Author Blake Bradford writes that strengthening
the decision-making process is one of the steps your
congregation will need to be effective and fruitful. He notes
that church governance is complex, and a host of issues
from church size, matriarch/patriarch issues, local culture,
congregational history, and pastoral history come into play
when defining a particular church’s culture, much less
about changing the church’s culture.
The governing model for most mainline denominations
was explicitly designed to slow down the decision-making
processes. The legacy model of governance is for multiple
governing committees to meet (always in person), work
through questions, send them to a church council, perhaps
have questions sent back to numerous other committees.
Then the committee members are usually also the ones
mobilizing the ministry to be done. Some congregations
even have inherited a bicameral governing system in which
leadership is divided between an Administrative Board
(responsible for finances, facilities, staffing, and resources)
and a separate Council on Ministries (responsible for
programs and ministries). To get anything approved, an
idea must survive both governing bodies.
These inherited systems were born out of the post-war era
when the church’s goals were often assumed, growth was
assumed, volunteerism was assumed, and the church’s role
in the greater culture was assumed. Perfectly created for
that era and culture, these layers of committee structures
were designed to slowly examine any potential change and
not “rock the boat.”
Today’s context for congregations couldn’t be more
different. While the legacy structures we inherited are
exquisitely designed to make sure nothing new ever
happens, the leadership structures that we need today
must be nimble, adaptive decision-making groups that
are designed to hold us accountable to Jesus’ mission and
unleash more disciples to be engaged in ministry, not just
attend meetings about ministry.
