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The SP as CEO, CFO, CPO, COO . . . Governance for Non-Prophets - By David Berger
David Berger discusses policy-based congregational governence and the implications of viewing pastors as chief executives.
The SP as CEO, CFO, CPO, COO . . . .
(Governance for non-prophets)
• The Senior Pastor shall not subject the plant, grounds and equipment to improper wear and tear or insufficient maintenance.
• The Senior Pastor shall not make any purchases over $1000 without obtaining comparative prices and quality assessment.
• The Senior Pastor shall not invest or hold operating capital in insecure instruments, including uninsured checking accounts or any bonds at any time, or in non-interest bearing accounts except where [sic] necessary to facilitate ease in operational transactions.
• The Senior Pastor shall not allows the investment of any financial assets that deviates from the written Investment Policy.
Quite a list of commandments for the “chief executive,” isn’t it? This Senior Pastor is one busy fellow. Possibly he pastors a tiny flock and must double (or triple) as treasurer, head trustee, and groundskeeper. But then he wouldn’t be a “Senior” Pastor, would he? There are more commandments –– even more than 10 –– closer to 75.
• The Senior Pastor shall not, without justification, allow compensation that deviates materially from the geographic or professional market skills for the called or employed workers.
Could he be a second-career man with experience in corporate personnel positions?
• The Senior Pastor shall not cause or allow a financial budget which fails to include line items for the Governing Board to use for its own prerogatives.
At least one other entity in the congregation handles fiscal matters.
• The Executive Committee shall consistently advise the Senior Pastor of his performance, shall conduct the Senior Pastor’s annual performance appraisal and report to the Board when it has been completed seeking the Board’s reaction and approval.
• Based on performance appraisal process, the Executive Committee shall counsel the Senior Pastor and assist him in establishing a plan to enhance his performance.
Someone must keep an eye on that peripatetic SP who makes all the important financial and personnel decisions. (And don’t we all know at least one pastor who would benefit from performance enhancement?)
Had you concluded that the 8 sample commandments derive from the bylaws of a congregation comprised solely of lawyers and corporate executives, you would not be far from the mark. They are, in reality, excerpts from a model draft entitled “Policy Based Governance.” There’s much more, of course. Such documents are replete with verbiage, including limitless numbered sections and subsections: 2.12. b.; 4. 6. a. i.; and, yes, 1. 1. l. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. The concept of policy-based governance, championed by John Carver, among others, is nothing new to the business world. In recent years, however, it has slowly made inroads into the church, via a model intended for non-profit organizations, ostensibly to assist congregations in keeping focused on their mission and their “strategic goals” and, it would seem, to preclude any hint of spontaneous action or creativity in carrying out that mission.
When it comes to Senior Pastor Limitations (the first 6 samples above), the document really lays it on the line. As noted, depending on how one counts, the SPLs number ca. 75! It’s not just that the SP has Limitations (don’t we all?); if he violates one, he “shall give immediate notice [confess the sin?] to the Chair of the Board once a Senior Pastor Limitation has been recognized to have been exceeded.” (The faceless, passive verbosity of the document is not a healthy sign.) If the SP is careless and doesn’t watch his SPLs and worse comes to worst, “after repeated recurrences of exceeding Senior Pastor Limitations, the Chair will conduct: (1) a performance evaluation of the Senior Pastor and (2) a discussion with the full Board about the Senior Pastor’s performance.” Only reading the full list – “Exceeding Senior Pastor Limitation Policies” – can give one the full flavor. There are also, to be sure, policies and safeguards to protect the Senior Pastor, but “Limitations” are clearly in the forefront. By and large, it is as if great chunks from the policy manual of the board of directors of Procter and Gamble or General Motors were ingested whole and regurgitated with minimum digestive activity into a completely foreign context.
Most, if not all, LCMS congregations have a constitution and bylaws to assist in conducting the business of the congregation “decently and in order.” Such documents contain a variety of common-sense guidelines for efficient and effective organizational house-keeping. Policy Based Governance goes well beyond bylaws and lists of duties of boards and officers. Applied to lay officers and employed staff who conduct the business affairs of the congregation, a PBG model might be of some use (if one is able to plow through the voluminous verbiage before drowsiness leads to slumber – a subjective response, to be sure). Most troubling, however, in the case of the PBG drafts quoted from above (real models used by LCMS congregations) is the assumption that the Senior Pastor is the CEO, CFO, etc., of the congregation, with duties, responsibilities, and expectations heavily weighted to the business side of the operation, well outside the office of the ministry. One might consider that several LCMS pastors in the CEO mode in large congregations have, in recent decades, come to ruin in one manner or another. Even in disavowing the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy, we may observe that where there is smoke there is often fire. Living up to so many expectations can be a heavy burden to bear.
Defenders of PBG may claim that the method relates only to the smooth running of the organization, to clarifying lines of authority and responsibility, not to the nature of the ministry. The activities ascribed to the Senior Pastor in PBG, however, as well as the phraseology of many of the “Limitations” related to him, indicate otherwise. It is disconcerting, for example, that even such “Limitations” as “The Senior Pastor shall not fail to conduct and present to the Board an annual long-range outlook study” and “The Senior Pastor shall not develop a long-range outlook study that fails to consider the Strategic Focus” are stated in negative terms.
Let’s put the best construction on it and assume that the “Strategic Focus,” “Values,” “Mission,” “Vision,” and “Strategic Goals” of the congregation (customarily defined at the outset of a PBG manual) include the biblical understanding of the pastor and the congregation: feeding the flock with the Word, administering the Sacraments properly, taking every opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, doing works of Christian charity. Would not most (we would hope all) pastors find such a “Strategic Focus” a joyful prospect? Would not pastoral responsibilities be stated in a positive and affirmative way? The best that can be said of the negatively phrased “Senior Pastor Limitations” is that they relate only to responsibilities that lie well outside the office of the pastoral ministry. If the SP is required to be a CEO/CFO (etc.), however, how can he focus his energies on “making the main thing the main thing”?
As does any method or system of governance, PBG brings with it a philosophy and a goodly number of pre-suppositions pertaining to how an organization should govern itself and how personnel should relate to each other. No policy intended to govern human relationships is free of intrinsic underlying assumptions and a guiding philosophy. A model originally intended for the corporate business world, or even non-profit organizations, will not necessarily transfer well to a Lutheran congregation. For example, does the model of the corporate organization with its chain of executive command fit the congregation, i.e., every action, task, and person carefully and precisely delimited? Is the minister of the Gospel the CEO of the congregation? How do the “Limitations on the Senior Pastor” quoted above relate to biblical descriptions of a spiritual shepherd and his flock, and how likely are they to affect the average parishioner’s view of and relationship with his pastor?
In these latter days, we Lutherans are inclined to display a certain hubris in thinking that means and methods developed in the business world or by other church bodies can be, if necessary, stripped of their objectionable accouterments, i.e., “Lutheranized,” and practiced in pure and neutral ways in the parish. Unfortunately, means and ends are often inextricably interwoven. One may have to dig a bit, but the embedded assumptions are always there, affecting not only means but also ends. If the pastor is to be a shepherd, a source of spiritual sustenance to his people via Word and Sacrament, a conveyor of spiritual comfort in times of trouble or illness or death, the perception (one might say burden) that he carries with him as the CEO of the congregation surely cannot enhance these central roles. When on Monday the pastor fires a staff member and on Friday must minister to that staff member’s mother in the hospital, one can only wonder how he effects the metamorphosis from employer to shepherd. When the pastor spends his spiritual capital making decisions about money, property, and other church business, he will find that he has traded in his pastoral role as a caretaker of souls for a mess of corporate pottage.
If someone –– an outside consultant, say, or even an officer of the congregation –– proposes that Policy Based Governance be adopted as the polity of your congregation, read the literature. Become knowledgeable about the methods and philosophy of PBG. Examine the details carefully. Ask the hard questions, especially as they relate to the work and office of the pastor. Does the method enhance or detract from the office of the ministry and the relationship of pastor and parishioner? Does the proposed model turn the shepherd of the flock into an executive –– the leader of the corporation? Can a pastor who is ultimately responsible for financial and personnel decisions in the congregation relate effectively as pastor to parishioners in spiritual matters? The occasion might even offer an opportunity for the congregation to search the Scriptures regarding the nature of the pastoral office.
The Eleventh Commandment: When the temptation arises to apply the “wisdom” of the world to the work of the congregation, follow the Word, not the world.
Written By: host
Date Posted: 1/10/2007
Number of Views: 1502
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