By Ed Barnett
One of the most important parts of a local church is its board. To rightfully represent your church, the board should be made up of board members who rightfully represent your church family. You should have a board which represents both the men and women on it. The board should also represent the diversity that you have in your church culturally. It should reflect the generational diversity of its membership as well.
We are all concerned about many of our parishioners leaving our congregations. We single out young church members not being attracted to what was once their faith community. Frankly speaking, how can they be attracted to the church and its life when they are ignored, and little time and effort is spent on recognizing them as fully-fledged church members. Are they recognized for the talents and skills they have? How much time is spent listening to their needs and interests?
Even though I will just make one point at this juncture, let me plainly ask a question: Does your local church board include young people? After all, they are church members themselves, and their faith community will benefit from their enthusiasm, imagination, and creativity. We often hear that young people are the future of the church. Perhaps they are, but they are also church members now. How do you involve them in the affairs of your faith community?
The more diverse your board, the more likely you will be to get a good cross-culture of ideas that can only help the board and church grow.
All too often, the board spends most of its time just looking at financial issues. That should be only one small part of what a church board does. Obviously, boards need to look at finances. You should have an up-to-date accurate financial statement each time you have a board meeting. However, the main focus of the board should be the overall ministry of the local church.
The Church Manual defines a menu of the local church board functions in these words: “Every church must have a functioning board whose members have been elected during a church business meeting. Its chief concern is having an active discipleship plan in place, which includes both the spiritual nurture of the church and the work of planning and fostering evangelism.
Included in church board responsibilities are:
An active discipleship plan.
Evangelism in all of its phases.
Spiritual nurturing and mentoring of members. l Maintenance of doctrinal purity.
Upholding of Christian standards.
Recommending changes in church membership. l Oversight of church finances.
Protection and care of church properties.
Coordination of church departments.”
The Gospel Commission of Jesus tells us that making disciples, which includes baptizing and teaching, is the primary function of the church (Matt. 28:18-20). It is, therefore, also the primary function of the board, which serves as the chief committee of the church.
“When the board devotes its first interests and highest energies to involving every member in proclaiming the good news and making disciples, most problems are alleviated or prevented, and a strong, positive influence is felt in the spiritual life and growth of members” (Revised 2015, p. 129).
We hire pastors to grow healthy churches, but every elder and board member ought to realize that theirs is a similar responsibility. It is the job of the church to grow God’s kingdom in the communities where we live.
Another item I want to throw in for free: Meetings of church boards should be planned ahead of time, with the agenda and minutes of a previous meeting sent out ahead of the meeting. That way, you can see if the church is following up on the business that has been voted on.
A vital aspect for board meetings is to always keep them under two hours unless something really out of the norm has to be cared for. When I pastored Denver South Church, which was a thousand-member church with a sizable board, we usually began our deliberations at 7:00 p.m. and were done by 8:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. at the latest. The chairperson must keep things moving and the agenda ought to be well prepared and well thought out.
It is an honor and a privilege to be selected to your local church board. It should be something that you look forward to because you are doing the work of the Lord. A board is only as strong as the members who are on it.
It’s my prayer that God will divinely direct and influence each church board in the one hundred and thirty-three churches in the Rocky Mountain Conference! We have a job to do and that is to take Jesus to everyone in our territory.
–Ed Barnett is RMC president. Email him at: [email protected]