Should the pastor also be an elder? Should elders approve all decisions? What is the function of a board of elders? Some might say that the function of the elders is to care for the spiritual needs of the congregation. Does this mean that the elders should not make decisions about the physical facilities of the church? I don’t think so, because the physical environment affects the spiritual environment. All of these are questions about structure and they all lead to a larger question: “Has God mandated a specific, clearly-defined, unchanging, and universal structure for His church? Many Christians believe that He has.

I want to question this belief. The source of my questioning is two-fold. First, I don’t see the support for it in the Bible. Second, such an idea conflicts with my understanding of the purpose and nature of organizational structure. Structure should not be rigid and unchanging, but rather it should be one of the most flexible aspects of organizational design.

I believe the first-century church was able to function as a kind of self-organizing chaos because the early Christians truly believed that Jesus Christ was directly and literally present in their midst and the He exercised the role of Chief Executive Officer for the decision-making process of early Christian leaders. One of the most intriguing things I find in this discussion is the similarity between the New Testament church and recent theories of organizational structure that emphasize removing hierarchical barriers and that see structure more as a process of emergent adaptation.

I believe that structure should be the most flexible aspect of an organization. Structure needs to be dominated by and bend to the will of strategy. Structure is an instrument or means for achieving the strategy; it is a servant of strategy.

I recognize, however, that this is rarely true in practice. People are more likely to fight for their sacred structures to such an extent that they end up forgetting the original core values that created that structure in a time and place that it truly functioned to serve the strategy. A church that gives preeminence to structure will always be heavy in management and very light in leadership because leadership has to do with change. Such a church is in danger of becoming irrelevant.

What we need to realize is that the alternative to change is obsolescence and that is far more painful than change. The question is how to manage change while at the same time protecting our core values and strategic focus. The bottom line is that we need to get back to our roots, the roots of the Great Commission to cross cultural and societal barriers as we seek to help people connect up with God through His Son Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. All structural concerns should bend to the service of this end (Read more…)

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