Effective Church Boards

We all deeply value those willing volunteers who serve on church boards across the country. Wise pastors will seek to equip them well for the governing work of their meetings. I offer here some practical insights, based on my experience with church boards:

As much as possible, keep the meetings to under two hours MAX. Our ability to think drops off significantly after ninety minutes.

Ensure that the Board chair and senior pastor meet regularly to establish trust and a great working relationship. They must also collaborate on the board agenda and the assessment of the governing work. Create a written agenda, approved by the board and followed as much as possible. You can even add in proposed time allotments for each issue.

Build the agenda around significant issues while assigning other managerial concerns to sub-committees or other ministry teams within the church. Ask occasionally, “ If no clear answer exists, then ask, “ Who is best suited to address this concern?". In short, do not take board time for issues that others can address more efficiently.

Concentrate on your preferred future, spiritual health of the church, and policies as much as possible. Some ongoing managerial issues like financial

reports and updates on projects remain essential; however, manage those well.

Boards do not design proposals, rather they refine and approve proposals. Have presentations and options ready to present for discussion.

Follow an agreed-upon template for making decisions: Describe…Debate…Decide.

The “describing” stage includes a clear explanation by an appropriate person of the proposal including rationale and options. This should include a brief summary of the issue and allow time for asking questions for clarity. The “debating” stage is just that - a discussion (debate) around what is the preferred and Christ-honoring option for the future. The board chair will ensure that all have the opportunity to speak. The final stage of “Deciding” may need to wait until the next meeting for participants to reflect upon the options. Ensure that the board has reasonable time to move through the three stages.

Communicate the work of the board regularly to the church family.

Live with the healthy tension between overly engaged boards and disengaged boards. Overly engaged boards are often entangled in a crisis or find themselves having to take on more issues due to a lack of resources or failures among the pastoral staff to do their work. Also, some overly engaged boards have micro-mangers among them who love to engage in too many details. Conversely, disengaged boards give too much freedom to the pastoral staff or other ministry leaders. Disengaged boards will sometimes say, “We do not know what is going on around here.”

Pray much at the beginning of the meeting to prepare your hearts for the work.

Evaluate your time and work. How did we do tonight?