities and relationships.

The church is an administrative group

The church is an administrative group whether gathered in a meeting or not. The church is obviously an administrative group when a valid quorum of its members is meeting to consider matters of interest to the church. Some churches organize members into subgroups in order to make working with them a more manageable possibility. One way of determining the grouping is by the geographic location of members’ residences. One or more members might be asked to serve as the contact link for members in each of the geographic subdivisions. In Baptist churches the deacons often organize the church members into family subgroups in order to implement church ministries to and through them. There are other ways of organizing the church into subgroups which might be useful to a church.