2017 LEADERSHIP RETREAT

1. 2017 LEADERSHIP RETREAT CHURCH ADMINISTRATION AMOS ATO EGHAN atoeghan@gmail.com 0243208062/0501542042

2. INTRODUCTION • The management of resources within the church is becoming one of the significant challenges facing church leaders today. • Leading the church in an organized, efficient and effective manner is not simple. • This is due to the changing environment, changes in the composition of church membership and other factors.

3. INTRODUCTION • The mission of the church today has not changed from the first believers we read about in scriptures. • Simply state the mission as to evangelize, equip and care for members. • The major difference however, is the type and use of the physical resources placed at our disposal to accomplish the task.

4. INTRODUCTION • The operation of the church is in many respect quite similar to that of a business. • Even though the local church is not in business for making profit, we are in business for the Lord! Therefore, for us to please our Lord, everything we do in the church should comply with Paul’s statement in I Cor. 14:40.

5. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION • To understand how modern administration is carried out in the church, it is necessary to consider the meaning of the terms management and administration. • Many books use the term interchangeably. Early managers were both decision-makers and supervisors. • However, as management theory evolved over time, there became a definite difference between the decision maker, the manager and the individuals who actually do the work.

6. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION • In our current corporate environment, there are group of stakeholders. Some are owners, who provide the capital for the business. • The owners have vested the business in the hands of those we call directors. • The directors will select the Manager and other key officers to implement the decisions made by the board of directors.

7. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION • Management has many definitions. There is no generally accepted definition of management as an activity, although the classical definition is still held to French industrialist, Henri Fayol. • According to Henri Fayol, to manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and to control.

8. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION • F. W. Talyor, the man known as the Father of Scientific management defined management as the determination of the overall policy of a business. • For the purpose of our discussion, management is defined as the process of directing the human and material resources of an entity to achieve stated goals and objective.

9. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION • Administration is an important aspect of management because it deals with the implementation of the policies of an organization. It is often seen as developing and maintaining procedure in an organization example as in Office Administration. • Administration can therefore be seen as a subset of management concerned with developing and maintaining procedures so that activities move on smoothly according to target and plans.

10. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION • The main difference between management and administration is that management is an all embracing concept including administration which deals with the initiation of policies and normally takes place at the highest level of an organization. • On the other hand, administration deals with the implementation of formulated polices and takes place in the middle hierarchy of an organization. • It therefore becomes a process of utilizing the human, physical and financial resources in order to meet the organization’s objectives and goals.

11. CHURCH ADMINISTRATION • Church Administration can be defined as the process, whereby the human, physical and financial resources are combined and coordinated in the most efficient manner possible and directed to the task of undergirding and carrying out the mission of the church. • The definition above brings out the following key terms:

12. CHURCH ADMINISTRATION • A Process. -- In the first place, administration is a "process," not an activity to be scheduled on the calendar. It does not really have an end or termination point. The process will continue until Christ returns. Further, administration is a "shared" process. There is no sole administrator in the church. Many share in this process. Most will have special tasks. • Some will direct their efforts to caring for and channelling the financial resources which God has entrusted to the church. Others will be concerned with the enlisting and equipping of personnel ( human resources ) to lead in the various ministries of the church.

13. CHURCH ADMINISTRATION • The Resources. -- Each church has been entrusted by Christ with certain resources to be utilized in achieving the mission. These resources may be categorized as: • Human (elders, deacons, preachers, committee members and other church workers) • Physical (church buildings, cars, pews etc) • Financial (money) • These resources are simply means to an end. They are the process, not the product. • The Primary Task -- The primary task of church administration is the task of the church itself. Just before He ascended into heaven, Christ gave the church an assignment to be carried out until He returns (Matthew 28:19-20).

14. CHURCH ADMINISTRATION • The following areas of Church Administration will be covered in our workshop: • Planning • Organizing • Controlling • Documents management • Human Resource Management • Financial Management

15. PLANNING (Luke 14:28-30) • For every organization to achieve its mission, there should be proper planning. The Almighty God is a very good planner and He expects leaders of His church to plan. The Bible has many wonderful and lessons on planning (Exod. 18:13-26, Neh. 1-3 and II Timothy 1: 9). • “Planning is the design of a desired future and of effective ways of brining it about” (Ackoff, 1981 as cited in Drury, 2000).It is a process that involves people and time.

16. PLANNING • Effective planning in the church shall involve the following: • Understand where you are and where you want to be in future • Set out your vision and goals that you want to attain • Establish objectives for achieving the mission • Develop policies • Decide on the means to achieve the objectives (allocating resources to objectives) • Taking appropriate action • Reviewing results regularly and adjusting the plan to suit the changing circumstances.

17. PLANNING • Important Areas of Planning • Planning of the Bible class (developing lessons for various groups, selecting and equipping of teachers) • Planning of Weekly activities (establish priority and sequences of activities for the achievement of goals) • Planning of evangelistic activities • Developing calendar of events for a period • Planning the financial recourses (budgeting) • Human Resource Planning (succession planning, improving capacities of church workers and remuneration) • Planning for physical structures (church buildings and others)

18. ORGANIZING(Acts 6, Rom. 12:4-5, Eph. 4:11-13,16) • The involves grouping of people and the resources so that work can be best performed. • Biblical organization could be seen as determining the activities or process in the church and assigning members to the activities.

19. ORGANIZING • As the early church increased in size, so did its needs. One great need was to organize the distribution of food to the poor. • The apostles needed to focus on preaching, so they chose others to administer the food programme. Organizing ensures that every member plays a vital role in the life of the church as Paul stated in Ephesians 4: 11-12. • The human resources and activities of the church should be organized into committees/ministries with the aim of achieving the mission of the church. The organization of the resources will allow other members who are technical and professionals in their area to help the church in this direction.

20. ORGANIZING • The church can be organized into the following categories’ • Benevolence • Evangelism • Edification • Finance/Administration • Building • Worship • Welfare • Follow-up • Youth • etc

21. ORGANIZING • It must be noted that the organization of the resources largely depends on the size and structure of the local church. For example, if majority of the members in a church are over 60 years, then there will be the need for a ministry/committee to be created for the aged to cater for their needs. • Each of these committees should be headed by matured members who constitute the leadership of the church. Each of the leaders should be responsible for the day to day operations of the ministry/committee.

22. Organizing Effective Church Meetings • In Acts 15:6, we find the account of the elders at Jerusalem meeting to solve a problem. From verse 1 through 30, the following points are made: • A problem was stated, verse 1-3 • An invitation to the meeting was made and agenda provided, verse 4-5 • There was a meeting, verse 6 • A decision was made, verse 19-20 • A report was disseminated, verse 22-30

23. Organizing Effective Church Meetings • Current leaders in congregations also meets to make decisions for the church. There are situations where we attend meetings and after the meeting we obviously know that we have wasted our time at the meeting. However, some meetings are organized very well. • The first point in ensuring effective meeting is for the meeting to have an objective. Why do you need to have the meeting? Meetings can have more than one objective

24. Organizing Effective Church Meetings • To help us determine the objective for our meeting, let’s consider the following questions: • Are you organizing the meeting to take a decision example hire a preacher or buy a land? • Are you evaluating on the progress of a church project? • Are you planning a church programme? • Are you receiving a report from a committee? • The objective of the meeting will help us in determining whether the meeting was successful or not.

25. Why organize church meetings? • Having an objective does not necessarily means there should be a meeting. In deciding to have a meeting to achieve the objective, we should consider whether a meeting is the best option to achieve our objective. • Often we could achieve the objective by telephone call or sending a letter or note.

26. Why organize church meetings? • Some good reasons for holding church meetings are: • To allow members or leaders with different views to contribute in making decisions • In some cases, effective communication requires personal face-face presentation • When the achievement of the objective cannot be done through other means like telephone and letters.

27. Scheduling Church Meetings • Once it has been established that the achievement of the objective can be through a meeting, then the meetings should be scheduled. • There are some problems that we do encounter in scheduling church meetings. Some of these problems are: • Members or leaders coming to the meeting are not reminded of the meeting before the meeting date. • The purpose of the meeting is not communicated to members. • In situations where the proposed meetings are on Sundays, when worship activities are prolonged it can affect the attendance and attitude of members to the meeting

28. Scheduling Church Meetings • These and other issues should therefore be considered in scheduling church meetings. • To avoid low attendance to meetings, frustration of members, waste of resources and not well informed decisions the following are recommended: • Members should be reminded of all upcoming meetings. This can be done through text messages and telephone calls. • The purpose or objective for calling the meeting should be communicated to members. This will enable members to make the needed preparation for informed decisions at the meeting. • Regular leaders’ meetings should not be held on Sundays after worship.

29. Agenda and Minutes of meetings • Agenda is a document that is sent to each person who is to attend a meeting. It contains the issues to be considered at the meeting, the venue, date, time and other relevant information that attendees should have prior to the meeting. • This document should be in the hands of the attendees in sufficient time to ensure that they come prepared for the meeting. • If possible, copies of the agenda and minutes from previous meetings should be made available to members at least one week before regular leadership meetings are held.

30. CONTROLLING(I Cor. 9:24-27, II Tim. 4:7-8) • This managerial function involves monitoring and evaluating activities and providing corrective mechanism. • Controlling church resources means monitoring and evaluating such resources to ensure that things happen in accordance with plans and with the aim of achieving the mission of the church.

31. CONTROLLING • Practical Guidelines for Controlling • Establishing performance standards • Performance measuring • Performance assessment • Performance correcting

32. DOCUMENTS MANAGEMENT • Once a document is prepared, the local church’s secretariat must do something with it. Managing documents involves procedures for transmitting the document, procedures for filing and retrieving the document, and procedure for disposition after retention. • Documents should be filed in a format that will ensure readily retrieval for future use.

33. DOCUMENTS MANAGEMENT • The following are some filing system that can be used: • Church confidential files (letters of employment, financial reports) • Church historical files (documents containing significant events in the life of the church) • Church membership files • Church action file (minutes and other documents) • With today’s improved technology, many of the file records can be kept electronically on a CD, drive or other means.

34. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT • The field of personnel management has undergone so many changes over the years. As Christians although we hold on to the principle of a labourer being worthy of his wages, we need to be more specific in dealing with church workers. • Stewardship of financial resources extends from its beginning in the church members pocket to the manner in which the church staff is compensated. The flow of funds requires some accountability, organization and structure.

35. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT • Managing human resources in the context of the church needs to be done with care, concern, and a desire to do what is right before God and national laws. Many of the church workers have either given up more lucrative opportunities in secular fields or they have simply chosen to work at the church out of a desire to advance the Kingdom of Christ. Whatever the motives are, the church must be an example to reward these workers. Hopefully, the following discussions will help us to be good examples. • The following aspects of HR are covered; employment and remuneration

36. Employment • Employment practices of any organization (church, or profit making business) should be standardized, fair, and legal. • For many years, the churches of Christ have carried out personal practices that are outside of or in direct violation of the labour laws in Ghana. • Often this was because of ignorance of the requirement; sometimes it was based upon misguided assumption that churches were not required to comply with secular employment law and the assumption that the Preacher is being supported by Americans. • Employment begins with the hiring process. This process will have several process: the review of the human resource plan, application process, evaluation of the applicants and selection, contract for employment, and orientation.

37. Employment • Review of the human resource plan. A human resource plan will determine the quality and quantity of workers needed in the church. This plan should be reviewed prior to any appointment. During the review the following questions should be answered: • What lines of the authority exist for the position? • What is the priority for this position?

38. Employment • What skill or expertise will the position require? • How will this position be filled? • Is there a job description? • Is there a salary plan with budget allocation? • Are there support facilities? • Is this position accurately defined to meet the needs of the church? • Are there qualified persons out there who can be employed?

39. Application Process. Where does your church acquire its future employees? Are they to be drawn from a pool of qualified applicants from any venue, or they are only to be selected from the local memberships? This point underscores the importance of succession planning in the church. • Evaluation of Applicants. Once applications have been received for an announced job opening, then screening must take place as the employer moves towards hiring the desirable applicant. The evaluation process has three basic phases: screening of applicants, review of qualified applicants, and selection of the desirable applicants.

40. Employment • Offer of employment. Appointment letter, job description and other vital information about the role of communicated to the successful applicant. • Orientation. Probably one of the greatest contributors to unsuccessful transition to a ministry or support position in a church or organization is the failure of the employer to appropriately orient the individual to the job. A major contributor to poor job satisfaction could be the absence of a designed orientation period

41. Communicating clear expectation • Peter Drucker has observed that one of the major problems in business today is that employee see their primary tasks differently than their employer do. • If the worker thinks he’s supposed to do one thing and his boss thinks he’s to do another, • misunderstanding and conflict are inevitable. • Therefore, from the start, leaders need to make sure expectations are clear

42. Communicating clear expectation • We can accomplish that with two tools: • A job description. This is a general guideline listing what a worker does. It is not a detailed job outline. A good job description typically lists four to six major responsibilities. • A monthly listing of priorities. We must set both “A priority” (the top-priority tasks of any particular ministry) and “B priorities” (ancillary tasks that support the higher priorities). To make expectations absolutely clear, staff members and supervisors can together determine their A and B priorities for the next thirty days.

43. Remunerating Church Workers • What to pay your church staff? The Bible points out that congregations must fairly and adequately compensate their staff (I Tim. 5:17-18). But what is fair and adequate compensation? To answer the question, we need to address the following areas: budget, salary factors, goals and increases.

44. Remunerating Church Workers • Budget • Salary Factors • It is believed that a congregation should consider the following factors in computing staff salaries: • The size of the congregation; • The scope of the responsibility; • Experience and qualification • Any specialized training that equips the person to accomplish his or her job better than comparable candidates for the same position.

45. Remunerating Church Workers • Salary Goals There are goals which should guide us in setting salaries. The first is to obey scripture. In I Tim. 5:17-18. The second goal is to retain good staff. The point here is that if you do not take good care of your staff, you may lose them

46. Remunerating Church Workers • Salary increases • Once the salary is determined you can change it by periodic increases. There are types of salary increases. Some of them include the following: • Cost of living increase • Across Board increase • Merit increases • Promotion and increase in responsibility

47. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT • Financial management is basically about planning and controlling funds to support the achievement of the organization’s objective. • Good financial management is supported by reliable financial record keeping, policies and procedures from which a third person (usually an auditor) can form an opinion on the financial statements presented.

48. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT • As leaders of the church, the Lord will require accountability of the resources placed in our care someday (Lk. 12:48; 16:1-2; 19:15 & Rm. 14:12). • A good manager will give proper account of such resources. But a bad leader would not want to do so because he will be found wanting. We cannot identify a good leader or manager unless their stewardship is put to test.

49. FINANCIAL PLANNING • Financial planning involves determining how a business will pay for its outlays (expenses) in pursuit of its goals and objectives. • Organizations usually create a financial plan immediately after its vision and mission have been set. The financial plan describes each of the activities, resources, equipment needed to achieve these objectives, as well as the time frame involves.

50. Budgeting • Budgets are medium-term plans for an organization expressed in financial terms. Typically, budgets are prepared annually. • Budgeting in the Church is the allocation of the financial resources to the various ministries/committee or activities. Examples of such committee/ministries includes but not limited to Evangelism, Benevolence, Edification/Education, Children, Youth and Welfare