Structure Matters (Part 2)

Last time, we began a conversation about local church structure. What defines it, who designs it, and why is it so critical to fulfilling the Great Commission? This time, I want to continue by describing a few elements of a local church’s structure that can work together to compromise the common mission Jesus gave us. These five do not comprise an exhaustive list, by any means. But they may generate some healthy, and perhaps lively discussions with your leadership team.

SCOPE: How much time do you have to prepare the people you lead for the mission they share?

That’s right, time is a structure. It’s a boundary. It dictates the limits of any process. In the corporate work world, the boundary is 40 to 50 paid hours of time per week. The majority of people who participate with us in local church ministry are not paid so, right out of the gate, they’re less accountable to participate. On top of that, we all have some pretty significant limitations, time availability being one of them.

Take your most committed families, for example. Typically, they’re working 40 to 50 hours per week to pay the bills; desperately trying to keep their marriages alive; responsibly trying to be attentive parents, supporting their kids in school, sports leagues, dance classes, and music lessons; as well as gallantly fulfilling all the rest of the obligations the world is throwing at them. Then they plop down in an auditorium pew or seat on weekends or drag themselves to their small group. They’re totally exhausted before pastors have the chance to tell them how they should be helping out the church! So, back to the question. How much time each week should you expect that they be available to participate in their local church?

This is a really important question to keep in mind, whenever you have organizational design or ministry strategy meetings. What amount of time do people even have available, in order to allow their church leaders to prepare them to better execute their church’s vision? The answer is quantitative. It’s a real number. And it will seldom, if ever, be as large a number as a typical pastor wants it to be.

Consider that number of hours as if it were a structural box. Pastors do not get to decide the size of that box. They just get to decide what goes into it.

Remember, if the average attender can give you five hours per week, then your weekend service will probably take up between one to two of those five hours. If you value small groups, then you might run out of total hours before you plan anything else! And if a weekend service and small group experience is going to be inside of your five-hour box, you need to structure those experiences well because, quite frankly, they may take up virtually all the time you’re given to help people experience what the Apostle described as the goal, the “fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)

POLICY: Is the church you lead the church you like?

Formalization is another corporate structural term, describing the extent to which jobs or responsibilities are standardized through established policies, procedures, and rules. So, in your local church, are there any policies, procedures, or rules keep people from being outward focused? You might challenge them to be outward focused, but your policies may not allow them to be.

I was visiting a church a few years ago who wouldn’t allow coffee (or even my sacred iced tea) into the worship center. Immediately, I recognized that attenders and especially any new visitors were less valued than the custodial team.

How many rules, both formalized or assumed, might seem inhospitable to the unchurched (the Great Commission’s target audience). How about the worship music style you’ve selected. Is it primarily because you prefer it, or because it might seem more appealing to the unchurched?

Several years ago, during one of our worship services, I (still pastoring at the time) was informed by a long-standing member of the congregation that the music was becoming too loud for them. I responded honestly, “I completely agree with you. It’s too loud for me too.” Then I added, “It’s a good thing we’re not the target audience.”

LANGUAGE: Does your messaging frame your mission?

Language itself is a structure. If time is a box, language is a frame. It helps frame a culture, by expressing and preserving its values, beliefs, and social norms.

How we say what we say is as important as what we say. That’s why we’re not just encouraged to be truthful, but to “speak the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15) Truth is the what. Love is the how.

How often we say what we say also reveals the value of what we say. In church, repetition has always had value. Pastor Peter said so. “I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.” (1 Peter 1:12-15)

Highlighting the value of the Great Commission could be as simple as painting outward-focused statements on the wall of a church lobby.

· “Change your world!”

· “(This church) is preparing you to be a worldchanger.”

· “Give us five hours and together we will change the world.”

· “The main thing in life is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

· “This church doesn’t just exist for those who attend, but for those who will.”

Remember, exponential ideas (like oikos) have a hard time finding traction in non-exponential environments.

BUDGET: Is your money where your vision is?

Budget meetings can be the most divisive things we experience, whether we’re meeting with our spouse or meeting with a church leadership team. We tend to want to ignore our limitations, and a local church’s budget is another one of those clear limitations every pastor faces. Here are a few statistics about church budgets.

In certain regions of the world, where professional clergy, public worship, and church facilities are not allowed, the Christian Gospel is growing exponentially faster than it is in the U.S. You may be thinking, “What does that have to do with church budgets?” The truth is, it has everything to do with church budgets, because 95% of local church budgets in the U.S. are committed to clergy salaries, public weekend worship events, and facilities.

That’s not to say that we should disavow any of the three. But, if a local church is going to spend all that money on a salaried staff, then every member of the staff team should be in sync with and personally involved in the church’s corporate mission. If a local church is going to own and maintain facilities, then those facilities should be used for experiences that promote the church’s mission. And, if a group of believers are going to conduct public worship, then those experiences really should highlight the mission Jesus laid out for His Church. Don’t you think?

LEADERSHIP: How committed to the Great Commission is each member of your leadership team?

Organizational guru Jim Collins has written expensively about organizational structure. He refers to team members who do not share an organization’s mission as viruses. He explains it this way. “Let’s take the time to make rigorous A+ selections right up front. If we get it right, we’ll do everything we can to try to keep them on board for a long time. If we make a mistake, then we’ll confront that fact, so that we can get on with our work and they can get on with their lives…People often ask, ‘How do we get people to share our core values?’ The answer is: you don’t. The key is to find people who already have a predisposition to your core mission and to create a culture that so rigorously reinforces that mission that the viruses self-eject.”

That might sound rather abrupt, even harsh. And what is true in the corporate world may actually not be as readily consistent in the Church, because the Holy Spirit changes all of us. But employees and volunteers are primary elements of organizational structure. And sometimes the problem for any of us can be more than a lack of clarity. We can simply become obstinate. And if that stubbornness persists, then we become the wrong ones for the job. The wrong leaders will never reinforce the right mission.

Inward-focused people do not follow Jesus. Inward-focused leaders do not lead people to Jesus, at least not the Jesus of the New Testament. Whenever people follow Jesus, they end up where He always ends up, with lost people who desperately need the salvation He alone can provide them.

To continue your quest to better understand and redesign church structure, you might want to read Not My Church, available at our Resources webpage.