When a Minister Can't Manage

Ways for church leaders to respond.

A seminary degree is not an MBA.

There are no accounting classes in seminary. Most ministers don’t dream about the process of hiring people or look forward to the annual performance reviews.

Policies and procedures often elicit a gag reflex, and the budgeting process is loathsome. In fact, many ministers on church staffs view all these management duties as interferences to what they really want to do, which is make disciples through the local church.

Yet, in many churches, ministers end up becoming managers. They don’t view or describe themselves this way, and often won’t even admit to being one (if anything they prefer “leaders” but I’m talking about a different role than leader). But in churches with multiple ministers on staff, usually their managers are also card-carrying Ministers of the Gospel.

So how does a church effectively manage itself when the majority of its managers aren’t trained for or are even averse to managing? Read More