North Side Christian Church



[Sample] Church

Constitution

The Foundation of Trust

Dave this is just a sample of what you need to decide.

We trust one another to model the mission, vision, values, and beliefs of our congregation in our daily lives in both spontaneous and daring action. We organize ourselves with the minimum structures necessary to empower church participants to exercise their spiritual gifts and callings with faithfulness and integrity. We cultivate a culture in which mission and spiritual identity are constant, and tactics are continually adapting. All that matters to us is the Gospel.

Mission: Our mission is to bring people to a personal faith in Jesus so they can experience fullness of life.

Vision: We yearn for people to connect with Jesus and each other, beginning in our own neighborhood, across [city name], and around the world. We desire:

• To innovatively communicate to the seeker;

• To introduce people to authentic Christian community;

• To reach out to those in need.

We open ourselves to the Holy Spirit to extend love, justice, and peace near and far.

Values: We covenant together to live in predictable, positive, Christian patterns of behavior that both articulate and model the core values of life in Jesus.

✓ Surrender to the guidance of the Spirit;

✓ Relevance to link Christ and contemporary culture;

✓ Healthy intimacy for profound mutual support;

✓ Holistic personal and community growth;

✓ Acceptance of diversity

✓ Equality of all persons.

✓ Wisdom to use the gifts of creation in God’s mission.

✓ Involvement with the needy and marginalized.

✓ Leadership for the future.

Beliefs: We share together essential beliefs to which every member of our community will turn for strength.

➢ Jesus as Lord and Savior;

➢ The presence of the Holy Spirit in prayer;

➢ The love experienced in the Lord’s Supper;

➢ The hope experienced in Baptism;

➢ The completion of life in Christian Community;

➢ The unique spiritual gifts of every individual person;

➢ The special callings given to every Christian believer;

➢ The essential unity of all Churches.

The Way We Work

Anyone who wishes to live within our mission, vision, values, and beliefs can be a member of our church. (this part I would leave out if it were me and spell it out in a different way) In recognition of our participation in our denomination , certain volunteer and salaried are called into leadership by a majority vote of the members.

Congregational Meeting: The mission of the annual congregational meeting is to define, refine, and celebrate the vision, mission, values, and beliefs which are the foundation of trust in our congregation.

Steering Team:

Or Elders depending on how you want to do it.

Mission: The mission of the Elders/Steering Team is to discern future mission, allocate resources to pursue that mission, and nurture the overall health of the congregation.

Executive Limitations: The Steering Team can do whatever they believe necessary to focus the mission of the church and allocate church resources, provided they do not contradict the mission, vision, values, and beliefs of the congregation, and provided that they do not do the following:

1) The Steering Team cannot allow the core congregational process of

witness, growth, and service to break down or plateau.

2) The Steering Team cannot fail to constantly seek the guidance of the

Holy Spirit through research, dialogue, prayer, and scripture.

3) The Steering Team cannot start a new year without a spending plan and

strategy to allocate resources.

4) The Steering Team cannot deploy staff without fair compensation and

personal support.

5) The Steering Team cannot fail to define a clear and accessible

grievance procedure, and a clear methodology to monitor

executive limitations.

6) No individual can serve on the Steering Team for more than two years.

[Note: Everything else in the original draft is either already implied by the foundation of trust, or is merely a tactic left to the discretion of teams/small groups. This includes ad hoc committees, committee size, etc..]

Elders: [Note: Unless the local community has large segments of Asian or Native American people, this term needs to be replaced because it does not correspond to your mission, vision, values, beliefs statement.]

Mission: The mission of the Elders is to provide spiritual leadership to motivate and coordinate the ministries of the church.

Executive Limitations: The Elders can do whatever they believe necessary to motivate and coordinate the ministries of the church, provided they do not contradict the mission, vision, values, and beliefs of the congregation, and provided that they do not do the following:

1) The Elders cannot say no to any creative idea within the boundaries of

our mission, vision, values, and beliefs.

2) The Elders cannot miss weekly worship for any reason other than

health.

3) The Elders cannot miss regular participation in the Lord’s Supper.

4) The Elders cannot neglect the personal needs of any church member.

5) The Elders cannot allow essential pastoral ministries to lapse for lack of

staff.

6) The Elders cannot fail to embed the core mission, vision, values, and

beliefs of the church in every leader and ministry of the church.

7) The Elders cannot function outside of a mentoring relationship in which

others can learn how to be an Elder.

8) The Elders cannot fail to communicate to, and participate in, judicatories of our

denomination.

9) No individual can be an Elder for more than three years at a time.

10) No Elder can simultaneously serve with the Steering Team.

[Note: Everything else in the original draft is either already implied by the foundation of trust, or is merely a tactic. This includes serving communion, clergy representation, and the number of elders. Lists of qualities for participation like giftedness, baptism, “checks and balances” are already covered by foundation of trust.]

Pastoral Team: [Note: This piece will be revised depending on whether you limit the pastoral team to salaried professionals or include volunteers.]

Mission: The mission of the Pastoral Team is to model the values and beliefs of the church, expand a compelling vision for the future, and equip persons for ministry.

Executive Limitations: The Pastoral Team can do whatever they believe necessary to focus and equip the ministers of the church, provided they do not contradict the mission, vision, values, and beliefs of the congregation, and provided that they do not do the following:

1) The Pastoral Team cannot spend less that 50% of their time seeking

the guidance of the Holy Spirit through research, prayer, Bible study and conversation with the public.

2) The Pastoral Team cannot have unspent Continuing Education money

at the end of the year.

3) The Pastoral Team cannot do any visitation or counseling without an

networked apprentice being trained to take over the task.

4) The Pastoral Team cannot deploy fewer teams and small groups, or

fewer team and small group leaders, each year.

5) The Pastoral Team cannot design and implement less than two worship

experiences every week.

6) The Pastoral Team cannot design and implement worship without the

participation of volunteers.

7) The Pastoral Team cannot hire or fire any staff outside of the financial

plan of the Steering Team.

8) The Pastoral Team cannot hire or fire any staff without appropriate

compensation, consideration for continuing education and counseling, and recognition of the charter of human rights in the municipality or region.

9) No member of the Pastoral Team can fail to communicate regularly

with a network of personal support and professional development.

10) No member of the Pastoral Team will receive a raise unless they have

demonstrated how they have learned from inevitable mistakes the previous year.

[Note: Everything else in the original draft is either already implied by the foundation of trust, or is merely a tactic. Remember that all leaders must have the power to change tactics immediately.]

Ministry Teams:

Mission: The mission of a Ministry Team is any shared enthusiasm that the Holy

Spirit calls forth from the spiritual growth of the people.

Executive Limitations: Ministry Teams can do whatever they believe necessary to accomplish their mission, provided they do not contradict the mission, vision, values, and beliefs of the congregation, and provided that they do not do the following:

1) No Ministry Team can be deployed without a called, trained leader.

2) No Ministry Team can do any task without a core process in which

team members pray, learn, and share together.

3) No Ministry Team can be deployed without a written covenant that

specifies expectations of time and a closure date for the Team to re-covenant or end.

4) No Ministry Team leader can lead more than one team.

[Note: Everything else in the original draft is either already implied by the foundation of trust, or is merely a tactic.]

Small Groups:

Mission: The mission of any Small Group is to provide mutual support and encourage spiritual growth.

Executive Limitations: Small Groups can do whatever they believe necessary to accomplish their mission, provided they do not contradict the mission, vision, values, and beliefs of the congregation, and provided that they do not do the following:

1) No Small Group can be deployed without a called, trained leader.

2) No Small Group can be deployed that does not also pray for people

outside the group, and do something of practical benefit for others.

3) No Small Group can be deployed without a written covenant that

specifies expectations of time, confidentiuality, and a closure date for the Group to re-covenant or end.

4) No Small Group leader can lead more than one group at a time.

[Note: Everything else in the original draft is either already implied by the foundation of trust, or is merely a tactic.]

Consultant Comments

Tom Bandy

It is crucial to focus a “constitution” for the intended readership. If you are really serious about the mission statement, and wish to be a “postmodern” organization, then the constitution is aimed at the public and not at the church hierarchy. Therefore, you keep it simple, avoid ecclesiastical jargon, and provide the minimum accountability required to protect your charitable status (if that is important).

Every state (possibly municipality) has unique laws regarding taxation. You are not incorporating yourselves, but you may want to protect your tax status. Therefore, consult with state or local tax specialists to discover if there is any particular office (such as “trustee”) or any legal wording that must be included in your constitution. If you are seeking to incorporate (usually because you have some key signature ministry like a child day care center), then seek the advice of a corporate lawyer. Incorporate ONLY the ministry … not the church.

I have simply adjusted the original draft document, seeking to preserve the intent, but adding or deleting items as necessary. I do not assume that this is a complete or comprehensive document! I simply do not know enough about your congregation to go into any further detail. No doubt you will need to make changes, and may wish to add to the executive limitations. Remember: The more you add to the executive limitations, the more you tie the hands of your leaders to be rapidly responsive to emerging opportunities and needs.

Some specific concerns:

1) I have added a brief section on the role of the Congregational Meeting which was absent in the original draft. Your constitution implies that the clergy (pastoral team) are responsible for the “foundation of trust” in the congregation. That is a mistake, since staff will change. “Staffing” itself is a mere tactic. Therefore, the congregation as a whole must take ownership of the “foundation of trust”.

2) Your draft contains an implicit confusion between policy and management that I have only partly tried to correct (because I wanted to be loyal to your original intent). However, your intent is confused and will likely lead to friction or uncertainty in the future. Specifically, you have a “Steering Team” taking responsibility for annual budget development and financial monitoring. This separates the people who do ministry from the people who manage money for ministry, and will inevitably recreate hierarchy and control. Moreover, your Steering Team meetings will soon be taken over by management responsibilities, and they will not fulfill their real function for long range planning.

My recommendation is that you reconfigure your expectations, and give budget development to the “Elders”, and diversify fund raising and financial management to the Ministry Teams.

3) Strictly speaking, the “Deaconate” is simply another form of Ministry Team or Small Group. These “cells” are really all the same kind of thing. Your “Deaconate” is tied to what is essentially a “tactic” … namely a particular ritual expression of the Lord’s Supper … and you may well find that this restricts the creativity of your church to explore the fullness of sacramental theology. By refusing to make this Ministry Task “time limited”, you create a nexus of power and control that may well result in friction in the future.

4) Although I have kept Ministry Team and Small Group separate to honor your intent, in fact these are all one kind of thing. There will be endless variations between the two, so that in the end your separation of them in the constitution will become meaningless. Please refer to my book Christian Chaos where I discuss the “dance” among three basic forms of spiritual growth “partnerships”: discovery groups, destiny groups, mission teams.

In a sense, by fixing the structure of the church around Ministry Teams and Small Groups as you have done, you have ignored the third kind of group (“destiny groups”). Eventually, you will experience difficulty in crossing the boundary between “growth” and “ministry” because you have been too haphazard about developing a process to discern call. This means that you will still find it necessary to rely on old-style recruitment and nominations techniques to get anything done. This will be a major roadblock to accomplishing your dream of a truly servant empowering organizational model.

5) I have said in conversation that the original draft is not truly a servant empowering organization. It is “permission giving” … but that is the problem. In practice, your proposed model will function as (and be perceived by the public as being) a benevolent hierarchy. It will be “permission giving” … but that tacitly implies that it can be “permission withholding” if the Steering Team, Elders, Pastoral Team, or Deaconate get to anxious about a really creative idea.

This perception is reality tested by the fact that you have yet to invite really creative and innovative ideas in your church. So far, you are just discussing things like rearranging seating, using different forms of communion elements, and/or alternate styles of music and outreach. That has barely scratched the surface of the innovation you can expect from the postmodern public. Why don’t you experience more radical innovation? Because the public realizes that your organization is still not truly servant empowering.

6) One of two things that is not clearly articulated in your constitution (either in the text or in the appendix) is the “core process” of congregational life. My words in Kicking Habits are that the core process is that every day, in every way, people will experience being changed, gifted, called, equipped, and sent. You may well formulate it differently. However, it is this “core process” that is crucial to the organization of the church. In effect, the primary job of the Pastoral Team and Elders is to make sure that this “core process” is happening without a hitch.

7) The second thing that is not clearly articulated is the anticipation of a “signature ministry”. So far, only a vague reference to “worship” (perhaps The Lord’s Supper) suggests a signature ministry. A signature ministry is a cornerstone mission or ministry that is widely recognized among the general public and which communicates clearly the “foundation of trust” which is your mission, vision, values, beliefs. You may wish to give some prayerful consideration to what this will be … and then staff for it.

8) You will have noted that I have expanded the list of mission, vision, and values to include a fourth piece called “beliefs”. I think this is very important for all churches to do, in order to clearly mark them as different from philanthropic non-profit organizations. It is particularly important for you, since you seem very anxious about your position vis a vis the “universal church” rather preoccupied with traditional Christendom disputes over things like baptism and church membership.

9) Finally, I do want to affirm your notion to place a “guideline” appendix to the end of the constitution. This is NOT a “by law” sheet. It is what it is … guidelines or helps for people to develop small groups and ministry teams. In a sense, you are saying that “this is the best tactical advice the leaders of the church can give to you right now” … and since this is an appendix, you imply that as soon as better tactics become available, you will unhesitatingly shift to them.

I want to commend the church for its courage and foresight in seeking to move from a traditional bureaucracy to a truly team-based organizational model. Your intuition is exactly right. I hope that my comments will be helpful. I also hope that the revised draft I offer here will NOT be taken as a blueprint, but only as a model of the principles involved in a truly servant empowering organization.

Tom Bandy

tgbandy@



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