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.
