CHURCH ADMINISTRATION ROLE IN THE LIFE OF A CHURCH

Church administration leads a church to understand its purpose. A church’s purpose is reflected in its nature and mission. Church administration tries to enable a church to fulfill its purpose. Church administration has a unique role in the life of a church. It is a helping role. It is a servant role. It is a ministry.

The ministry of administration is to enable the church to become and to do what they can become and do by God’s grace. A church needs and deserves leaders. Those who lead have several areas in which they must give leadership.

They must lead a church to:

Clarify its purpose

Determine its objectives

Develop ministry plans

Design organization

Administer human resources

Administer physical resources

Administer financial resources

Provide controls

These functional areas in which church leaders lead make up the scope of administration. These areas are like great land masses on a planet. This book is intended to identify and to explore the planet of church administration, continent by continent. This chapter explores the functional area of purpose. 

Administration Helps Clarify Purpose

The first task of church administration is to lead a church to understand its purpose. This is a continuing assignment for those who lead a church. Leaders and members need continually to clarify the purpose of church and to keep that purpose before people in and out of the church fellowship.

Ask “Why?”

What is a church? What is not a church? What is church for? What is church not for? Why have church? How do you justify having church? What is its reason for existence? What is its settled determination, the ultimate justification for being? These are the kinds of questions which, when answered, lead to understanding about the purpose of church. Such under-standing is indispensible for a church to maximize its minis-tries. A church which lives and works on purpose is much more likely to realize and to fulfill its mission than a church which lives and works by accident.

Consider the Founder’s Intent

Where should one look for guidance regarding the purpose of church? A good place to begin is to look to the Founder of the church, the Lord of the church, Jesus Christ Himself. What did He have in mind in founding the church? Is there a word from the Lord? Indeed there is! The Master Teacher was giving His students, the disciples, a “mid-term” examination. Matthew recorded this experience.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt. 16:13-19, RSV).

Here Jesus declared that He would build His church. What did Jesus set out to build? What did He mean when He spoke of the church? Why should Jesus build a church? What is the purpose of church? Surely those who administer a church, as well as those who make up the church, should seek answers to these very important questions.

Examine the Nature of a Church

Perhaps the search for answers to these questions should consider what a church is—its nature; and what a church is to do—its mission. Together these insights should help to show more clearly the purpose of church.

Nature refers to essential character

What church is—its nature—has to do with its essential character, its distinguishing quality or qualities, its essence. There are numerous concepts of what church is. Some of these concepts are inadequate or incorrect. For instance, some think mainly of a building when they hear or say the word church. They think of it as a place in a particular location. This is probably the most common perception of church to persons outside a church fellowship, and it is not uncommon to many who are members of a fellow-ship. It is easy to see how persons could mistake the building or the place of meeting for the church, in light of the thousands and thousands of buildings which even the members of churches refer to as the church. However, there were numerous churches before there were ever buildings called churches. They met in homes, in open places, in borrowed buildings, and in other places. It wasn’t until about the third century AD that churches began to have buildings of their own in which to meet. To think of church primarily in terms of a building doesn’t get to the basic nature of church. It is an inadequate concept of church. Sometimes the word church is used to refer to organized Christianity or to a group of churches, such as a denomination. Such use never occurs in the New Testament.!

The New Testament does speak of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages. However, at no time has this usage of the term referred to a body of specific persons in a single location at the same point in history. Nor does the “church general” need our administrative attentions. It is the “local chapters” of present day members of the body of Christ which call for services of ad ministration. This was true in the New Testament references to church.

Nature is seen in biblical expressions: The Bible records some phrases referring to church which, taken together, provide a rich study of the nature of the church. The apostles Paul and Peter both wrote of the church as people of God. Paul in Galatians 3:29 wrote of “Abraham’s offspring” (RSV) and again in 6:16 of “the Israel of God.” Peter used an array of terms when he wrote of the church as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” (1 Pet. 2:9, RSV).

Paul wrote of “the church of God” (1 Cor. 1:2; 10:32; 11:22; 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal. 1:13; 1 Tim. 3:5) and of “the churches of God” (1 Cor. 11:16; 1 Thess. 2:14; 2 Thess. 1:4). Gospel writers referred to the church as God’s flock (Matt. 26:31; Luke 12:32; also see John 10:16; 21:15,17).

Again, Paul wrote of a new humanity, a “new man” (Eph. 2:14-20) and “a new creation” (Gal. 6:15, RSV). He wrote of the church as the bride of Christ (2 Cor. 11:2-3; Eph. 5:25-32), and so did the writer of Revelation (19:7-9; 21:9).

Paul used several other expressions in referring to the church: “the pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15); “God’s field” (1 Cor. 3:9); “God’s building” (still talking about people, not structure in 1 Cor 3:9); and “the body of Christ” in numerous references (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:14-16; 3:3-13; 4:1-16; 5:30; Col. 1:18,24; 2:16-19:3:15).

Mark wrote of the church in terms of a family (3:33-35). John described it as the relationship of branch and vine (John 15:1- 8).

In his letters John wrote of a koinonia, a fellowship (1 John 1:3) and of “children of God” (John 1:11-12 RSV).

What an array of ideas! These biblical portraits indicate that a church is something very special.

Word study on church: A brief word study of church should help to understand more of the nature of church. The English word church translates the Greek word ekklesia, which means “the called-out ones,” or “assembly.” It was used prior to the New Testament to designate the assembly of citizens of a self-governing Greek city. “In this sense an ekklesia was a local assembly operating through democratic processes under the laws of the Empire.”

It was also used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, to translate the Hebrew word qahal, “referring to the nation of Israel assembled before God and under his direct theocratic rule (Deut. 31:12, congregation; Judg. 21:8, assembly.”

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His Teachings, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.

This church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation members are equally responsible. Its Scriptural officers are pastors and deacons.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages. Matt. 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42, 47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3;

14:23, 27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:19-29; 3:8-11; 21; 5:22-32: Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:18; 1 Tim. 3:1-15; 4:14; 1 Pet.-5:1-4; Rev: 2-3;  21:2-3.5

Local church is a colony: The local church is not interpreted

to be the entire kingdom of God, and membership in a church should not be equated with salvation. In the broad sense the kingdom of God is the reign of God in His creation.

“The local church is an earthly colony of that kingdom.’ Writing about salvation, church membership, and the two biblical ideas of church, Hobbs stated:

Thus while salvation is synonymous with membership in the church general, it is not true with regard to local church membership. Nor is membership in the local church synonymous with salvation. “Fellowship,” not “membership,” is the New Testament word for Christian relations in the local church.[1]

Based upon a study of the Bible, you can develop your own understanding of what the nature of the church is to be. In keeping with the priesthood of all believers, this is both the privileges and responsibility of the individual believer. The individual has primary responsibility for what he or she believes and for how those beliefs impact others. If the beliefs of one person cause problems for the church, then the members must determine how they will accommodate themselves to the situation. All should seek to know and to obey the mind of Christ. [2]

An interpretative model helps grasp the nature of church. —It is important to study the church as an idea. It is also helpful to look briefly at the nature of the church from an individual’s viewpoint. Church begins with a call to disciple-ship. Christ calls individuals to discipleship. Many persons might respond to His call in the same time and place, but each one is called individually. This was true when Jesus called those first ones to Himself. This call is recorded in Mark 1:17: “And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men’ ” (RSV).

He was calling a pair of brothers, fishermen Peter and Andrew. What did Jesus have in mind when He called these individuals to discipleship? What did He mean when He invited people to “Follow me’? Followers keep company with Jesus and one another—It would seem that He meant for those who would follow Him to come and be in company with Him. Since He invited several persons, it would seem, too, that He intended that those who should follow Him would also keep company with one another.

Yet there must have been more. He was not gathering about Him a group of individuals just with the idea of having some introverted fellowship with Him and with one another. 

Followers live His way: “Follow me” suggests much more than fellowship. It was a call to a discipleship which is more than companionship. It was a call to learn from Him, to be His pupil. It was a call to His discipline for life. It was a call to live life His way in relation to the Father and to others. It was not a call to a standard of living in some material sense but to a standard for life. The new relationship begins with reconciliation with God and is to be expressed in relationships with others. The Bible has much to say about both of these dimensions.

Followers join Him in the redemptive enterprise: One significant dimension of what the call to discipleship meant and still means is the latter part of the spoken call: “I will make you become fishers of men.” The call to discipleship integrally means a call to live His way and to join Him in the redemptive enterprise. So committed was Jesus to our joining Him in the redemptive enterprise that He gave His task to His disciples with the promise of the indwelling Spirit to guide and to empower Him. He also declared: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, be-cause I go to the Father John 14:12, RSV).

Surely disciples could not do works greater in kind than those done by the Master. Whatever else Jesus might have meant, surely He meant that His disciples are to be faithful in doing the things which would be a blessing to others, the highest blessing being reconciliation to the Father through Christ. What does the call to discipleship have to do with the nature of the church? The call to discipleship is the nature of the church, when that call is lived out in its intended way. An individual disciple is one part of that body, the church. Discipleship involves joining the company of others who are also disciples and working together with Christ to bring persons to God.

Church is a “building” made of people: Church is built upon the Rock. A church is more than a collection of persons. It is a “building”—not a building made of stones, but a building made of people who are disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus came with His disciples into the district of Caesarea. Philippi. He asked them who men were saying that He the Son of man is. They mentioned John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.   life His way in relation to the Father and to others. It was not a call to a standard of living in some material sense but to a standard for life. The new relationship begins with reconciliation with God and is to be expressed in relationships with others. The Bible has much to say about both of these dimensions.

Followers join Him in the redemptive enterprise: One significant dimension of what the call to discipleship meant and still means is the latter part of the spoken call: “I will make you become fishers of men.” The call to discipleship integrally means a call to live His way and to join Him in the redemptive enterprise. So committed was Jesus to our joining Him in the redemptive enterprise that He gave His task to His disciples with the promise of the indwelling Spirit to guide and to empower Him. He also declared: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, be-cause I go to the Father John 14:12, RSV). Surely disciples could not do works greater in kind than those done by the Master. Whatever else Jesus might have meant, surely He meant that His disciples are to be faithful in doing the things which would be a blessing to others, the highest blessing being reconciliation to the Father through Christ. What does the call to discipleship have to do with the nature of the church? The call to discipleship is the nature of the church, when that call is lived out in its intended way. An individual disciple is one part of that body, the church. Discipleship involves joining the company of others who are also disciples and working together with Christ to bring persons to God.

Church is a “building” made of people: Church is built upon the Rock. A church is more than a collection of persons. It is a “building”—not a building made of stones, but a building made of people who are disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus came with His disciples into the district of Caesarea. Philippi. He asked them who men were saying that He the Son of man is. They mentioned John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter [Petros], and on this rock [petra] I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:15-19, RSV).

Hobbs wrote, “A petra was a large ledge rock such as a foundation rock. A petros was a small stone broken off the large stone and partaking of its nature.”[3] He continued, “In the Old Testament where ‘rock’ is used symbolically, it always refers to deity.” So, what should one make of this complex passage and of its meaning for the individual and the church? Consider this treatment.

Certainly the foundation of the church is Christ, not Peter or any other mere mortal (1 Cor. 3:11)... . The writer sees “rock” as referring to Christ. Peter was a petros, a small stone partaking of Christ’s nature. The church is built upon Christ, the building stones being all who, like Peter, confess Him as “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” (See 1] Pet. 2:5.)

Individuals who respond to Jesus’ call to discipleship and confess Him as Lord follow Him and live His way in relation to God and mankind and share with Him in the redemptive enterprise are His church. Each individual is a piece of the rock, the foundation stone of which the church is built. Each has equal opportunity of access to the Father. Each has a share of the privileges.

Each has a voice and, when needed, a vote. Not all have equal influence in the body. Such influence usually comes to those who are faithful with the responsibilities or opportunities they have. Gifts are for enabling the church—He has supplied certain ones with gifts which are to be used for the good of the body as the church goes about the work of the Kingdom. The gifts are for functional services which are to enable those in the fellowship, to equip them for the work of ministry. There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, same Lord, same God. No part of the body, no member, whatever one’s gift may be, is to disdain another or to set oneself over another as though he or she were of a higher order.

Church is a living organism. The individual believer has new life. A person is indwelt by the Spirit from the time of the new birth. One is a “new person” in Christ, part of anew humanity. This new life is different from the old life. The believer is to live as Jesus lived in relation to the Father and to others. Banding together voluntarily under the lordship of Christ, individual believers comprise a church. There is a sense in which the believers who are banded together to form a church have life in a corporate relationship.

They become an entity of life. They take on qualities of an organism. In this instance, an organism is any highly complex thing or structure with parts so integrated that their relation-ship to one another is governed by their relationship to the whole. This seems to be the concept of the church Paul advocated in 1 Corinthians 12:14 ff and Ephesians 4:11 77 Just as Christ is the source of new life in the individual through the Holy Spirit, He is also the source of life and strength of the body of believers—the fellowship we call a church. He directs the life of the organism. He supplies its power, its strength. That is the nature of church. That is its essential character, its essence.                              

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[1] Herschel H. Hobbs, The Baptist Faith and Message(Nashville: Convention Press, 1971), p. 75

[2] Charles A. Tidwell, Educational Ministry of a Church (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1982), pp. 88-90.

 [3] Herschel H. Hobbs, The Baptist Faith and Message(Nashville: Convention Press, 1971), p. 80