Under Construction: Churches in Transition

Under Construction: Churches in Transition

The dynamic nature of holistic ministry demands that it be flexible. Most of the churches we studied were undergoing some kind of structural transition directly related to their outreach ministry. Being in a state of flux did not weaken their commitment or capacity, for the most part; rather, it freed them to incorporate new people and try on new ideas. Three examples follow of churches that experienced organizational evolution during the course of our study.

Bethel Temple Community Bible Church

When our study began, most of the church's organized ministries were carried out under the auspices of a separately incorporated ministry, Proclaimers of Hope, which predated the church's founding. However, a lot of "unorganized" ministry had sprouted in response to immediate needs or opportunities. Little documentation existed to guide the administration of ministry activities: no job descriptions for staff or board members, no written policies or procedures for the allocation of emergency food, clothing and housing, no guidelines for acceptance into the Addictions Discipleship program. Organizational challenges were exacerbated by explosive church growth, an expanding staff and volunteer pool, and changing community needs.

Over about eighteen months, the leadership of Bethel Temple and Proclaimers of Hope engaged in a visioning process. The prayerful discussions of the church's mission began with the two pastors and Elders, then expanded to include the staff. This process yielded a new mission statement, introduced at the annual congregational meeting: "Discipling our members, evangelizing our community and revitalizing our neighborhood in the name of Jesus Christ." Leaders recognized the need for a new administrative structure to serve this refocused mission. This gave rise to a plan to merge church and para-church organization under one leadership body called "Bethel Ministries."

"Having the overarching mission and building everything under one ministry umbrella is crucial to where our vision and values lie," explains Rev. Joel Van Dyke. "We wanted to have the church in the driver's seat of all that happens, so the outreach . . . is directed by the spiritual leadership." Proclaimers of Hope retained its separate incorporation (largely for legal and funding reasons), but the church's Board of Elders now serves as the governing body for the whole entity. Under the Board of Elders are "Ministry Directors" responsible for the administration of specific programs. An Advisory Board assists with fund-raising, networking and informal guidance, without decision-making authority.

As part of implementing the new structure, Bethel's leadership has given priority to addressing the "growing pains" of the congregation (e.g. visitor and new believer follow-up, membership classes, youth programming, and cell groups) and staff (creating job descriptions for volunteer and paid staff positions, and expanding opportunities for personal nurture, spiritual growth and fellowship). These steps strengthen the foundation for a new strategic plan for community outreach also birthed during the visioning process.

Life in Christ Cathedral of Faith

"I had people coming to me in the middle of the winter, women with children saying we don't have a place to stay and the shelters are full," says Bishop Dickie Robbins. "So occasionally we put people up in a hotel overnight or for a couple of days until we could seek out more permanent arrangements for them. We decided that we needed to begin to develop some housing alternatives ourselves." The church purchased seven apartments to use for housing needs. Later, the church added another six apartments, two houses, and vacant land for building new homes. Besides having properties available for emergency needs, several apartments are rented at a discount (one, for example, to a young man on work release from prison, whom the church provided a janitorial job as well as an apartment so he would qualify for probation), and one is provided for church staff member in place of a salary. The church expects people receiving emergency housing to attend church services and Bible study. Bishop Robbins also developed a relationship with an apartment complex owner to make additional housing available. The owner knows that the church holds these people accountable: if someone is late paying rent, he calls the church, and the church works with the tenant.

When we studied the church, Bishop Dickie Robbins was in the process of pursuing 501(c)(3) status for the Life in Christ Economic Development Corporation, which would take over ownership of the properties from the church and pursue funding for other community development projects. Since the board of the Economic Development Corporation is currently the same as the church board, with Bishop Robbins as chair, the distinction is primarily administrative.

One reason for separate incorporation is that a separate nonprofit would be eligible to participate in government-funded economic development initiatives. Second, separate incorporation ensured that the church would not be held liable for any debts or (in a worst case scenario) lawsuits incurred by the nonprofit. A third reason is that the owner of the properties must play the role of landlord. Bishop Robbins explains, "It is more consistent with the mission of the economic development corporation than it is with the church itself to own investment properties." Several apartments are reserved as rental units to pay for maintenance costs and to generate funds to finance other church ministries. The Economic Development Corporation will be set up to return its profits to the church.

The goals of the Economic Development Corporation are consistent with Life in Christ's holistic mission, but concentrated in a single area: to develop the total economic health of the community. In addition to providing housing, the ministry has sponsored various events to promote small business development, job training, home ownership and healthy personal finances, open to both the congregation and the community. In addition, the ministry has fostered entrepreneurship by providing space and administrative support for a dozen locally-owned new businesses.

While the program is not overtly evangelistic, its close ties with the church create a bridge between non-churched community residents and the congregation. "This is not an evangelistic arm," Bishop Robbins explains. "This is a social justice arm because we need to improve the economy of the community. Evangelism takes place in many other areas of our ministry. . . . The strategy is to establish a relationship [with non-Christians]. The relationship will usher them into the local church setting."

Germantown Church of the Brethren

Until a few years ago, the church's structure followed the traditional denominational pattern. The leadership team consisted of the pastor plus nine members on three ministry commissions: Witness, Nurture, and Stewardship. It was a tidy system, but it wasn't working from a ministry perspective. "We experimented," Pastor Richard Kyerematen recalls, "because we thought that the old structure limited leadership potential. There was always a struggle to find people to serve on the commissions, and . . . they always turned out to be more like administrative committees as opposed to our church going out and doing something."

The church suspended its by-laws to try a new system, which divided the three committees into twelve Congregational Ministries. "The Congregational Ministries are the building blocks of the congregation. They make the entire ministry of the church function well, and help us to be effective in our outreach ministries," explains Rev. Kyerematen. The twelve ministry coordinators comprise the church board. One of the twelve Congregational Ministries is Outreach/Follow-Up. This in turn is made up of six Ministry Teams representing a holistic range of outreach programs (with room to expand as more ministries develop). These Ministry Team leaders also meet monthly for planning and prayer.

"The Ministry Teams came out of the fact that a lot of congregations . . . get bogged down with trying to move the whole church to be in a ministry. It's one thing having an outreach committee. It's another thing moving the whole congregation to be in outreach." In two years the new structure doubled the number of persons involved in church leadership. Since leaders then recruit other volunteers from the congregation, the new structure advances the pastor's ultimate goal of having ministry participation be a requirement of membership. A more decentralized structure is also more efficient, the pastor believes, because each leader is responsible for making something happen within a narrower frame. As a result they spend more time on action than on talking.

The main challenge of this transition has been providing sufficient training and support. The pastor has been stretched to follow up with so many new leaders. During an initial adjustment period, while leaders were still clarifying their roles and expectations, some ministry activities were put on hold. But the congregation has been willing to live with some ambiguity, and overall the change has enhanced leaders' motivation while helping them feel less burdened. "Our leadership team is made up of people who are very gifted, talented, have a desire, have a lot of zeal," says Rev. Kyerematen. "They are doing this out of joy. In fact many times they are really thinking, ‘We could do more if we can make more effective use of our time.'"

[Adapted from Churches That Make a Difference, chapter 8].