Barnett and his wife had joined several other couples in starting their small Sunday worship service at the community center months ago. Things had gone well. The retired minister who joined them gave brief homilies that encouraged the couples, who enjoyed singing and praying with one another. When a few more couples joined them, the group discussed starting a formal church. But none of them knew what steps to take to do so. They agreed that they felt God’s call to move forward with forming a church. What they needed, though, was a clear guide, a roadmap really, for how to do so.
Guidance
It’s alright to seek guidance. Many counselors make for wise decisions. Even Moses had his father-in-law Jethro as a leadership guide. And if God can speak through a donkey, as he did to the prophet Balaam, then he can also speak through humans with experience, insight, and skill. Church leaders shouldn’t feel as if they must do everything alone. Just the opposite: the church is the body of Christ, with its many members all having their roles. Christ is the head, and the church is his bride. We do not lead, staff, or serve churches alone but within a body of believers with Christ at the head. Pastors gather to learn from one another. Elders gather to learn from one another, too. We all discern through prayer, deliberation, and consultation, under the authority of the word of God. How to operate your church need not come solely in the form of a lightning bolt and thunder from on high. You might discern God’s word for your church in the whisper or warning of a humble counselor. Seek guidance, and test it against the word of God.
Authority
Corporate bodies of all kinds operate under authority. For-profit corporations follow the law of their state of incorporation, under the governance of their boards, held to account to their shareholders or members. Churches likewise operate under authority, although they do so under the supreme authority of a holy God. Yet God doesn’t generally join a church elder board meeting, to issue edicts on the structure of the worship liturgy, the distribution of the church budget, or the style of the church’s songs. Churches discern God’s desire for their governance, operation, worship, and ministry through his appointed pastors and elders, his holy word, the movement of his Spirit, and the providential creation within which he sets his churches. We submit to God’s authority. We also respect the prophets, seers, and guides through whom he speaks. Pray that your church’s leaders discern and carry out his desire. Don’t depart from the word and authority of God. Instead, let wise counselors share what they discern of that word and authority, even as you also do so yourself.
Mirror
Another reason to read this guide is for your reflection. We all need to hear counsel from one another lest that counsel point to the word and desire of God. But you also need to listen within yourself or, better said, to listen to God’s reason and Spirit within you. You need a mirror against which to judge and discern how God is moving and shaping your own thoughts. By addressing church issues start to finish, one after another, this guide gives you that mirror. As you read here about your church’s issues, you may discern what God’s Spirit is saying to you, in the reflective manner you need to hear God’s word to know what you should do and not do. Each chapter thus ends with a paragraph encouraging your reflection.
Interpretation
Bible verses don’t cover this guide, on every page. But the Bible verses are there. You might have noticed four or five Bible verse and passage references already, in this guide’s first page. What this guide does not do is continually cite chapter and verse. Helping your church isn’t a matter of proof texting, meaning to pick out Bible verses to prove various points while missing the context from which the verse comes. While the Bible’s every word, indeed its every jot and tittle, is significant, we draw the meaning from both word and context. And the interpretation we give to that meaning further depends on the context in which we apply it. So again, that’s the purpose of this guide, to address roughly in order from start to finish the many issues your church may face, so that you can reason about them in their full context, bolstered by your knowledge of God’s word and the expressions you see of his desires.
Experience
Experience can also be a good teacher, including your experience, my experience, and the experience of others. I have forty years of experience as a lawyer, thirty-five years of experience guiding church pastors and leaders in their corporate affairs in several different denominations, thirty years of experience forming and advising faith-based and other tax-exempt organizations, and nearly twenty years of experience teaching related law courses. I am only a student, not a professor, of the Bible, but I have written Bible study and church administration books and course texts with pastor and seminary co-authors and have additional related publication credits in law. I have also managed church operations on staff and served as a board leader of churches, church schools, and other tax-exempt charitable organizations. I’ve experienced a lot. You may have, too. Together, let’s see if we can help your church.
Roadmap
As the illustration at the beginning of this chapter intimates, this guide takes the shape of a roadmap, start to finish, of forming, governing, and operating a church. My book Church Policies & Procedures: Common-Sense Guides for Administering Churches in a Complex World, written with a Moody Theological Seminary professor, was primarily to train new pastors to administer their church. Its couple hundred policies, organized into major sections addressing governance, finance, facilities, personnel, programs, volunteers, and security, would do well for managing a good-sized church. But that book wasn’t written for the pastor or lay leader taking a church on the full journey from formation through ministry, while encountering all the wonderful challenges and opportunities along the way. Policies can be great guides. The effort here, though, is not to help with the myriad of details to church administration but instead the major issues of forming, leading, and operating a church. I hope the roadmap helps you along on your journey. The destination, we know, is great.
Use
You may, of course, use the table of contents to take you straight to the chapter and paragraph that addresses your issue. You may, though, want to hunt around for other tips and insights. Another way to use this guide is as a survey of your church’s condition or check up on its health. Indeed, that’s my recommendation. We’ve all seen the vast literature on what’s right and wrong with churches today. That’s not at all what this guide attempts. I have no high and mighty opinions. My goal is instead to come humbly alongside pastors and lay leaders with an encouraging guide that might also serve for a little troubleshooting. I couldn’t presume to know what your congregation deserves and needs from you and your church, or what your members owe you and the church. That’s for you to discern under the Spirit’s guidance, in accordance with God’s holy word. Yet this guide may help you through a rough patch or help you walk through a door God has opened for you, with greater confidence and clearer knowledge than you otherwise would. The reflection paragraphs at the end of each chapter should help you.
Reflection
Take a moment to identify why you are reading this guide. Have you encountered an obstacle in your church? If so, how would you describe it? What is the obstacle keeping your church from reaching, in your perspective? What would your church look like if the obstacle suddenly disappeared? Would your church be substantially better off? If so, then how? Do you consider the obstacle to be a problem that should not have occurred? If the obstacle involves a person or group of people, what are they trying to do or achieve that contributes to the issue? Is any good coming from the obstacle? What attribute is the obstacle calling out from you and your church? How is the obstacle helping to define your intentions and desires for the church? If the obstacle were Balaam’s donkey, what might the donkey be saying to you in warning? Are you instead reading this guide because you see an opportunity? If so, describe that opportunity in the greatest particulars that you can. If you made the most of that opportunity, what would your church look like as a result?
Key Points
Many counselors make for wise decisions; seek sound advice.
God’s word is a church’s authority and his desires a church’s object.
A good mirror for your own reflection can serve as a reliable guide.
Listen to counselors who can draw on substantial experience.
Use this guide as a roadmap for a church’s issues and opportunities.