Structure Matters (Part 1)

The oikos principle is intuitive. It’s common sense. I’ve never had a pastor come up to me after one of our trainings and say, “It never dawned on me. I never thought to ask our people to share Jesus with their friends and family!”

But I have had many pastors ask me why something so simple is so hard. Why is encouraging a church family to be more intentional about the idea so much more difficult than it seems like it should be? The answer to that is just as simple.

Structures.

So, what’s up with that? What defines a local church structure? Who designs it? And why is it so critical to fulfilling the Great Commission?

The Church’s vision (what we’re all trying to accomplish) has always been fairly easy to articulate. We all should want people to know and follow Jesus. I grew up in churches that said they wanted to do that, and truly believed they were structured to do so. But few of us, if any, ever got in the game and became intentional about sharing Jesus with others. In hindsight, the reason is clear. It wasn’t because those churches had a vision problem. They had a structure problem.

More recently, James Clear (Atomic Habits) identified the problem as simply as anyone. “We don’t rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems.” In church world, that would sound like this. “We don’t rise to the level of our vision statements, we fall to the level of our structures.” Throughout history, social movements that were quite worthy have stalled because their structures didn’t allow them to generate momentum. Before I outline some of those specific structures, let me reflect again on the problem we face. Let’s begin by defining our baselines. 

INWARD: Primarily focused on ourselves, on our needs and desires.

OUTWARD: Primarily focused on the needs of others to know and follow Jesus.

When it comes to structures, there seems to be three general categories of churches. (At least that’s my observation.)

Category 1: Some local churches boast an inward vision and support it with an inward structure. So, technically, they’re successful because their structure effectively supports their vision. I recently visited a church that declared their vision on the walls of their worship center, declaring the things they value. Things like biblical authority, obedience, and fellowship. All important functions of the Church, to be sure. The problem is, there was no mention of our biblical mission. I’m just not sure how you can be a Jesus-follower and not prioritize His deep love for lost people.

Category 2: Some local churches declare a clear outward vision, but still maintain an inward structure. That’s not only ineffective, it’s harmful. The vision statement raises hopeful expectations, while the structure keeps those expectations from ever being fulfilled. The danger is that, at some point, people become cynical about the value of the vision statement. 

Category 3: The goal, of course, is to match that clear outward vision, with an effective outward structure. If your structures don’t support your vision, then your vision is meaningless.

Okay, what structures are we talking about?

By definition, organizational structure integrates key elements within a company or organization to effectively achieve the corporate mission. Those elements include workflow, delegation of duties, systems, and production.

When it comes to a local church, some aspects of structural design are actually not up to us. The Bible describes some foundational elements that we’re obligated to honor.

For example, when it comes to the delegation of duties, “there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

When it comes to corporate leadership, God has chosen certain people to be “apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13)

And, like every effective organization, if our organizational structure is designed well, it should effectively pursue our corporate mission. In the words of our CEE (Chief Executive of Everything), to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

So, if our job is to prepare people to pursue that vision, what abiblical (not specifically mentioned in Scripture) local church structures would be important to consider?

It’s an important question and the answer is longer than one post will allow. But I’ll do my best to give you some food for thought in my next post.