(Re)Thinking Church Administration

I've been catching up on some articles from past issues of The Christian Century recently. I came across an interesting piece on church administration by the former president of Union Theological Seminary in New York; he encourages pastors and congregations to view administration as part of their essential ministries.

Louis Weeks writes:

The fact that effective leaders and healthy congregations usually go together is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that pastors and laypeople often dismiss the very work that keeps them vital: the myriad of mostly invisible jobs that constitute administration. How meetings are run, how new leaders are apprenticed, how the books are kept, how communication is structured, how events and programs are implemented and evaluated -- all of this is crucial to congregational life, but rarely understood as ministry. (from "God is in the details" by Louis B. Weeks, The Christian Century, vol. 126, no. 2, p. 10)

This is an interesting insight, I think. So often, churches are quietly (or not so quietly) criticized for their bureaucracy. Even most Christians believe that 'bureaucracy'-- the impolitic equivalent of administration -- is something that the church should be embarrassed about. Administration is what distracts us from our true ministry. It's about pushing paper, instead of prayer or pastoral care. We'd rather not think about it.

But administration encompasses much of the church's ministry. Administration doesn't offer prayers, but it does share prayer requests. It doesn't preach, but it can allow people opportunities to prepare for sermons by studying upcoming scripture lessons -- or it can allow people to revisit sermons after worship services. Administration doesn't save souls, but ensuring that we share information with visitors, have an updated website, communicate with the press,etc. can let people know how seriously we take our faith, and what the faith is exactly that we're taking seriously.

Administration is not everyone's gift. But it needs to be one of the congregation's gifts. It's not all that our faith is about, but it will help us share our faith with others. It will help us to discern where we're going as a congregation. It will help us mentor our newer leaders more effectively, not to stifle the work of the Holy Spirit, but to create an environment where the Holy Spirit can flourish in their leadership. It's something to think about, as we prepare to enter the New Year.