From Sampler to Sower

I’ve been watching the developing situation in Libya with considerable interest. That’s why this tweet from  @cnnbrk caught my attention:

#Libya coalition command role undecided, U.S. officials say. http://on.cnn.com/g4OwMc

The link takes you to CNN’s Libya Live Blog, and refers to this particular report:

Coalition members were still working out Monday how the ongoing of maintaining the no-fly zone over Libya would be commanded, U.S. officials said.

Now, I’m no great military mind, but something tells me this could be a bit of a problem.  Bad things happen when no one’s in charge.  Even when united by a single mission (like making sure the crackpot in charge of Tripoli doesn’t use his air force to kill his civilian population for having the audacity to yearn for freedom) competing notions of how to accomplish that mission can create stress, distractions and even disaster.

That potential for failure is can easily be compounded by complicating factors such as:

• the absence of a clear leader to arbitrate between conflicting visions
• the presence of overlaps in responsibility, such that multiple leaders have a legitimate say in influencing the vision
• confusion about just what responsibilities lie with which leader

And that has me thinking about the church…

Chances are your church’s organization chart isn’t quite as clear as the one pictured above.  Most likely there are either more overlapping lines than the example above, or there are some important responsibilities that haven’t been drawn onto the chart just yet.

And that is just as it should be.

The church isn’t a corporate structure… At least when you use the word “corporate” in the sense of that which is related to the operations of a big business.  We don’t (or at least shouldn’t) operate solely on a leadership structured after the for-profit world around us.

The church is a corporate structure… At least when you use the word “corporate” to refer to a group of individuals united together to become one body.  There aren’t always clear lines of responsibility because the profound interconnectedness of the church (as designed and created by God himself) tends to make things a bit messy.  And that is just as it should be.

However, in order to operate efficiently and effectively there should be some careful consideration given to who is trusted to lead different ministries of the church as together we follow the lead of Jesus Christ.  The need for this sort of organizational clarity is multiplied in cases of ministry overlap.

For example:

• Who chooses what curriculum to use in children’s Sunday School classes, the children’s director or the Sunday School/Small Groups director?
• Who decides what hours the coffee shop in the foyer will be open, the coffee shop manager or the buildings and grounds committee?
• Who recruits the choir director for the teen choir, the youth pastor or the worship arts minister?

Ideally, such decisions are made by the leadership team as a whole, but who has the final say if there is no consensus?  Clear job descriptions and organizational foresight can fend off ministry tension in such circumstances.

If you’re a part of your church’s leadership team, have you worked through division of responsibilities, especially in areas of ministry overlap?

Or are you a coalition without a commander?