Over the years, I’ve served on and worked with many dysfunctional church boards. I’ve noticed that in almost every instance there was a conspicuous lack of [trust].
Healthy church boards give people freedom to do things however they deem best. In matters of taste, style, or methodology, they don’t butt in. They let those who have the responsibility for a ministry exercise the authority to carry them out. The Hessian mercenaries understood this principle as well as anyone. The three guiding principles in their Rules of Combat would serve any board well.
1. The mission’s objective and any constraints must be made explicit by the commander (the board) in advance.
In other words, everyone has to know the rules ahead of time—both the goals and the limits of their freedom. For instance, our youth associates need to know how we’re going to judge the success of their program. Will it be by attendance, the number of new Christians, the signs of spiritual growth, or the percentage of church kids that buy in? And what are their constraints? Do they have a budget? If so, how much? Are there any programs or ministries they must provide (Sunday school, camps, or a set number of socials)?
A simple job description can communicate the objectives and constraints. What’s important is that both staff and key volunteers know explicitly what the board expects them to accomplish.
2. Individuals are to be given the freedom to pursue the objective they think is best in light of local conditions.
No one knows better than those on the front line what will and won’t work. Most of us have had the experience of being forced to do something in a way that we knew was less than best. I remember once being forced to use a certain speaker who I knew would be boring at a conference I was planning. Worse, I had to emcee the meetings and introduce the speaker. That put me in a compromising position. If I promoted the conference, knowing full well our people would get little or nothing out of it, my credibility would suffer. If I downplayed the conference, and no one came, I’d have a financial disaster on my hands. Needless to say, the board’s interference was not appreciated.
This principle is particularly important when dealing with staff. Why hire an expert if we aren’t going to let him do his thing? When our board hires someone, we look for the wisest and most gifted person we can find. For us to kibitz and control the details of the ministry would waste his or her gifts and indict our judgment in hiring.
3. The freedom of officers [ministry leaders] is to be limited only when it’s essential in order to coordinate their actions.
Keeping everyone moving in the same direction is one of the board’s primary jobs. Sometimes that calls for reining in a particular ministry. I know of a church where the music program became so large that the splashy programs and travel tours left few volunteers for anything else. When the music director asked for permission to raise funds for another bus and still more sound equipment, the board had to say no.
Occasionally, a special emphasis or program will also mandate that freedom be temporarily set aside. During a missions emphasis we can’t have the youth group off on a ski trip, or the women’s ministry hosting a weekend retreat. But other than times like these, it’s hands off. Even if we doubt an idea will work, we try to give people the freedom to give it a shot. That’s what trust is all about.
Larry Osborne; Growing Your Church Through Training and Motivation; Three Key Traits for Your Board; pp. 173, 181-182.
