Designing Church Organization

A church is a very special and unique creation. It is a fellow-ship. It is an organism, a unit of life. It is not primarily an organization. But it does have needs for organization. There are people who resist the idea of a church being organized. Some think of organization as something out of place in a church. Some even doubt the idea that organization can be biblical. People who believe this are poor students of God’s Word.

Examples of Organization

The Bible is plentiful in its examples or organization. God Himself is a God of order, not of chaos. Just one illustration from each of the Testaments will serve to show that organization is not antibiblical. 

Moses

Probably the most fruitful passage in all of literature on leadership and organization is found in Exodus 18:13-27. One who reads this passage should find many ideas which even modern writers and other specialists in management discuss. This is the account of Moses receiving some significant management counsel from his father-in-law, Jethro. Someone, with a keen sense of humor, developed an organization chart showing the plight of Moses before and after Jethro helped him reorganize. 

In the traditional-looking box chart format Moses is shown as the person responsible in forty-nine boxes, plus the leader’s box at the top of the chart. His responsibilities listed on the boxes range through the alphabet, from agriculture, banking, baptism, and bartering to transportation, travel, water, and welfare.

Some student usually mentions that Moses’ wife was named Zipporah. But our conclusion is that a man who was as busy as Moses doesn’t have time for his wife! This painful conclusion points up the sad plight of many who lead in churches without adequate help through good organization.

There follows some very sound instruction for Moses regarding his role, the roles of qualified persons who should be placed in positions of responsibility to help bear the load, and this important promise: “If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace” (v. 23, RSV). Their needs would be met! Moses did what Jethro advised. And he didn’t let Jethro leave until he had installed the plan!

The Twelve Apostles

Instances of organization abound in the New Testament. The great scholar A. T. Robertson, in ‘A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ’, showed an interesting fact about the twelve apostles. He presented the four lists of the apostles in vertical columns side by side. The lists come from Mark 3:16-19; Matthew 10:2-4; Luke :14-16; and Acts 1:13. In these lists one can readily observe that Simon Peter is always listed first. Some take that to mean that Peter was the head of the apostles.

One can discount that, in light of the fact that Jesus was their Head! It is true that Peter was always listed first. On closer observation, one can see that the next three after Peter are the same in each list, but not always in the same order: James, John, and Andrew; then Andrew, James, and John, and so on. The fifth person in all the lists is Philip. The next three are the same, but again in varied order: Bartholomew, Matthew, and Thomas; then Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew; then Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew. Philip is the only one who is consistently in the same position. So it is with the last four. James, the son of Alpheus, is in the number nine position, followed by Thaddeus, Simon, and Judas Iscariot, who was omitted from the list in Acts.

Here is what Robertson said about this, adding that the scholars Bengel, Broadus, and Clark agreed:

Observe the three groups of four, headed by Simon Peter, Philip, and James the son of Alpheus, respectively. The great variety in the arrangement of the other names makes this uniformity significant. It seems clear that there are three recognized groups among the apostles.[1]

The agreement of even these great scholars doesn’t necessarily make it true that the apostles were organized. But it certainly gives cause to think that they were. We have other indications that the apostles were interested in position since two of them had their mother speak to Jesus about their positions (Matt. 20:20 ff). The organization of the apostles probably did not come as a result of the work of a nominating committee!

They might have been put in these groups by the Lord. Possibly they could have emerged quite naturally to their positions. The thing to notice here is that in the Bible there seems to have been organization. And it was this group to whom Jesus gave the responsibility to carry on His work. As a result, millions have received the gospel. That’s good organization! It really isn’t good organization that people resist.

It usually is either poor organization or too many organizations. Most people have had enough of organizations without clear pur-poses and objectives and programs. It is possible to have too many organizations calling for your participation and support. Churches need to study seriously their organization and try to avoid these indicators of poor organization.

Definition of Organization

Let us turn our attention to consider what might be good organization for a church. That is what we want to advocate. There are many possible definitions or organization. This one is very simple and task oriented: Organization is the arrangement of persons to get a job done.

The common elements in organization, that is good organization, include some pattern of structure, some design—an arrangement. To bring life and meaning to this arrangement, one must bring people. As in team sports, one can mark the playing area and indicate where the players are to position themselves to begin the action.

But the real organization ap-pears when the players come onto the playing area and the game begins. They have a job to do, and they begin to do it. This is their purpose in being organized. Again, the elements are an arrangement, people, and a job to do.

Benefits of Good Organization

Good organization in a church offers some worthwhile benefits. Let us look at a few of these benefits of good organization.

First, good organization distributes the work load. As Jethro told Moses about his assignment, “The thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it alone” (v. 18, RSV). That certainly is true of ministry and the work of a church. No one person is big enough or good enough to do it all alone. There must be others to share the work load, and there needs to be good distribution of the load.

Second, good organization places responsibility where it be-longs. God has given a variety of gifts. Each recipient is responsible for the best use of his or her gifts in relation to the whole body, the church. With each person fulfilling his or her responsibility, the whole body can progress toward its goals.

Third, good organization reduces confusion. The work load is well distributed. The responsibility is placed where it be-longs. Confusion is minimized.

Fourth, good organization helps avoid unnecessary duplication of effort. Duplication of effort is at best a waste, and at worst counterproductive. Some of the most glaring instances of poor organization at this point occur not in small churches but in large ones.

For instance, in a very large church of several thousand members two secretaries were maintaining duplicate files of the master church member records, each apparently not knowing that the other was doing this. This had gone on for quite some time before the duplication was discovered. That was poor and costly duplication of effort. Good organization helps avoid this kind of happening.

Determining the Need for Organization

There are times when the best response to the impulse to add organizations is to test the need in the light of certain questions. It is possible that the need is not for more organizations. Ask questions like these: Is there really a job to do? If the answer is affirmative, proceed with other questions. If not, stop the action to organize!

Does the need fall in the responsibility area of an existing Officer, committee, or organization?

There are numerous instances in churches in which positions, committees, or additional organizations were created unnecessarily because the responsibilities of existing officers, committees, or organizations were not clearly known. If the responsibility is already placed, deal with the need in terms of getting the job done with the existing organization. Don’t add organization in such a case. If, for example, there is a committee which should be taking care of certain needs but is not, work to get that committee to function. Find what the problem is and work to overcome it. One creates more possible difficulties by failing to do so.

Can one person do the job effectively?

If so, there are only a few exceptions which would call for you to have a group of persons organized to do a one-person job. For example, al-though one person could probably do an effective job of counting the church offerings, there are good reasons why the counting should be done by several persons. But in most in-stances, if the job can be done effectively and acceptably by one person, avoid creating a committee or other organization involving several persons.

Can a special group do the job as a temporary project?

Perhaps an ad hoc committee would be more appropriate than a permanent or standing committee. For example, if your church celebrates the anniversaries of its founding in five-year or ten-year intervals, you might question whether you should have a permanent committee to plan church anniversary celebrations. And who would want a permanent pastor selection committee?

The whole point of these and other such questions is to plan to get the needs met effectively with as lean an organization design as possible. There is no virtue, and there might be some vice, in having more organizations than are needed. Try to avoid this problem.

Principles of Good Church Organization

There are certain marks of good church organization that distinguish it from poor organization. Some are even principles, axiomatic truths which are universally valid.

Let us look briefly at some of these marks. Good church organization will do these things:

1. Reflect the church’s theology

2. Lead toward clearly defined goals

3. Be almost as simple as possible

4. Be flexible

5. Group similar jobs together

6. Match responsibility with authority

7. Establish clear guidelines

8. Keep congregational authority clear

Organization Reflects the Church’s Theology

Let us look at each of these and try to clarify what we mean by them. Would you agree that good administration should grow out of good theology? That is what we mean when we say that a church’s organization should reflect its theology. It should be compatible with what we say we believe, not only about God but also about the dignity and worth of individuals.

Further, there should be no organization design for a congregationally governed church which violates the tenets of congregational democracy. For example, a church whose deacons, committees, councils, staff, pastor, or any other group or individual function as a final filter through which matters must be screened in order to get to the church body is in danger of not being a fully congregational body.

There is a significant difference in having required approval by certain groups or individuals in a church and in having optional consultation from those same groups or individuals. There is often wisdom in the counsel of many. But in a Baptist church this consultation needs to be distinguished from having to have approval. Any individual or group of a church, any committee whose parent is the church, should have right of access to the church body. A church should clarify in its procedures how this access is assured. A church committee might wisely seek the counsel of deacons on matters of importance to the church; but to require a committee of the church to have its work approved by the deacons is questionable in light of Baptist theology. It is possible to have our cake and eat it too! We can have the counsel of any others in a church without having to have their approval. Then let the church make its own decisions.

Organization Leads Toward Clearly Defined Goals

Good church organization should be goal oriented. It should not exist without purpose or direction. It should be designed to enable a church to accomplish its goals. If the goals are temporary, perhaps the organization should be temporary. If the goals are continuing, the organization for reaching the goals should be continuing. In a study of one church’s committee structure, the study group (a special, temporary committee) came upon a commit-tee called the Planning Committee. They asked the chairman to recall the origin of this committee. Several years earlier it had begun as a Building Planning Committee, to lead in the addition of another needed building. The building was completed, but the committee continued to have things referred to it by the church. Over the years its name was shortened informally, not by church action. The chairman told of the most recent matter the church had referred to the committee: How should the church divide the revival love offering be-tween the guest evangelist and the guest musician? The chair-man happily accepted the recommendation that the Planning Committee be thanked and dissolved and that future decisions about the church’s finances be considered by the church Stewardship Committee.

Organization Should Be Almost as Simple as Possible

Good church organization should be kept almost as simple | as possible. The simplest possible organization is one which is run by one person. The possibilities in such an extremely simple organization range from dismal failure and ineffectiveness to a rigid dictatorship. Neither of these is right nor desirable. As a healthy body should be just big enough for maximum effectiveness, so should an organization. Too little organization allows for poor distribution of the work load. Too few are probably called upon to do too much, and many miss the blessings of meaningful work in the church. Too much or too many organizations tend to be cumbersome and ineffective.

Church size and program plans, along with other factors, should help you to find the right organization design for your church. Churches have come to have organization along a wide variety of lines. Historically, Baptist churches have organized their total membership in several ways. In addition to pastors and deacons, Baptist churches have had officer positions of the whole congregation.

There are the moderator, trustees, clerk, and treasurer. The moderator is often the pas-tor, though not in every case. The person in this position pre-sides over meetings of the church members for transacting business for the church. The trustees serve as representatives of the congregation and under the congregation’s instructions to do such things as are necessary in the signing of legal and business documents and other similar matters. The clerk maintains church membership records and handles essential correspondence and recording related to the membership and to its decisions in session. The treasurer is the official financial officer of the church and operates, as do the others, under the instructions of the church.

Without such a plan, most congregations have no minis-try to those who do not attend the education ministry organizations or the church services or worship.

There are other ways churches are organized to accomplish their purpose. There you will see suggested church organization for five sizes of churches. There are suggestions for staff, deacons, church officers, church committees, service programs, special ministries, coordination, Bible teaching, church training, mission organizations, and music ministry for each size church.[2]

Organization Should Be Flexible

Good church organization should be flexible. It should expand as the needs justify expansion. In the instance of organization in which growth is desired, such as in Bible teaching classes or departments like the Sunday School, new units should be formed as worker-member ratios and additional known prospects for enrollment suggest. New units grow faster than older, established units. And they reach more people for Christ. These are verifiable facts in the history and in the present experience of Sunday Schools that are growing.

Planned expansion or addition of organizational units is a key factor in growing a church. There are known worker-member ratios, maximum membership sizes, and other factors which church leaders should consider in expanding or adding organizations. In some instances the organizational flexibility concept calls for reducing or contracting the organization. Circumstances change, and sometimes the need or organizational units diminishes. One can use the same good ratios and other factors that were used to expand or to add to the organization to deter-mine when organization should flex downward.

Again, in a Sunday School situation, there are years when the number of persons in a given group in an age-graded organization might be considerably smaller than in other years. In other years the flexibility concept would say, “Reduce the number of units to fit the need.” Obviously, most of us enjoy enlarging and expanding instead of reducing the organizations, because more. organization should be associated with reaching and ministering to more people. We are right when we are concerned about reaching and ministering to more people.

Organization Groups Similar Jobs Together

Good organization groups similar jobs together. The flower committee doesn’t usually plan the church budget! There are many tasks in a church. Those tasks which are similar should be grouped together and assigned to persons with gifts and other qualifications for performing particular tasks. If needs continue to arise which do not seem to fit any of the present organizational responsibilities, that might suggest the need for some reorganization or for some additional organization. First, see if the newly discovered need can be met adequately and appropriately by existing organization. If not, then make the needed changes. In any case, try to put related or similar tasks together for assignment.

Organization Matches Responsibility with Authority

Good church organization matches responsibility with authority. Some people don’t like the use of the word authority. They prefer to call it “freedom to act.’”’ Whatever one calls it, a person in a place of responsibility in an organization needs to be authorized or free to do what is right and necessary to get the assignment done. Of course, there should be known limits to that authority or freedom. But authority or freedom must be exercised within those limits.

Seward Hiltner wrote, ‘If even God felt it wise and right and essential to risk his purposes and his love through fallible human instruments, who is a minister to be unwilling to acknowledge that his ministry must be risked through fallible human beings who are, in actual fact, no more fallible than he?[3]

Organization Establishes Clear Guidelines

Good church organization establishes clear guidelines. It sees that groups and individuals are informed regarding du-ties, responsibilities, and limits. For example, if there is a staff member or a committee who has responsibility for money expenditures, the procedures and limits of spending are better made known before rather than after the fact of some violation. Good organization works toward preventing as well as solving problems.

Organization Keeps Congregational Authority

Clear Good church organization keeps congregational authority clear. Certain decisions should be reserved for the church body to make. Matters like calling ministers, changing the name or location of the church, altering the constitution or bylaws, and qualifications for membership who will serve in church positions are some of the decisions no individual or group should make for the church. Obviously there are many other items a church should decide for itself.

 

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[1] A. T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospel for Students of the Life of Christ(New York: Harper and Bros., 1950), pp. 271-272.

[2] Bruce P. Powers, editor/compiler, Christian Education Handbook (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981), pp. 130-131.

 [3] Seward Hiltner, Ferment in the Ministry (New York: Abingon Press, 1969), p. 85.

Major Types of Planning in Church Administration

Up to this point we have looked in rather sweeping fashion at what ministry planning is, why leaders develop church ministry plans, and who should lead in the planning. Let’s turn now to a more detailed look at some of the features of the process.

Basic Operational Planning

First, consider two major types of planning that should occur in every church. One type is in the area of the basic operational life of the church. If you should keep track of all the things your church does for a period of time, you would find that most of the activity is in this area of basic operations. These are the things you do on a continuing basis. They are mostly essential things that are done regularly, if not routinely. They are things you do to survive at the base, the church itself.

You conduct worship services. You have Sunday School, Church Training, and missions education. You sing. You visit the sick. You marry the people. You bury the dead. You comfort the bereaved. These and many other things you do in season and out of season because you are a church. In much of this basic operation, the mode is one of reacting to things which occur, over many of which you have little or no control. Is there planning to do in these basic operational areas? Indeed there is. In basic operational planning, the general thrust is to make the ministries more effective in quality, more efficient in process, and less consuming of resources. The concern is to make the base, the church, the best that it can be.

Many churches make the mistake of planning and working only on operational things. They “strengthen the stake” but they do not “lengthen the cord.” The first is necessary, but is eventually self-defeating without another type of planning. That type we call “advance” or growth planning.

Planning for Advance

Planning for advance is at the growing edge of the church. In this planning, you reach for new people to be brought to Christ, new ministries to be developed, new needs to be met. Here you plan for extraordinary increases in numbers. You also plan for extraordinary improvement in quality, such as in training of workers. Here, too, you consider the validity of ministering to those with special needs, and those in unique circumstances.

Even major strengthening of the base operations might be considered advance. It is important for the base of be strengthened. The lengthening cords must have strengthened stakes to which to be anchored. In developing church ministry plans leaders should consider the needs both in terms of the basic operational areas and in areas for advance. They should lead the church to plan for ministries in both. 

Focusing on Annual Planning and Long-Range Planning

Another way of viewing and doing church ministry planning is to focus on annual planning and on long-range planning. Most of the detailed planning of a church’s ministries would likely fall in the area of annual planning. This involves the pastor, the Church Council, the organizational councils, and some church committees as they plan the annual cycle of ministry events, emphases, and continuing programs. Annual planning needs to consider both operational and advance areas. Also, most of the annual planning probably should be done in relation to implementing church tasks.

One can find the listing of tasks in books such as Educational Ministry of a Church (Tidwell), Christian Education Handbook (Powers), and A Church on Mission (McDonough).

They include such ministries as reaching per-sons for Bible study, witnessing to persons about Christ and leading persons into church membership, equipping church members for discipleship and personal ministry, equipping church leaders for service, providing musical experiences in congregational services, witnessing and ministering through music, engaging in missions activities, teaching missions, leading the church in the accomplishment of its mission, proclaiming the gospel to believers and unbelievers, caring for the church’s members and other persons in the community, and interpreting and undergirding the work of the church and the denomination.

Three Basic Principles in Planning

There are more tasks than we have identified here, but these are representative of the total group. There are three basic principles to consider in annual planning related to tasks.

1. The Church Itself Is the Basic Unit

The first principle of good annual planning is that the church itself is the basic unit. Neither Sunday School, Church Train-ing, music ministry, Woman’s Missionary Union, Brotherhood, the deacons, the church staff, the church committees, nor any one individual is the basic unit to consider.

The church is the basic unit. The implications of this principle are many. Among them is the fact that the interests of the church, the overall fellowship, must have priority over the interests of any other entity, in or out of a church. The churches do not exist so that other entities or bodies will have a support base. The external entities exist to assist churches to fulfill their purpose.

Groups inside a church need to be ready to give way to the interests of the total body on matters like calendar, personnel, and money. In cases of conflicting requests, most often the subgroup in a church, such as one of the church organizations or any of its components, should give way. Those who lead in determining what the total church’s plans require must make a practice of planning far enough in advance so that other entities in the church can gracefully make their plans without conflict.

One example might clarify how this principle applies in a church. Suppose the Church Council schedules a revival series well in advance. The dates are set. The church approves the calendar. Sunday School classes, training groups, workers’ planning meetings, and other important events should give priority to what the church has ap-proved. They should find other ways and times to do the work they would have done at the time of the scheduled revival.

2. All Tasks Are Church Tasks

A second important principle in church ministry planning is: all tasks are church tasks. They are the responsibility of the total church, even though in many churches certain organizations in the church have primary responsibility for their implementation. The implications of this principle are many. One implication is that a church which is not big enough in its membership to warrant having all the recommended organizations still has the responsibility of finding ways to accomplish its tasks. And there are ways to work on these tasks without all of the recommended organizations.

This is not a heresy! It is simply saying that a church which does not have a functioning Church Training organization still has the responsibility to accomplish the task of equipping church members for discipleship and person-al ministry.

A church which does not have a Woman’s Missionary Union or a Brotherhood organization still has the responsibility for the tasks of teaching missions and of supporting missions. These and all the other tasks are church tasks. Another implication is that in a church which does have the organizations recommended for implementing its tasks, the tasks are not the “property” of the organizations. They are still church tasks and must be duly subject to the will and the processes of the church. This means, among other things, that church organizations play by the rules of the church in planning, scheduling, enlisting and training leaders, funding, and in policies and procedures related to other actions. All tasks are church tasks.

3. Tasks Must Be Planned in Relationship

A third principle is: tasks must be planned in relationship. They must not be planned as though there were no other tasks of the church. Planners can find many ways for tasks of various organizations to be planned in complementary fashion, so as to strengthen and help one another.

For example, while it is considered a pastoral ministries task to lead in proclaiming the gospel to believers and unbelievers, the Sunday School can plan to complement pastoral ministries in this task by the ways the Sunday School does its work of reaching persons for Bible study, witnessing to persons about Christ, and leading persons into church membership. Other organizations can find ways to work together as they plan to implement their tasks.

This is an arena which can be a model of God’s children working together, graciously considering one another, and supporting one another, thereby strengthening the total church and its ministries. This way the church can have a church ministry plan, not just an accumulation of plans of many groups without unity.

Long-Range Planning

Usually Extends for Several Years

The other type of planning we mentioned is long-range planning. This kind of planning considers what a church should plan to do to meet the studied needs in and out of its fellowship over a seven-to-ten year period. It usually is done by a special committee of a church and requires careful leader-ship over many months to develop.

Good long-range planning considers the same functional areas as do other types of planning: purpose, objectives, program, organization, human re-sources, physical resources, financial resources, and controls. The committee recommends church goals, strategies, and action plans which are projected over the years of the plan. Such planning can give annual planning a very fine context in which to operate. The church approves the long-range plan. Major items are processed again for church approval as they come up on the long-range timetable. Plans may be reviewed and re-vised along the way as needed.

Help Is Plentiful for Those Who Lead Planning

There are many materials available to help leaders in planning church ministries, both in annual planning and in long-range planning. There are usually revised planning guides for use by the Church Council and organizational councils. There is a long-range planning notebook for use by church commit-tees for long-range planning. Each year the major leadership magazine for each of the church program organizations and for church leaders in administration carry simultaneous planning features, usually in the spring and early summer editions. Several state conventions have planning materials tailored for use by churches in their state for annual planning. Church leaders are wise to consider these materials, and to incorporate them into their planning at all points where they can contribute.

Suggested Format for Annual Planning

The following brief format for developing your church min-istry plans might be helpful, especially in annual planning:

1. Establish and/or review your church’s statements of purpose and objectives.

2. Identify areas of need for planning, both in basic operations and in areas for advance.

3. Set worthy goals that are attainable but challenging, measureable, and time-phased.

4. Suggest major strategies, approaches to reach each goal. This is your plan of action.

5. Develop the details of your plans, drawing upon program. organizations and committees.

6. Correlate the proposed plans into a calendar of activities for church approval.

7. Coordinate financial planning to assure funding for the ministries.

8.Include evaluation criteria and periodic reviews of progress as appropriate.

9. Give positive leadership to the implementation of the plans.

10. Repeat this cycle for next year’s plans.

Church leaders in planning must learn to be patient with one another and with others. It probably took your church quite some time to get in the condition it is in. With patience, good planning, and His help, maybe it will not take quite so long to develop effective church ministry plans that will see the church approaching its potential in bringing persons to God through Jesus Christ.

Abstract

The fellowship we call church should be on the move in ministry. It should have a clear understanding of purpose. It needs specific objectives. Purpose and objectives should come to reality in a ministry plan. This plan is the church program.

A good ministry plan can lead a church to make progress in unity. It can develop leaders and members. It can help bring others to Christ. The pastor usually should be the leader in church planning. The Church Council should work with the pastor in annual planning.

A special committee is usually the best way to do long-range planning. Both annual and long-range planning should take into account basic operational planning and planning for advance.

Most annual planning relates to implementing church tasks. It is essential to the best planning that key principles be observed. There are numerous helps available for those who lead in planning. These materials are coordinated to make the work of church leaders more feasible. Leaders should develop and use a format for planning that meets their needs. They must also learn to be patient.

Church Ministry Plan in Church Administration

A church is a fellowship of persons who have received Christ. They are attempting obediently to live the way of Christ. They are attempting faithfully to work with Him to bring others to God.

The purpose of church is to be the design of relationships for this fellowship. How can a church move toward realizing its purpose? How can those of the fellowship we call church progress from where they are to where they think God wants them to be? How can a church live His way more obediently? How can a church work more faithfully with Him to bring others to God? How can a church truly be the church of the living God?

This is the ministry of a church. Work Plans of a Church In other chapters we have seen how important it is for a church to clarify its purpose and determine its objectives. We have identified a church’s purpose and objectives as the great ends toward which a church should work.

They are the “softly-lofty” areas of church administration. They represent a church’s ideals, its guiding lights. They are vitally important. But these lofty ideas and ideals must be translated into specific plans in order to have the most value. The “softly-lofty”” must come in contact with the “nitty-gritty—the everyday world in which we live.

That is what a church ministry plan—a church program—should do for a church. It should help a church to do what it should do to move toward its objectives and its purpose. That is what this chapter is about. Careful study of this chapter should help you to grow in your knowledge of what is involved in developing a church ministry plan. You should also be better able to do a more effective job of leading your church to plan its ministries.

A Good Plan Is Effective and Efficient

You could add numerous other questions as you think of making a dream trip. Your questions and the answers to them could be called a plan. Your plan could be as simple or as complex as you choose. If the plan enables you to go where you want to go with maximum effectiveness and efficiency, it is a good plan. Your trip could be all you hoped it would be. A church should be on the move. It should be trying to become what God wants it to become. In this sense it is on a trip. There needs to be a plan for this trip. Questions about why, where, who, when, how how many, how well, at what expense, and other such questions should be asked and answered as part of the church’s plan. This plan is more than just a trip plan—it is a plan for ministry. Some call it the church’s program.

A Program Is What You Do

A church program is what you do as an expression of your awareness of and commitment to the church’s purpose and objectives. It should be planned in relation to the needs of persons, both in and out of the fellowship. It is what a church does to be obedient to Christ in trying to live His way and to be faithful in working with Him to bring persons to God.

The Church Calendar Is the Map

The visible map for this trip is the church calendar of ministries—the church calendar. Admittedly, there is much more ministry going on in most churches than is placed on the church calendar. There should always be those ministries of spontaneous response of individuals and groups, even the whole church, to the needs of persons. But no church should just sit back and wait for its ministry to happen by accident. The church has a commission. The church has His command and His gifts. A church must seek His guidance and use His gifts intentionally in ministry.

The Ability to Plan Is a Gift of God

One of the good gifts of God is the capacity to anticipate the future, and to decide, under His will, what we intend to do in that future. That is an implication of James 4:13-17, which concludes by saying, “Whoever know what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (RSV).

We are made in His image. We have personality. We have potential for eternity. We have the capacity for moral discernment. We have the ability, like Him on a limited scale, to plan—to think in the future tense.

What animals can do by instinct, people can do by intent. Whoever fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Avoid Presumptuous Planning

To be sure, people must not be presumptuous in planning. The Bible has much to say about presumptuous planning, and all of it is condemned. But to fail to plan so as not to be presumptuous is not of God. To refuse to plan and then pretend that this refusal is an expression of faith in His power to accomplish His will and way is a cope out. From the human standpoint, to fail to plan is to plan to fail. People don’t control God by their plans, but they do limit His control by not planning.

Values of Planning

A person might ask, “What value is it to plan ministries? What are some benefits of planning versus not planning?” Let’s mention several values of planning.

Planning Leads to Progress

Planned ministries can lead to progress instead of mere repetition. It can help a church move toward its objectives, and not just go round and round doing all the same things every year for no better reason than that it is time again to do them. There are some things which need to be done repeatedly, seasonally, year in and year out. But there are some other things waiting to be done which will not be accomplished without planning. Planning can help make those repeated ministries take on more appeal and meaning for more people.

Planning Builds Continuity

Planned ministries can help build in continuity in the church’s program. There is so much fragmentation, so much discontinuity in so much of life! Many of the ministries of a church can be planned and conducted in such a way as to have both progress and continuity which people need. Here we are not advocating stagnation but stability. For example, a church needs to plan for continuing ministries in education—Bible

teaching and learning, membership training, leader training, missions education, and others. These ministries need as their main “diet” to follow continuing curriculum plans. Temporary, short-term curriculum should only be supplementary, not the main course. Otherwise you are always starting and stopping, like repeatedly cranking your car in the driveway and never getting out to the street.

Planning Reflects Unity

Well-planned church ministries reflect unity. There is a variety of gifts. But these gifts are to be exercised and used in ways which are complementary, not competitive. Our diversity of gifts can be magnified in power when expressed in planned unity—not uniformity— unity! The various tasks of a church need to be planned to be supportive of one another. For example, those who are responsible

for leading a church to proclaim the gospel to believers and unbelievers can have better results if those responsible for training people to witness are planning and working intentionally to complement the proclaiming task.

Planning Develops Leaders and Members and Brings Others to Christ

Properly planned and conducted ministries develop leaders and members, and bring others to Him. While working together in planning, leaders get to know and to love one another more. It is in planning, as in praying, that we share our burdens, our hearts’ desires for the fellowship and for the lost. As And most would agree that more of the lost are won to Christ through intentional witnessing than are won by accident.

Leaders in Planning

The Pastor

Who should lead in developing a church’s ministry plans—its program? The pastor has the primary individual responsibility, privilege, and sometimes burden of being the one person to whom the church looks for significant guidance in the life and work of the church. The vast majority of churches—approximately two-thirds in the Southern Baptist Convention—have only the pastor, with no other staff. There is no way the pastor can be absolutely excused from the responsibility of leading in church planning. But, similarly, there is no way for the whole responsibility to be placed rightly on the pastor. The pastor must be an influencer of the planning but not the lonely doer of it all.

The Church Council and the Pastor

Lead in Planning Church Ministries

In most churches which have planned ministries, the Church Council is the group with whom the pastor works to lead in developing the plans.

This Church Council brings together leaders of the major church program organizations—Sunday School, Church Training, music ministry, Woman’s Missionary Union, Brotherhood, and the deacons. In some churches, key committee personnel, as well as some staff leaders, are related to the Council. Together these leaders, with the help of the pastor, study the needs. They propose major goals and plans

for meeting them. Then they relate their individual program organizations to the planning process by leading their planning groups to do detailed planning to support the church’s broad goals.

Planning Is Hard Work

This kind of planning involves a lot of work. The pastor, staff members, church program organization leaders, committee chairmen and members, and many others will spend great amounts of time if they are to have an effective church minis-try plan. But remember, they will also likely see far more accomplished as a result of their planning than they would without it. And they will experience personal growth and development in the process. There often is a feeling that a great part of the work is finished with the completion of the planning. That is an accurate notion. Although much work remains after planning is initially completed, a major part of the work of ministry is accomplished when good plans have been made under His will.

Church Administration and Objectives

Good administration begins with a church’s purpose and tries to help the church to realize its purpose. Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it. Good church administration enables those of the fellowship to give themselves in service of the church. A church’s statement of purpose probably will be a single statement that attempts to include or allow for the fulfillment of all the nature and mission of a church. This statement is like an umbrella which covers the full scope of the body. It is a very idealistic, lofty concept. It is a good place to begin in leadership but not a good place to stop.

The purpose must be “imagineered” from the “softy lofty” to the “nitty gritty” of everyday life and translated into ministry plans for which there must be organization, resources, and controls. Many churches find it helpful to determine objectives which serve as practical guides for ministry planning. Objectives bring the purpose concept one step nearer to where the action begins as they move toward fulfilling their purpose.

Definition of Objectives

Writing of educational objectives, Paul H. Vieth stated:

An objective is a statement of a result consciously accepted as a desired outcome of a given process. It springs from the recognition that there are alternative consequences which may fol-low from acting in given situations in different ways. It signifies that an activity has been raised to the level of consciousness, where the desired outcome may enter as a factor in controlling the possible ways of responding to given situations. An objective introduces foresight into a process and uses the anticipated outcome in directing that process.[1]

W. L. Howse described objectives as:

simple statements of what we’re trying in our work to bring about. They are continuing aims toward which we direct our efforts. Objectives indicate our choices as to the essential things for which we exist and toward which we strive.[2]

An objective is used by many in educational technology and in other disciplines as an immediate result or outcome. In church administration, an objective is seen as an end adopted as a desired result toward which an entity or an individual functions. It expresses some maximum stage beyond which further progress is unlikely. In these settings, a goal is used to identify an immediate result or outcome.

As used in church leadership, objectives are statements of ultimate ends toward which a church aims its energies. They are statements of a church’s understanding of the kind of church God wants them to be. They identify outcomes in areas of a church’s timeless intention to act. They are best stated in terms of being rather than acting or doing. People who have clear concepts of who they are and of who they are becoming generally reflect these concepts of identity in their actions. These concepts we call objectives. Is it worth the time and effort for a church to consider where it might be if it arrived at the place it is now headed? Why should churches struggle with formulating objectives? Don’t church leaders and members know what the church is trying to accomplish? What can objectives do for a church? We shall look at some benefits of objectives for a church.

Objectives Reflect Values

Objectives tell what is important to a church. Jesus said, “You shall be my witnesses,” as he was about to ascend. In other instances He said His followers should be salt and light. He also said, “Do not be like them,” referring to hypocrites and those who talk in empty phrases. It should help a church to know who it is and what it values as a church. A church adopted this statement as one of its objectives: “Our objective is to be witnesses for Christ both in this community and throughout the world.” This church declared that being witnesses for Christ both at home and abroad is an imperative value. It implied that being witnesses for Christ is more important than some other things a church might be. A church whose members really believe such an objective is likely to do more than they otherwise would about being wit-nesses for Christ.

Objectives Direct Your Efforts

Objectives function like the North Star in navigation. They enable a church to check its bearing and to move with assurance in the direction it feels God wants it to move. Some churches seem to be static. They apparently are not moving.

They need a sense of direction. Objectives can give direction to such churches. Some churches seem to be moving in all directions. There might be a lot of activity, but not much progress. Members might seem thrilled by the commotion. Some might be ill with motion sickness. They are moving, but not with unity. They are marching, but with broken steps. Objectives can help bring order and direction to a church that seems to be moving in all directions. Some churches are moving backward. They are losing ground.

They might be wondering why. For those who won-der, there is hope if they search for and find their direction. Objectives can help a backward-moving church by giving them clear objectives toward which they should work. Churches which commit themselves firmly and realistically to an objective like “being witnesses for Christ both in this community and throughout the world” have a positive direction in which to move. Such churches can scarcely be static, unguided, or backward. Objectives give direction to their efforts.

Objectives Are Standards for Selecting Means

Objectives are ends which should determine what means a church will choose and plan to do. Activities are not ends but are means to help accomplish ends. Organizations should not be ends but means. Physical resources and money are not ends; they are means. When means are mistaken for ends, you have “end-means inversion.”

You have activities for activities’ sake. You have organizations whether you need them or not. You have buildings which are largely unused. Leaders feel compelled to talk often of the need for money but never seem to have enough, because the end for which it goes it not seen as worthy.

For each proposal in church planning, questions like these should help: 

(1) Is this in character with our church objectives?

(2) Would this help move us toward our objectives?

(3) Are there other choices that might do more to move us toward our objectives?

A church needs some standards, some criteria for deciding what means it will use to fulfill its purpose as a church. Objectives can serve as standards against which to check the means a church might consider. Good objectives can help a church put first things first. From time to time as church leaders consider means and try to make good decisions about them, they might find that what is being considered doesn’t seem to relate to any of the church’s stated objectives. In this case, leaders should review the objectives to see if they are as broad as they should be. If not, they should propose revising them to meet the needs. If they are already inadequate, they should acknowledge this fact and move on to the next consideration.

A church is unwise to engage in any activity, change any organization, modify physical resources, or spend any money that does not meet the test of contributing to its objectives. The church must be the church. The church must do the work of the church. To this end, a church is right to leave undone or to leave for other organizations and groups that which is out of character with its purpose and objectives. With limited time, energies, physical, and financial resources, a church must be the best steward of these means with God’s help. Objectives are standards for selecting means.

Objectives Motivate People

One of the concerns in leadership is how to motivate people to do what needs to be done. There is a lot that is not known about how to motivate people. But one thing that is known is that there is a direct correlation between the perceived worthiness of a cause and the willingness of persons to support that cause. A church has the most worthy of causes! Why don’t people just fall all over themselves in support of the cause? One reason is that leaders have not helped them to clearly perceive the extreme worthiness of the cause.

They help ex-press what it is to which leaders are calling people. They communicate worthy outcomes for which every child of God would want to strive. Good objectives call forth increased participation from believers. Programs, as important as they are, do not offer the highest motivational possibilities. Organizational loyalty is not the ultimate for which people are willing to give themselves. Buildings and other physical resources do not give highest expression to the cause. Appeals for money become irritating when they are not clearly tied to worthy outcomes or obligations.

Motivational possibilities of the highest order lie in calling people to the worthy purpose of the church and to the long-term objectives which will lead the church to fulfill its purpose. There are other considerations which add to a person’s willingness to participate in working toward church objectives. One consideration is that they should share in determining what the objectives will be.

Leaders might withdraw from the busy lives they lead long enough to write some beautiful statements of objectives. They could have copies made, pass them out at the door on church business meeting night, and persuade those present to vote in favor of the statements. What would they have accomplished? Just about what they have so often accomplished when they have tried to lead people in this fashion: their approval for the leaders to go ahead and try to do the job, or their pledge not to try to keep the leaders from going ahead. The vote of approval gained in such a manner usually means no more than, “Tt’s OK with us, if that’s the way you want to do it.”

Children of God—people who have received Christ—do respond to good objectives which they have helped to formulate, which they understand, and with which they agree. They identify with such objectives personally. People are least interested when called upon to work toward objectives someone else has determined.

Objectives Will Measure Results

Just as a church uses objectives as criteria or standards for selecting means, it also evaluates results by reflecting upon the ways the chosen means contributed to moving the church toward its objectives. The church chose at some point in planning to conduct certain events. Once conducted, leaders should ask candidly, did these events do for us what we hoped they would do? If so, why? If not, why not? What are the lessons we should learn from these experiences which would help us to do better in the future? What other events might offer promise of greater return on our investment of re-sources? These and other questions should help a church measure its results in the light of its objectives.

Why should a church struggle with formulating objectives? Because they are useful tools in helping to lead the church to fulfill its purpose. And, even in the process of determining objectives and keeping them before the people, leaders will discover there are growth and development opportunity and experience for all who are a part of the process.

Sample Objectives

Is it worth the time and effort to get the church to determine and approve and use objectives? The short answer is yes. Would you think it worth the effort and time if you could lead your church to determine objectives like these, and commit themselves to work toward them?

1. Our objective is to be a covenant fellowship of Christians filled with the Holy Spirit.

2. Our objective is to be a worshiping fellowship in which God encounters persons.

3. Our objective is to be witnesses for Christ both in this community and throughout the world.

4. Our objective is to be a fellowship of maturing Christians whose learning results in responsible living.

5. Our objective is to be a church that unselfishly ministers to persons in the community in Jesus’ name.

Synopsis

Good administration begins with purpose and moves next to objectives. Objectives bring the purpose concept one step nearer to where the action begins in the work of a church. Objectives are defined in terms of ultimate results rather than immediate goals.

Objectives reflect values. They direct efforts. They are stan-dards for selecting means. They motivate people. They mea-sure results. Goals, strategies, and action plans come after objectives in planning the work of a church. One church developed a fine set of objectives with their pastor’s leadership.

Working through the church council, church leaders and members participated in the process over a period of several months. Eventually the church adopted the objectives, and they became the guidelines for developing that church’s ministry plans. After adopting objectives, the Church Council should lead in reviewing objectives periodically, at least annually.

Objectives should be presented to new church members, to prospective church staff members, and to the general membership as the ministries of the church are advanced. Objectives are worth the time required to develop them in a church.

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[1] Paul H. Vieth, Objectives in Religious Education, (New York: Harper and Broth-ers 1930), pp. 18-19.

[2] W. L. Howse, comments in a seminar on church administration, 1963.