Leading and Managing Your Church

Carl George and Robert Logan have written a good church administration primer. This book is a condensed practical, pragmatic, and easy-to-follow church management guide. I first read the book in 1989 but recently reviewed it again and was reminded of its valuable suggestions, ideas, and principles. "Leading and Managing Your Church" would be an exceptional book for those lacking quality training or effective habits in practical self-organization and church administration. It also serves as a good reminder and encourager for efficient church veterans desiring to enhance or expand their skills. The self-descriptive chapter titles include: Leadership and Church Growth, Using Spiritual Gifts to Focus Ministry, Managing Time More Effectively, Goal Setting and Project Planning, Skills for Effective Ministry Management, Building a Leadership Team, Developing People Through Delegation, Using the Pastor's Planning Workbooks, Obtaining Goal Ownership, The Berry-Bucket Theory (George's theory on pastor/member control), and Faith Can Be Learned. The 192-page book includes an appendix filled with examples of management worksheets, charts, forms and tools for the teachable and enthusiastic church leader. Many of these items are now more easily designed and utilized with common computer technology.

"When a pastor primarily does the ministry in the congregation, rather than leading others to do the ministry, growth potential remains small," contend George and Logan. It is obviously for this reason that the majority of churches never exceed the status quo. One man cannot do it all, nor was it ever intended to be that way. The authors make four assumptions on which their book is written: (1) God wants churches to grow, (2) God gifts believers for the work of the ministry, (3) Pastors must equip the believers for the work, and (4) Ministries grow as leaders are developed. In other words, God has gifted pastors to fulfil very particular roles in the church. They should spend the majority (the authors suggest 60%) of their time on those areas, and then build a team around them to compliment their gifts. The key word is delegation. Delegation simply is a pastor identifying his responsibilities and assigning a portion of them to others, so that people are developed and the ministry is accomplished. The authors cite two biblical examples of delegation: the Jethro Principle (Exodus 18) and the Deacon Principle (Acts 6). George and Logan divide their book into three broad subject areas: (1) goal setting, (2) goal ownership, and (3) people equipping. Goal setting should be the pastor's hallmark. For Christians, the authors purport, "a goal...is a statement of faith." So planning allows church leaders to get vision and direction from God. They encourage churches to aim high enough in their goals so that God must work through them and He alone will receive the praise for it. The problem, however, is that most pastors are not willing to prioritize their time to allow good goal planning. The authors maintain that the urgent, rather than the important, encumber church leaders. They suggest this question be asked: "Is what I am doing important enough to exchange a day of my life for?" In other words, there are few really important things that must be done-and one of them is planning.In addition, church success is linked to goal ownership. The congregation should never refer to the "pastor's goals," but to "our goals." The language of the people is vital. "His" and "their" should be converted to "we" and "our." One way to accomplish such a monumental task is to actually allow the congregation to help set the goals. Pastors should not bring ready-made plans to the people, but room should always be left for their input and suggestions. The final division concentrates on equipping the believers. Leadership, the authors insist, can be learned. It is a set of skills one must be trained in and employ. The authors note the importance of communication skills, budgets and controls, time management, and problem solving abilities. Some natural bent helps, of course, but to the diligent student these skills can become routine. Throughout the book the authors offer several useful models to understanding church dynamics. Two of the most outstan