INTRODUCTION
Successful church administration requires the involvement of the congregation in discovering and committing to the mission and purpose of the church. Effective organization and administration enables the church to utilize all her resources and personnel in fulfillment of the mission of making God’s love known to all people. The local church must be both God-centered and peopleoriented. We, first of all, acknowledge God as our source and strength in all we do. Secondly, we recognize that ours is a ministry to people so that God’s love and grace may be known and experienced. A person-oriented approach emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationship as a means of communicating the Gospel and caring for the needs of people. The purpose and the mission of the church is to provide an opportunity for individuals to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, to develop a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, and to be involved in a supportive fellowship as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
1) PHILOSOPHY
The Biblical formula for ministry is contained in Colossians 1:9-12, which calls the church to prepare people for a productive purpose. We are to bear fruit in every good work and be strengthened with divine power to endure hardness, to demonstrate patience, and to live in the joy of the Holy Spirit.
2) MISSION
We are to present the essence of the faith and the fulfillment of the mission of the church by a personal experience with Jesus Christ, by the preaching of His Word, and by becoming living examples of His love and grace. We are to be and to make true disciples of men and women. We are to exalt Christ as the very center of history and life. We are to proclaim the truths of God’s Holy Word in all that we do and believe.
3) ADMINISTRATIVE CONCEPTS
There are some basic concepts or principles about local church administration, which are foundational in the Christian context. These concepts are as follows:
- People are more important than programs or structure. Each person in the body of Christ has a function or ministry to perform.
- The ultimate aim of church leaders should be that of serving rather than that of being served.
- Leaders must be willing to accept responsibility for directing the ministries of the local church.
- Lay leaders must be developed to share responsibility for ministry.
- A clearly defined administrative structure is essential. All positions in local church ministry are important. Policies of administration need to be written and communicated openly.
- Delegating responsibilities to others is a vital part of administrative leadership.
- Developing, motivating, and staffing lay leaders in positions of responsibilities is one of the most important functions of pastoral leadership.
4) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS
Local church administration demands a clear understanding of the purposes and Biblical mandates for the church. Leaders must make important decisions concerning the activities and programs undertaken by the church. Each church should have specific goals moving her forward. These goals and objectives must be constantly re-evaluated. Leaders must be careful about the selection of the specific means used to reach their goals and bring about the desired results. Church administration should coordinate the various resources within the local church to move forward in the direction of the common goal(s). Administrative leadership attempts to bring unity and harmony to the myriad of activities taking place in a local church. Alvin Lindgren suggests the following five steps as being basic to the administrative process within the church.
A) Recognizing the need
Identify some area of your church that is not measuring up to Christian standards and, therefore, needs attention.
B) Planning
Planning how the recognized need will be met requires secure every possible suggestion and recognizing every obstacle before determining any plan. Keep in mind the following characteristics of the planning step:
- Begin with a clear statement of the problem.
- Base your planning on facts.
- Explore every possible approach to discover every conceivable solution, so that the best solution can be reached.
- Focus in on a clearly defined plan, which large numbers of members will understand and recognize as their own.
C) Organizing
Organize the congregation to coordinate all activities in preparing to carry out the plan. The organizing step involves the what?, when?, who?, and follow through.
D) Stimulating and Implementing
The administrator’s personal relationship to the persons involved in the plan is a key factor in stimulating them to action. Communication must be clear and effective and the leader must be an understanding listener. Stimulating for action requires that you:
- Secure all workers early and arrange adequate training for them.
- Make sure all workers clearly understand their responsibilities.
- Coordinate every stage of the plan.
- Keep everything moving on schedule.
- Keep the congregation informed.
5) CHURCH ADMINISTRATION AND AUTOMATION
Administration involves many functions and responsibilities, all designed to fulfill the mission of the church and to promote growth. Automation in church administration is essential today.
A church must be structured to maintain many small groups and their ministries.
An example of the administration challenge is to keep up with people and to prevent people from dropping out because they feel disconnected. People who are absent from worship for six to eight weeks will probably drop out permanently. Persons inactive for six months can seldom be reclaimed.
Follow-up procedures for prospective members are vital.
85% of visitors contacted within 36 hours return.
60% of visitors contacted within 72 hours return.
Initial contacts made by volunteers are twice as effective as those made by paid staff members.
Usually takes 6-10 contacts before prospect joins church; generally this also includes attending 3-4 worship services.
75% of the new members retain their active participation one year later if they were quickly assimilated into small groups: choir, classes, etc.
15% of the church income should finance outreach.
8 of 10 people joining a church first came as a result of small group activities — Bible study, sports, etc.
For every 100 members, there should be 100 prospects.
Growing churches have a ratio of 225 prospects for every 100 members.
A church will not grow beyond its ability to care for its people and involve them in productive ministry. It is not difficult to understand that computers and good records are necessary and helpful in serving people and managing church administration.
6) PRIORITY/TIME MANAGEMENT
In order to be effective pastors, we must be effective, organized leaders. Priority management takes thought, practice, and constant attention to details of personal behavior and personal relations. Excellent ministers are expected to do all things well. We are expected to have our feet on the ground, but be dreamers and visionary. It is a paradoxical world and sometimes it is hard to make sense of things. It is a time of transition, a time of enormous change.
A) Personal Change and Growth
People are looking for quick and easy ways to achieve a high quality of life, without going through the natural process work that makes it possible.
Successfully managing our lives often requires a paradigm shift. If we try to ignore the situation, change will slam into us and knock us off balance. Getting angry won’t make it go away — in fact, temper typically makes things worse.
Wishful thinking is a waste of time too, so don’t sit around thinking and talking about “the good old days” with the hope they’ll return. We can’t run away from change, because there’s no place we can run that’s beyond the range of change.
We might as well face the problems and find the opportunities. How we think, and how we act, become very important during times like these. Obviously, we won’t be able to control everything that happens to us. But we’re in complete control of how we respond to what happens. This is the age of instability, where managing change and time is everybody’s job. Think of it as our personal assignment. Resisting change does more harm than good. Instead of trying to hang on to the past, grab hold of the future.
The way we see the world is like a map we follow. The question is, do we have the right map? There are two maps in our heads: (1) the way we see things and (2) the way we think things should be. We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or should be. We seldom question the accuracy of our assumptions. When we think we are right, we often stop our creativity.
Every significant breakthrough in the field of science and technology is first a break with tradition, with old ways of thinking, with old paradigms. In order to make minor changes, we can focus on our attitudes and behaviors. But if we want to make major changes we must focus on our guiding principles — our needs — our values — our priorities.
Using quick fix psychological techniques to try to gain lasting control of our life is like trying to find a street in Chicago while using a map of Detroit.
Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Habits are ways of thinking. Breaking deeply imbedded habitual tendencies, such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness, selfishness, etc. involves more than willpower and a minor change.
The lock to the gate of change is on the inside and no one can open it but us!
B) Executing the Priorities
We have all heard statements like: “Plan the work and work the plan;” “Plan + do + check + act = Quality;” “Do it right the first time.” A minister’s list of things “to do” can be overwhelming. It is essential that we prioritize our lists and learn to live with the end in mind. Not only do we over commit ourselves but we often avoid doing priority things because they seem nonurgent.
Urgent things seem to scream for attention while nonurgent but priority things are silent. Spiritual and emotional burnout comes from a lack of balance and management. All ministers need training in time management. Ministers need to learn how to focus on high priorities and at the end of the day turn off the professional switch and go home and balance family responsibilities.
Every minister needs a good time management organizing system in order to keep up with appointments and all kinds of communication responsibilities. Ministers need to learn how to block out time for planning, organizing, prioritizing, etc. The understanding and use of the “time activation” principle is important. This involves using our organizer to write down something when it occurs, so it will be where we can find it, when we need it, and so we will be reminded in time to do it.
C) Managing People and Building Teams
So often ministers come across as autocratic leaders, as bosses in charge and in control. The world is quickly changing today and people want a voice, they want some control. Many people today are exposed to new methods of quality management and team building. They are not now willing to go to a church where the pastor is a dictator and they feel that they have little or no voice in what happens.
The world is moving away from bosses toward facilitators or coaches. Some pastors are use to too much power and control. Laity must be allowed and trained to be more involved in the details of ministry. We must take positive steps to break down the walls of mistrust and competitiveness.
As leaders, pastors must learn how to help people become jointly accountable for ministry. People go to church where they feel needed and can get involved. They go where they are treated with dignity and respect.
We must get organized and maintain a productive environment. We should always ask ourselves:
- “Is this really important?”
- “What is the priority here?”
- “Am I listening to people and do I really understand?”
- “How am I coming across to people?”
Pastors (all ministers) need to keep pace with change. We need to adopt new attitudes toward change. We need to trust people and exercise our faith that God really is leading us! We must learn to work together, to be interdependent. We can’t control the sweeping changes taking place in the world, but we can control our reactions to them. We can prepare, organize, and prioritize for the challenges ahead.
D) New Skills for a New Era
Education and ministerial development are a must today. It has never been more important to develop and to refine our essential skills in working with people and managing our life. The twenty-first century church requires ministers who can make sound judgments, communicate effectively, care compassionately, discover solutions quickly, think strategically, manage people, use time wisely, make disciples, and maintain credibility. Learning must not stop at some graduation ceremony. A commitment to life-long learning is a key to unlocking future success.
E) Beat Procrastination
Preparation and time management is vital. Unless we prioritize and schedule a time to do something that is important, we will end up procrastinating. We often end up with several stacks of important correspondence on our desk; one stack marked “urgent;” one stack marked “someday;” one stack marked “if the Lord tarries long enough.” Some important tasks never even make it to the “someday” stack. We have post-it notes all around with important messages, but we fail to plan a time to take care of them.
Procrastination and indecision are among the top three time-wasters faced by ministers. We need to get organized and learn to plan our time. Planning is bringing the future into the present and doing something about it now.
F) Get Organized
Clutter is not a sign of success. Clutter builds stress as we end up looking at each paper on our desk several times a day. We should try to start our day with a clean desk. The average person has 36 hours of work on his/her desk. It is a constant discouragement and makes us feel that the job is never done.
Remember the four D’s concerning details:
- Do, without excuse, those little items.
- Delegate without hesitation.
- Date and file, without reluctance, items currently being worked on.
- Discard, without sentiment, those items that have little or no value.
Start each new day with faith in God and with an open mind. Remember that we tend to see things the way we are; we even ask questions that make our hypothesis come true. We make self-fulfilling prophecies and become the slave to our negative expectations.
Someone once said, “Let me see what I say, so I will know what I think.” We do tend to get what we expect because we reinforce it constantly.
Remember that one small but significant change brings another. When we are faced with a problem and we are getting frustrated, we need to say to ourselves — “Just Do It!”
Learn from success and model after success. It is never too late to bring about some positive change.
Make it your goal to “Learn how to manage your personal and ministry priorities, and your relationships, in such a way that your potential is not lost.”
SUGGESTIONS:
- Start each day by reviewing your appointments, schedule of tasks, list of to-do, etc.
- Prioritize your to-do’s into a list of A’s – highest priority and B’s – lowest priority. Then prioritize your list of A’s and then your B’s. Be sure to bring forward today any items not completed yesterday.
- Block out on your appointment calendar special sections of time to accomplish your A’s and B’s.
- Always allocate priority time when completing an important task.
- Eliminate mind clutter by writing down the task as soon as you decide to do it.
- Time-activate everything possible so you will be reminded: what to do, when to do it, & where the information is that you need.
- Be realistic in setting deadlines. Allow for interruptions and for the unknown.
- Break the urgency habit. Not every problem or task has to be resolved immediately.
- Set aside the earliest part of the day for the most important functions, when possible.
- Limit time spent in counseling, if possible.
- Limit meetings and phone calls in the mornings so that this time can be given to your most important priorities.
CONCLUSION
The keys to effective church administration and personal time management are in possessing the necessary desire and commitment to details to implement the many resources available today.
Good leadership and stewardship demand responsible handling of the administrative tasks of the church. Effectiveness and efficiency has to do with how we spend our time and how well we organize and develop a team of people to administer the church for the glory of God.