Church Program Management

The entire organization shown in Figure 1 – ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE is referred to in this book as the “Leadership Board” and Board will be used for short. The Board in some churches is called Board of Deacons, and the Board in other churches is called Session. Other churches might have different names for the Board. The Board is composed of Components which are top level areas of responsibility. This terminology is not intended to represent any one or more religious traditions. This terminology is unique to this book. The Leader is in charge of the Board and a Chair is in charge of a Component. The Board as a whole is not considered the Leader in this book. There is only one Leader who is the Leader of the Board and this Leader is responsible for the performance of each Chair. This Leader provides guidance and direction to each Chair. The Leader’s job description should include both management and spiritual. The Leader is a salaried professional ordained minister and has line authority over the Associate Leaders and the Chairs. Associate Leaders are salaried professionals who have expertise in one or more church discipline and a) perform their tasks within that discipline which is within the scope of one or more Components, and b) advise Chairs. The Chairs are volunteer members of the church and have authority over Associate Leaders. Each Chair should have its own task and its own budget to accomplish the task. For example, one Chair should not have control of all or part of the budget of another Chair. The Budgets & Accounting Chair should have final approval of the entire budget. Each Chair has to assume responsibility for contributing to the success not only of a Component but also for the success of the entire Board by providing guidance or constructive criticism of each other Chair’s plan and performance to plan. Appendix C Example of Chair Critique- There will be cases where one or more tasks will be common to more than one Chair. An example of this task is shown in Appendix B – Hosting. Unless the Board assumes such responsibility, it is possible that any one or more of its Components could perform poorly and even become totally ineffective. Implementation of the guidelines in this book will occur slowly and leadership must be dedicated and persistent. Leadership also will need to do a lot of training. Patience is required as well as continued FOLLOW THROUGH. Satisfactory results will be forthcoming.   LEADER ASSOCIATE LEADER(S) CHRISTIAN EDUCATION* Church School Bible Studies MISSIONS* SENIORS* EVANGELISM* ADULTS* WORSHIP* YOUNG ADULTS* MUSIC* YOUTH* MEDIA* CHILDREN* FACILITIES* NURSERY* PERSONNEL* Employees (Manual) Recruiting* STEWARDSHIP* BUDGETS & ACCOUNTING* * Denotes Chairs Figure 1 – ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE