The Art of Kubernesis (1 Corinthians 12:28)

Leading as the Church Board Chairperson

Larry J. Perkins

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781532667985
  9781532667992
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532668005
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Études bibliques

Those who chair church boards deserve our prayers and respect. Often with little preparation or experience, they step up to lead the primary spiritual leadership team within a local congregation. When they need help, they have to search long and hard to find resources that respond to their specific questions and concerns. The Art of Kubern?sis (1 Corinthians 12:28): Leading as the Church Board Chairperson fills this gap. It takes the best ideas about chairing nonprofit boards being discussed today and carefully evaluates them. Those ideas that are compatible with biblical values and the unique nature of a church congregation contribute to this "map" for church board chairpersons. Although its primary frame of reference is congregational polity, the principles discussed can help anyone who chairs a faith-based nonprofit board.

Chapter 1

Foundational Paradigms and Principles: The Nature of Governance Leadership within a Local Church

Occasionally people in my workshops ask whether there are biblical/theological principles that justify the existence of church boards and the role of the chairperson. This is an important question. Usually it arises because someone is concerned lest we base our discussion about church boards upon ideas brought into the church from outside of it. In other words, the very existence of church boards smacks of business or other cultural influences, i.e., something alien to the essence of a New Testament church. To suggest that a church board chairperson has a significant role to play in the health and leadership of a local church similarly may be disturbing because the New Testament does not specifically mention this church leadership function. Further, different models of board governance are now proposed in the “nonprofit society” world and churches have to think carefully about which model will cohere most adequately with their theological and other values.

Scripture articulates principles we use today to define the nature of the church, its mission, leadership, and functions. Today we discover faith communities contextualizing these biblical principles in many diverse cultures around the world. However, it is important for church board leaders to think very deeply about the theological principles and contextual realities that have led some kinds of churches (primarily evangelical churches in North America) to adopt a governance structure that includes a board and board chairperson. Understanding this rationale generates greater leadership confidence.

In responding to these kinds of questions, we have to admit that the New Testament has very little to say about the way a local church organizes itself to accomplish its mission. The diverse faith communities that developed through the work of the apostles required some kind of leadership. In the narratives of Acts and the New Testament letters, early leaders such as Paul, Peter, James, Peter, John, and Jude give attention to issues of leadership in these emerging messianic communities. Even the Gospels from time to time reflect ways in which elements of Jesus’ teaching influenced the practice of such leadership. About thirty years after the resurrection, the beginnings of recognized leadership groups become apparent. They are comprised of people termed “managers/supervisors/stewards” (episkopoi/oikonomoi) and “assisting agents” (diakonoi). The word “older male” (presbuteros) also seems to describe some or all of the key leaders in a local church. Within this group, some will function more specifically as pastors. This spiritual leadership cares for, teaches, protects, and encourages the congregation. Contexts such as 1 Thessalonians 5:12–15, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5:1–7, and selected portions in Acts (e.g., chapters 13–14, 20) provide us with this data. Occasionally Paul will talk generally about the nature of the church and its collaborative, interdependent activities (e.g., Eph 4;1 Rom 12; 1 Cor 11–14).2

Some of the house churches in the early days of Christianity seem to have a plurality among their leadership (e.g., the church at Antioch in Acts 13:1–3).What decisions this leadership group made and on what basis the congregation was brought into decision-making remains disputed. Paul urges the Corinthian church collectively to exercise discipline (1 Cor 5–6). The Jerusalem church collectively—together with its elders, the apostles, and representatives from the Antioch church—discuss and come to a decision about the matter of gentile Christians (Acts 15). Similarly, in Acts 6, the apostles, together with the Jerusalem church congregation, discern a solution to the dispute about fair care for all widows in the church. Galatians 2:1–10 may also suggest that in some cases specific leadership groups met to discuss and discern God’s direction. In 2 Corinthians 8:19, Paul says that Titus “was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering.” Presumably the churches in some fashion (whether this means the leadership in those churches or the churches as groups of believers is not discernible) indicated to Paul their approval of Titus so that he could fulfill this leadership role.

When you study these texts and examples of church leadership, you will discern key values and principles that should guide the expression of leadership and its structures, but also realize that considerable flexibility existed with respect to such structures. Qualifications for people to participate as spiritual leaders in the church are provided (1 Tim 3; Titus 1; 1 Pet 5:1–7). As we have reviewed, some stories (e.g., Acts 6, 15; 1 Cor 5) suggest that the leadership group took care to include the congregation in the final decision when major issues were under consideration. Beyond these elements, the Holy spirit seems to have let the good sense and wisdom of the initial leadership develop effective leadership and organizational means to advance the church’s mission, with some attention paid to the cultural patterns in their diverse contexts. Care was taken to preserve the values Christ expected his people to exhibit and to enable the people individually and collectively to present the gospel clearly. The terms episkopos (“manager/supervisor”) and oikonomos (“steward”), for instance, were common secular terms used to describe administrators and managers, particularly of large agricultural estates. Often these individuals would be slaves. Similarly, the word presbuteros (older male) described the head of a household unit, someone whom others discerned to be wise and responsible because of age and social position.

It is probable, for example, that in some cases Jewish Christians adapted some aspects of synagogue life and leadership to guide the development of the emerging messianic assemblies. In the Greco-Roman world, societies were common, regulated by specific laws, but organized for many different reasons, some of which were religious in nature. People in the early church felt free to borrow leadership ideas from their Jewish and/or Greco-Roman cultural surroundings, so long as the theological principles defining the nature of the Messiah’s new people and its leadership were sustained. Different organizational arrangements were possible and early leaders were creative in developing house churches in centers such as Jerusalem, Antioch, and Ephesus.

I would suggest that the situation is similar today. In Canada, most evangelical churches have a senior spiritual leadership group defined as pastor/elders, or deacons, or a mixture of people filling these ministry roles. In recent decades as well, most of these churches have been defined as nonprofit charitable agencies, organized in accordance with government regulations for such entities.3 Maintaining the theological principles expressed in the New Testament concerning the nature of the church, church leadership, and congregational relations, while operating within legal boundaries of these government regulations, does pose some challenges. For example, there is some tension between the church as faith community and the church as organization. However, this form of contextualized church governance (i.e., organized as a nonprofit charity) does enable the church to appoint and enjoy the benefit of spiritual leadership described in the New Testament, while at the same time taking full advantage of the benefits offered by being a nonprofit charitable ministry agency. So long as the leadership understands the essence of the church and is aware of the primacy of the spiritual values, care, and mission essential to the church, then the kind of governance pattern required for a nonprofit charity can integrate well with the communal life of a local church and its mission.

Now, there is no necessity for a church to organize itself as a nonprofit charitable society in Canada. However, it has advantages related to taxation, legal liability, and other matters. Provided a local church is able to accomplish its spiritual work by adopting and using such a structure, it will be appropriate theologically. Should a local church decide to constitute itself differently, it still has to sort out issues of leadership, authority, accountability, and governance, and exercise appropriate care to prevent untoward abuses. As a church grows in size, the governance patterns will have to change to keep pace. The local church’s history, denominational traditions, age, size, and culture will all influence how governance actually functions. Another factor in all of this will be the theological perspective of the lead pastor, and how he views the church board’s role within the congregation.

If a local church does decide to function as a nonprofit charitable society, then the governance leadership role of the board and its chairperson needs to be acknowledged. Personally, I do not believe that this kind of governance structure detracts from congregational authority, the ability of pastoral leadership to fulfill its appropriate spiritual ministry, or the opportunity for the church board to consider all of its work as spiritual work necessary for sustaining and deepening the spiritual health of a local church. Again, I would emphasize, the spiritual leaders, i.e., the church board members, have to ensure in all of this that the nature of the church as the body of Christ is not compromised, but rather enabled to flourish.

Perhaps a comment of clarification would be helpful here. John Carver noted “a flagrant irony in management literature where opportunity for leadership is greatest, job design for leadership is poorest.”4

I think this remains a significant issue for local church boards, board chairpersons, and lead pastors. This is not to say that individuals are incompetent, lack giftedness, or have deficient passion. The opposite is the case in most instances. However, the lack of clarity about the role of the board and the role of its chairperson in many congregations prevents board members from exercising the effective governance leadership they desperately desire to offer and should be offering.

Confusion about who leads within the local church creates needless tension between pastoral staff and church boards and creates congregational uncertainty. Much of the literature5 that pastors study in order to define their professional and vocational activity urges them to be the leader God has called them to be. Such publications argue that a lead pastor has the prerogative to define the vision for the congregation among whom they serve, and thus provide the strategic leadership within a congregation. The church board collectively serves to advise and assist, but not to exercise any meaningful form of strategic leadership. However, these ideas are, in my opinion, a distortion of what the New Testament teaches about the plurality of leaders within local churches, which...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Foundational Paradigms and Principles: The Nature of Governance Leadership within a Local Church
• Chapter 2: Roles and Responsibilities of Church Boards
• Chapter 3: Models of Church Board Governance
• Chapter 4: Discerning and Building Your Leadership Character as a Church Board Chairperson
• Chapter 5: Church Board Chairperson and Lead Pastor Relations
• Chapter 6: Leading the Church Board as a Ministry Team
• Chapter 7: Developing and Sustaining Church Board Effectiveness
• Chapter 8: Chairing an Ethnically Diverse Church Board
• Chapter 9: The Church Board Chairperson and Key Board Operational Issues: Internal Matters
• Chapter 10: The Church Board Chairperson and Key Board Operational Issues: External Relations
• Chapter 11: Church Board Chairpersons, Legal Issues, and Finances
• Chapter 12: Chairing in the Midst of “Black Swan” Events
• Chapter 13: Keeping it Fresh
• Chapter 14: Finishing Well
• Appendix A: Sample Church Board Chairperson Role Description
• Appendix B: Sample Church Board Role Description
• Appendix C: Sample Church Board Chairperson Evaluation Instrument
• Appendix D: Sample Church Board Covenant
• Appendix E: Sample Church Board Code of Ethical Conduct
• Appendix F: Sample Discussion Brief and Decision Profile Templates
• Appendix G: Samples of Church Board Assessment Instruments
• Bibliography