The Impact Of Democratic Management On A Church Ministry

The issue of church politics is on the rise and one might ask how can such a thing as church politics exist? The author here answers by saying, “the entire biblical record dignifies group leadership and calls God’s blessing upon it, those chosen to rule the church were believed to be God’s own choices. Church politics stands on the belief that the divine spirit is active among believers and the obedient disciple seeks to know the divine will, and that God honors the covenant with his people, (p. 154)” The author further states that “the benchmarks of an appropriate church politics and the explanation for the exercise of authority are the justice that comprehends and deals restoratively with human frailty and the love that always recalls the church to its reason for existing, (p. 159).” One of the gifts of the church is authority, and the ethics of the church’s professional leader is grounded in the gift of Christ and I agree that the conduct of a minister is substantially inclined by the form of the church in each time and

Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.

Satterlee, A. (2013). Organizational management and leadership: A Christian perspective. (2nd ed.) Roanoke, VA: Synergeistics Publishing.

Based on my analysis, I explain that AMC leaders who happen to be Christian leaders should understand what is leadership before getting into overarching goals from a Christian perspective and how should they should be handled properly. AMC leaders should explore the Christian principles by laying a strategic plan that is easy to understand and use it effortlessly and efficiently. However, when a leader keeps his maintenance of Christian’s core values and beliefs, he should be comprehensive and concise on where he leads his followers in his organization. “In regard to maintaining core values and beliefs, a common theme was that focusing on what you believe to be the ‘right thing to do’ gives a sense of personal integrity, self-worth, and even accomplishment—no matter what the final outcome” (Shaw, 2012, pg.59). Therefore, from a Christian perspective, a leader should seek and serve God and those he shows the way strategically in his organization.

According to Eugene Peterson, the managerial mode is when the pastor sees potential in some of the congregants to help build the kingdom of God through their talents. The church is in need of talented and gifted leaders. The pastor looks for how individual people can contribute to growing the church. (180) Furthermore Peterson states the messianic mode is when the pastor senses a congregant is hurt or struggling with an issue, and he has a compassionate desire to provide a solution. (178) Whereas, the spiritual mode is what the pastor is called to do in the ministry. The pastor takes on both methods of the messianic and managerial depending on the situation of the person or church. (178) A spiritual director is one lead by the Holy Spirit and not their ability. He listens to the voice of God concerning the person walk in Christ and points out any illegal activities and help them understand their faith walk. In other words, the spiritual director watches over the soul of the congregants.

In Chapter 13, the authors confer that the in order to understand the leadership traits you possess you have to see yourself as the system, you have to learn the many facets of who you are and the environment that created your logic and behavior . Once you have accomplished this feat, you will have a better ability to properly assess whether or not your skill set will positively or negatively impact the success of your organization 's. I think this is very important for church leaders especially Pastors. Quite often in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, we find that many pastors are ill-equipped to serve in a leadership capacity. Why? Well because quite frankly not every pastor possesses the same exact skill sets. Some of these skills can be taught and duplicated while others cannot. Senior Church leadership should look to individually match up and assess each church and their needs with the right leader and system. Pastors would be best served in keeping their eyes on the ball while developing a fuller understanding of their own skill sets and abilities and in that same vein also their own limitations.

The author has clearly demonstrated his objectives set out in the introduction, and has provided examples for leadership that are able to be implemented in all business applications and not merely the church only. This work is to be commended for anyone interested in not only what makes leaders great; but as well, how they arrived at the summit and are able to remain there. Two things are clear from a complete reading of this book:

The democratic style of the organization’s leadership mirrors my personal leadership style. I am a true believer of inclusion constantly seeking out input of others during the decision making process. At the end, the final decision rests on the shoulders of the leader. Utilizing all three styles of leadership is essential which is dependent

We do our best and most excellent work, and then offer it to him to go beyond our work and to change a child’s heart to have faith, to restore parents back into unity, and to bring peace to homes filled with strife. A great leader is a dependent leader.

It seems that many have the idea that leadership is all about authority and power. This is seen both inside the church and outside as well, at least that has been this writer’s personal experience. The statement reiterated by Sampson (2011) drove home a major point and that is that leadership is more than simply demanding, commanding, or directing individuals under one’s control or authority, it has to do with one’s ability to influence others even when no apparent authority is present.

As a Christian the best leadership structure for the body of believers we have was given to use by Jesus Christ. He taught us how to love (God with all our heart) and who to love (thy neighbor), which results in us being better leaders. Naturally, each church reads the same scripture but interprets it differently and has a different leadership style as a result of that. Three church’s constitutions in particular will be the subject of discussion. I will compare and contrast the leadership structures of the three, list positives and negatives, interpret what I see the preferred church leadership structure and interpret what the constitution reveals about each church.

Aubrey Malphurs takes the definition of leadership and turns it up another notch. Leaders just don’t have influence over the people they lead. They use their influence “to influence people in a particular context to pursue their God-given direction”.[1] In other words, it is the church leadership’s job to help the people they lead to see God and His work in their lives, to understand their purpose,

Our church structure reflects a modified version of the Staff Based Leadership Model (Whitaker and Jones, 2002); we have a Pastor and an Executive Team. Our church, however, is autonomous and does not function under any higher governing body.

Leadership starts at the top, and the top is not the man, but the faith in God that flows out of him. There is, different types of leadership and many ways to display this quality. God is our ultimate leader, and He revealed ways on how to be an effective leader in the church, in the house and in life. Therefore, the focus of this paper will be the Pastor epistles and the type of leadership model that they share and put forth. Now, effective ways of leadership may manifest differently in each individual. God made us all unique and gave each of us a specific talent or gift. Therefore, this class has made me investigate and look at myself more in depth and see what type of leadership model I would follow, and feel is the best model.

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four