The Week in Review

The Role of the Pastor in Church Administration (Part 2)

Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams

October 11, 2007

This leads us to examining the congregation’s relating and functioning style. In week one’s lecture, it states, “These two things contribute to a church’s duality. Every church as a relating style that stems from its unwritten rules and expectations, as well as an organizational style or functioning style that is more easily identified by espoused values” (Toombs, pp. 7-8).

A pastor helps the church to live out both their functioning style alongside of the relating style by trying to help the congregation connect both to the mission of God. In some churches there are by-laws and rules, however everyone may not be aware of what the rules or laws really are. They may be written down, but they are not related to the congregation as a whole. This might be due to the church being comfortable in her past. The church may have become caught in her tradition (like the Brownstone church in a scenario’s from a previous lesson) that she does not remember everyone does not know about the church’s past or importance. This discourages some because you are expected to live up to laws, ways and ideas that you do not know and were never taught. I jokingly call it the “secret minister’s book”.


Some are expected to know how to function in areas of ministry, yet they may not have ever been taught the values of the church, which can discourage them in their walk. Individuals may not have been taught what is expected, but are criticized if you do not match up to the “mysterious standard”. I believe the pastor needs to help the body in this area by making sure that there is full disclosure of the by-laws of the church. I also believe this is one area that the church needs to teach.

I wanted to make sure I was prepared for ministry so I returned to school so that I could be trained in the best way possible for the mission of God. Going forward, I see that in whatever church capacity I function, I must teach those for whom I am responsible. That is the reason I set in motion “Student teachers” for the teenage class I teach. The oldest teenagers are taught how to study the lessons, prepare for class and teach. I allow them to teach the class with my assistance to gain competence instructing in the word. This process of growth and development involves some extra work and risk, however it is critical to the furtherance of the teaching ministry.


John Galloway, Jr. in the book Ministry Loves Company suggest to the reader regarding vision this, “If we cannot grow together to the point where we tilt forward in risk, the Lord can never teach us to walk. What we are saying is that we make a transition from listening to leading, not by drafting a vision statement or a long-range planning report, but by adjusting attitudes and procedures…Churches like families, get rather set in their ways…Our task is to free up the visionaries and then help them focus their vision” (p. 40). This is the biggest hurdle that faces the church today. There are those that do not want to change things or move outside of their comfort zone, even though they see their local church dying. The pastor then has to try and help those with a vision for the church that lines up with the will of God to have the freedom to grow and motivate others to grow. One of the suggestions from this author on how to move individuals forward in a positive way is, “Be yes people ourselves” (Galloway, p. 35).

Many pastors are receptive to hear individual’s ideas regarding the needs of the congregation. I have seen believers get excited because of the support of their pastor regarding the work in the church and due to his “yeses” others have wanted to be involved in the ministry. “Without strong pastoral leadership the reins of a church may well wind up in the few hands of an overworked, though saintly core, who have so much church business on their plates they gag on even the thoughts of something new” (Galloway, p. 37).

Galloway also gives us other criteria on how to function, as a church should. He writes about accountability. The pastor has a major role in helping the church understand whom she is accountable to. As Galloway states it, “To whom or to what are we accountable?” “For whom are we playing the game?” (p. 42). Sometimes believers think they are accountable only to the leader of their organization or to what someone has said, or just to themselves however, the pastor must help the body understand all are first accountable to God and not to holding to their traditions or ways of doing things. “Don’t get me wrong. The will of the congregation cannot be taken lightly. After all, we are a people who believe in collective wisdom…What the ruling board needs to grasp is that, while we take the input of the congregation with great seriousness, perhaps even wondering if the Lord might be speaking to us through the will of the congregation, we are to see ourselves quite differently from politicians who have been elected to represent their constituents…Our task is repeatedly to remind them that we take serious the will of the congregation but are accountable to God” (Galloway, pp. 42-43).

Reforming. Galloway also speaks about being “always reformed, always reforming” (p. 47). This speaks to the church’s ability to continue to grow in holiness of purpose and commitment. “In other words, ministry is a terribly difficult balancing act of getting people enthused about a particular work, but not so narrowly enthused that the work becomes an idol…Remember, folks: Our work is in service to God. It is not itself God” (p. 49). The pastor then has the responsibility to help us understand that we must be willing to change our attitudes and behaviors so that we are doing things for the Lord and not making our traditions, or work a god in itself. The pastor must help us keep a clear vision of how we look at what we do. It is also his responsibility to help us with “self”. “Nowhere do we need to be more intentional in our work of reforming than we do with our own idolatrous worship of our own sinful egos” (Galloway, 52). – Came back next week for the next installment.

The Week in Review

The Role of the Pastor in Church Administration
Written by Minister Jewel D. Williams
October 11, 2007

The pastor plays a vital role in church administration and he/she must lead the way for the church to see it’s vision, mission and value so that it can be effective. The church operational characteristics must change so that a church can grow both numerically as well as spiritually, which means there are changes a pastor must make to remain successful as well as effective. In this look at the church, I will examine first the mission of the church (in general and specifically). I will also analyze the congregation’s relating and functioning styles. Specific activities of the pastor will be addressed regarding administration. I will also try to identify what is needed for the success of the pastor in his role of guiding the church toward fulfilling the mission. Finally, I will develop a plan for the pastor’s changing administrative role as the church grows.

In the book, Death of the Church, the author Mike Regele with Mark Schulz state, “THE MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM in the church today is a fundamental lack of clear, heart-grabbing vision. The church in America has no vision. It has programs and institutions and property and ministers and politically correct hymnals, but no vision” (229). This is not a new problem with the church for the Bible states the same sentiment in Proverbs 29:18a “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. When the authors took a survey regarding the vision of the church this is what they found, “The church and what it stands for represents something qualitatively better than what this world on its own has to offer. They sense that in it there is a promise of something. What is that ‘something?’” (Regele & Schulz, p.230).

The question then is, what is that something that the church should be offering to the world? What is the church’s mission? The author Gailyn Van Rheenen explains the mission of the church in his book, Biblical Foundations & Contemporary Strategies, where he states, “Mission does not originate with human sources, for ultimately it is not a human enterprise. Mission is rooted in the nature of God, who sends and saves…He continually seeks to initiate reconciliation between himself and his fallen creation” (14). This reminds the reader that God is the originator of the mission. That mission as future explained in a flow chart by the author shows that God originated the mission, Jesus Christ enacted the mission, the Holy Spirit gives power to the mission, the church carries the mission and the world hears the mission (Rheenen, p. 18).

The church’s mission is to be the avenue by which the Holy Spirit equips believers to tell the world about the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. While this is the general mission of the church, it is not always evident in our local church. We sometimes forget what our mission is and we become bogged down in our traditions and rituals. “Few Christians are able to describe vividly in biblical terms what God desires the church to be. Without biblical undergirdings, the church is swept along by the ebb and flow of culture and in various forms degenerates into a social fraternity. When this happens, the church more nearly reflects the world than the nature of God and has little that is distinctive to offer the world” (Rheenen, p. 28).

The local church sometimes has difficulty connecting what “should be” with “what is”. We some times believe we are a teaching church, a seeking church and we classify ourselves a loving church. What we truly are is not always in line with this vision of ourselves. So the work is, how do we line up the mission of the church with what we really are? The first thing is we need to have a clearer vision of who we are and what we need to become. “We will see again that God intends to close the gap between ‘what is’ and ‘what ought to be’ in our own lives and in the lives of all whom he sends us to serve…Such a grand vision calls us to mission. It gives us ultimate purpose. And what is that purpose? To close the gap between what is and what ought to be. In other words, everything we do in ministry together has validity only to the extent it helps us close the gap. It is this singularity of direction in response to our vision that is our mission” (Regele and Schulz, p.234).

With this understanding of mission how can the local church move from what is, to what ought to be? The pastor has the responsibility of helping the body to daily move so that it lines up with what God calls for the church to be. It first starts with us looking at our ideas about our selves. In the writing entitled, The Role of the Pastor in Church Administration – Lecture: Week One, written by Michael Toombs, where it is stated, “Every organization has espoused values, which are those things identified by mission and vision statements. They are neat and tidy statements. They are revealed in constitutions, bylaws and covenants. They are usually easily measured. Every congregation also has enacted values, which are unspoken. They may reveal more of the ‘family dynamics’ of a congregation…These unwritten expectations may be just as vital to a congregation’s sense of ‘self’ or well-being as the nifty statements we hammer home and publish. Ignoring them can be fatal to a pastor” (p. 7).

I go back to what the church believes about it self from before. Often local congregations believe its enacted values, is we are a loving church. This is true at times, but we can be very judgmental and harsh on others when they do not do as we think they should. We can be hurtful and instead of drawing people to come and fellowship with us, we push them away. The pastor then has a responsibility to help us line up to what is right.

I believe the pastor achieves this alignment with what ought to be through the teaching ministries within the local church. Correction is also accomplished by the preached word in the church. If the word of God goes forth with power, the Holy Spirit can convict the hearts of the people to change their attitudes and behavior. In the book, Pastoral Ministry: How to Shepherd Biblically, the contributing author, John Mac Arthur writes, “Paul was content to sacrifice his reputation. A pastor’s goal is not to be popular with the world. Those who preach boldly against sin and live godly lives will sacrifice their public reputation and prestige. They will suffer rejection, face opposition, and endure slander…In the ministry, pressure to compromise, to mitigate the message, and to avoid offending sinners will always exist. However, the preacher’s job is to expose sin, to confront the lost with the hopelessness of their condition, and to offer the cure for their wretchedness in the saving gospel of Jesus Christ” (pp. 17-18). This is also true with the body of believers. The pastor must instruct us in holy living and to preach boldly against anything we do that is contrary to us living godly lives. Some will not want to hear and accept, but that does not negate the responsibility of the pastor to do it.

I believe many pastors follow that mandate. In doing so, a change can result in some of the believers desires to be more like Christ and to be about the mission of the church which is to reach the lost and to equip the saints for service. What can result is we will look more like what we think about ourselves. Sinners can come into the church, get saved and truly loved by those already in the fellowship (come back next week for the second installment).