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A Newsletter of Biblically Balanced Ministries, Inc.
Pastor/Board Relationships
A pastor’s relationship with the board(s) will either lead
the church to unity or disunity. Team building is essential to
developing this relationship for effective ministry.
A solid foundation is essential for any building, including team
building with boards. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian believers
is an example of this key.
“That God . . . may give to you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the
hope of His calling.” (Ephesians 1:18)
The lack of biblical wisdom and understanding is a primary
hindrance to a solid foundation and functional effectiveness.
Foundational Building Blocks
The first block in the foundation is understanding the biblical
offices of pastor, elder, and deacon. There are differing views
of the exact structure of church government. The biblical
qualifications and ministry of elders and deacons are essential
to the proper functioning of the church. Much of the
pastoral/church conflicts can be resolved if we learn to
function based on the biblical principles of pastor, elder, and
deacon team building.
Expecting biblical unity and effectiveness in church leadership
without having solid biblical understanding is expecting the
impossible. The reality is that in many of our churches the
biblical understanding of those we put into leadership is often
limited in the depth of their biblical knowledge. Others are put
into office with an unwillingness to follow the exhortation
given to Joshua. “Only be strong and very courageous that you
may observe to do according to all the Law . . . do not turn to
right or to the left, that you may prosper . . .” (Joshua 1:7).
A second foundation block is understanding and defining
expectations. Churches often make the mistake of calling a
pastor without clearly defining the church’s expectations of the
pastor. The predictable result is misunderstandings and
ineffectiveness in ministry. Appointing elders and deacons
without clearly defining expectations has the same result. A
mistake is made in thinking that all that matters is the
character qualifications for holding office.
Church constitutions are considered sufficient for defining
church offices. Reality is that most church constitutions are
outdated and/or biblically weak. A necessity for developing
effective leaders today is to develop clearly definined
expectations beyond the basics of a constitution.
The third foundation block is in understanding authority and
accountability. A common problem facing effective church
leadership is not in understanding who’s in charge of what and
who accounts to whom. Organizational flow charts are a basic
essential starting point but often non-existent in many
churches.
Building strong foundations is one side of the balance needed in
developing an effective ministry team. The other side to this
balance is developing functional relationships. This is similar
to the balance between doctrine and practice.
Functional Practices:
Biblical qualifications for the character of those in office are
essential. The mistake is that often churches only consider
character and fail to realize the impact of personal
characteristics and abilities.
Openness is a necessity for relationships development. Above we
mentioned the problem of undefined expectations. Some
expectations are not stated because of a failure in openness.
Team relationships require openness. Openness between pastors,
elders, and deacons builds trust and confidence which makes it
an essential practice for team building.
A second essential practice is learning to integrate personality
and spiritual gifts. Functioning as a team means each member
needs to understand their own place and the place of the other
team members. Building a ministry team of elders and/or deacons
requires helping each person understand their own personal
profile and how it relates to others on the team.
A personal profile defines your personality style, spiritual
gift mix, natural abilities, life experiences, and passion. The
PLACE workshop offered by BBM helps each team member to
understand their own personality and how they relate to others
based on their profile.
The third essential is consensus building. The most effective
teams do not need to have a “vote” to make decisions. They work
toward a mutual understanding and acceptance of what is best for
ministry. Consensus comes when individuals are willing to
sacrifice personal interest for greater ministry. The result is
that plurality creates unity.
My most ineffective personal experience in thirty-three years of
ministry was with a board that refused to work on consensus.
Instead they required unanimous vote giving virtual veto power
to a few. The result was I became ineffective and the ministry
suffered greatly.
The grace of God has allowed me to see how building teams
through establishing defined foundations and functional
relationships helps to change boards into teams.
by Gary R. Becker, President
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