Definition of Church Administration
Church administration is the leadership which equips the church to be the church and to do the work of the church. It is the guidance provided by church leaders as they lead the church to use its spiritual, human, physical, and financial resources to move the church toward reaching its objectives and fulfilling its avowed purpose. It is enabling the children of God who comprise the church to become and to do what they can become and do, by God’s grace.
Church administration may be described
as a field in terms of certain functional areas in which leaders perform
certain leader functions. To the extent that one performs these leader functions
in the field of church administration, to that extent one may be termed a
church administrator. A leader gives leadership.
Church Administration is a high (above) calling
task, it needs to administer efficiently and effective because:
The Church Is God’s People
The church is people. They are not just
any people. The church is God’s people. They are children of God. They have
received Christ, trusting in Him (John 1:11-12). They have repented to God of
their sin and have professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 7:10; Acts
20:21; 1 John 4:15). God is their Father. They are His heirs jointly with
Christ (Rom. 8:17). They are no longer lost, unrepentant creatures of God. They
are saved, pardoned from sin, and born again as children of God (1 John 1:9;
John 3:17).
The Church Is a Voluntary Fellowship
of Believers in Christ The people who
are the church have voluntarily banded together to form a fellowship of
believers in Christ (1 John 1:7). Early Christians valued this fellowship
highly (Acts 2:42). Paul wrote to the church at Philippi: “I thank my God upon
every remembrance of you. For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day
until now” (Phil. 1:3,5).
The Church Belongs to God
The church is not a mere man-made
institution (Matt. 16:17- 18; 1 Tim. 3:15). It belongs to God. It is a
spiritual fellowship of children of God. It is characterized by members’ love
for one another (Gal. 4:6; 1 John 3:14). The members love God. They assemble
themselves together to worship God. They encourage one another to do good
works (Heb. 10:24-25).
Christ Is the Head of the Church
Christ is the Head of the body of people
who are the church. “And he is the head of the body, the church” (Col. 1:18;
see also Eph. 1:22; 4:15). The church body is somewhat like a human body. It
has many parts. Each part has a particular contribution to make to the whole
body (Eph. 4:16). Christ, the Head of this body, gives it unity, direction,
balance, and control. Some Lead in Equipping the Church for Ministry
One way Christ guides the church is
through those persons who lead. Some of those who lead are ministers. Their
function in leading is to equip God’s children for the work of service (Eph.
4:11-12a). The minister or ministers of a church work in a variety of ways in
order to equip the members to serve. They preach, teach, and perform other
leadership services. They watch over the members like shepherds (Acts 20:28).
They are God’s servants as they function.
The Work of the Church Is Ministering
The church has work to do. The work is
identified as serving, ministering. The ministry of the church is performed by
persons. These persons give aid, help, and benefit to other per-sons. The
nature of the aid, help, and benefit—the ministry performed—grows out of
members’ understanding of the purpose and objectives of the church in relation
to the needs of persons. Ministering Utilizes Resources The work of the church
utilizes resources. These resources are spiritual, human, physical, or
financial. Usually there is some limit to the amount of resources available. In
some in-stances, there are limits on quality also. The limited resources are
evident in relation to the seemingly numberless needs of persons.
.jpg)
