Christian and Church governance

Recently good governance has been the flavour of the month throughout the Western World.

Many denominations and Christian groups have been 'forced' to relook at their governance.

Unfortunately at times, some of their responses have been merely to pick up Governmental or Corporate governance models without testing to see whether they are consistent with what it means to be church, with their theology and how Christians should be living.
For Lutheran churches we say everything needs to be tested against scripture, and many Lutheran Churches go even a little further, in that, everything needs to be tested against the Confessions (Book of Concord) and scripture, with scripture having precedence.

Some Christians argue, that there is the kingdom on the left and the kingdom on the right these are separate, so we are exempt from what the scripture says when 'living and carrying out activities in the world.'  But a Lutheran and Christian understanding of scripture highlights this is not the case and it is not so clear cut, in fact we can't ignore scripture even when living in the kingdom of the left.    For a more indepth discussion on the doctrine of the two kingdoms visit LCA TWO KINGDOMS  , LCMS TWO KINGDOMS,  Biblical Training - Two Kingdoms nd Paul Althaus review of Two Kingdoms .

The complication for many congregations is that we are constantly operating in both kingdoms and so we need to consider what this means and how we respond to the various responsibilities we have.

A good starting point is to keep in mind what good governance is:

1. Making sure we are meeting and working towards meeting our objectives (Mission Statement, Vision Statement and Goals, Great Commission and Great Commandment should also be important here)
2. Making sure we are meeting our legal responsibilities
3. Making sure we are meeting our financial responsibilities

Some things to think about:

What issues are taking up most of your time, discussion and meeting....Objectives, Legal, Finances???

Are ALL the people on your board passionate about your organisation meeting its objectives?

(A good way to gauge this is listen to what people talk most about)

This is highly critical...otherwise it will become more important to meet legal and financial issues than your objectives (and in fact people may lose sight of why they are being church)...which will cause problems down the track because people will be burdened by financial and legal matters rather than their objectives....It is also important that we don't neglect the financial and legal responsibilities....but view them as things that should serve us and be viewed in the light of our objectives.

Another issue that is becoming increasingly common is the need for skill based boards. Some Christian organisations have become so obsessed with getting skill based boards that they neglect to set any minimum criteria or checking regarding who should be on this boards relating to a person's beliefs and commitment to the objectives of the organisation.  So what can and has happened is that the objectives of the organisation and therefore the reason for its existence is secondary at best as a result of people who focus on the legal expertise, financial expertise or their expertise .   Appointing people based on skill without a minimum commitment to the objectives of the organisation also seems to go against Acts 6:1-4 , which says to appoint people even for hospitality roles, who are full of the Spirit.  Check out Willowcreek's approach to appointing Board members

Some great books on governance relating to churches and Christian organisations

 

Articles on Church governance:
What the bible says?
Lutheran Church Polity in USA
Mark Connor
Theopedia article
Willowcreek article