Week 3 Parliamentary Law

Here are my thoughts on how to develop a new system of decision making within the local church.  It may be somewhat rough and there are some flaws but I think it could work. 

1.  Every year have the local church board go through a meeting on the vision and mission of the church.  Then give them the option of placing their name in a bid to be selected to be on the administrative team.  

2.  Draw four names from the board members who have allowed their names to be entered.  These four team members will then meet with the elected chairperson to make the decisions that are presented to them by the board. 

3.  The board will hold an open forum to discuss the range of topics that my be at hand.  This allows for everyone to have their voice heard.  All matters that need addressed can be presented at this forum.

4.  The board will then hold its own discussion on all of the items that were brought to its attention during the forum.  They will discuss matters that will be voted on.  

5.  The smaller group of four members will then take the items that they have been presented with and will vote on them.  The smaller number of voters should ensure that some decisions will be made.  

Three Flaws 

1.  I'm not sure if I like drawing names out of a hat for this selection process.  I would much rather pick the people I think are able to do the job but thats too biased.  

2.  I think the open forum to discuss items would then be a bloodbath.  Everyone who does not have the ability to vote on the matter would come out in force to rally for their item to be passed.  Not a good idea. 

3.  It may still be hard for items to be passed.  With a random system of voters people who have differing views may still get on the administrative voting team together. 

Parliamentary Law

I think the best thing any group can do is take it to God. As Derek said for his number 1, I say to spend more time in prayer.
I feel that it is paramount for the church to have a fair vote and for each voice to be heard. Although I feel it is just as important for the pastor to be fully behind each decision made. I think that the pastor, the chair, should have the say-all in this situation.
The elders of the church, the people who know the needs of the church the most, should be the one's discussing the full extent of each motion and problem with the issue.
It is paramount to understand what is best for the church as a whole. Even though it is important for the Pastor to be behind the decision 100%...it needs to benefit the church 100%.

Three Problems I see with this method:
No matter the issue there is going to be someone somewhere who may disagree with the outcome. We need to inforce the fact that the decision was made for the better of the church.
Anyway you go someone is not going to agree. Therefore each decision needs to be prayer-filled and lead by the Spirit.
The outcome of the vote should be presented to the entire church. It drives me insane when people find things out about the direction of the church through hear-say. It needs to be given to the body from the front of the church.

Week Three Essay Parliamentary Law

Week Three Essay

Parliamentary Law

List of how I would adapt parliamentary law:

1. Spend more time in prayer and meditation as a group

2. Make everything that it is voted on have to have a unanimous vote to pass

3. Have a smaller group of people make the decisions

    - Only people that are holy

4. Only allow the elders to speak

5. Let the Chair person make the decision without anyone else voting

6. Only the elders could make a motion

7. Try to pass things that would make everyone happy

8. Look at what is best for the Church, not yourself

9. All members must have an open mind and not have decided something before the meeting

10. Make compromises sp that everyone "wins"

 

Three Problems I see with this method:

    One of the problems I see for the method listed above is that it would not give everyone a fair opportunity. Only elders could speak or make proposals and that leads to a hierarchy within the Church where people are not equal.

    Another problem that I see is there is no way to make this so that there is no winning and no losing. No matter what people are going to have their own preferences and ideas, even if they spend days in prayer and meditation then they still could not agree.

    A third problem I see with this is that no attempt to make people happy will make people 100% of the time. There is always going to be someone who is upset and there is nothing you can do about it. I don't there is a way to make it that there are no winners or no losers.

Week 3 Board Meeting

1.  The River Community Church met for an Advisory Team Meeting on January 12th 2009 and met for 2 Hours.

2.  As I sat and watched the board work through the church budget as well as some other issues facing the church I realized that there were no major decisions made during this meeting.  The church was working through some major issues with their budget since they are only a year old.  The church estimated the spending that would happen for certain areas of the budget and they were off by a good amount.  It was clear that some of the members of the board were very adamant about sticking to the budget, whereas others recognized that it was the first budget the church was working with and therefore it would have some mistakes.  The discussion on the budget took about an hour to work through.  We then transitioned into discussion on the possibility of a new location for the church.  Again, no major decisions were made but organized discussion took place concerning the issue.  Pastor Matthew would present possible alternatives to the current location and the members of the board would then discuss whether or not they believed it to be a good decision.  The board members would also present their own opinions as to the spending that would need to take place for the church to move locations.  After it seemed that everyone had the opportunity to express their feelings, Pastor Matthew talked about the vision and future of the church and how at times things won't make sense but God may be calling us to take a leap of faith.  

3.  As I sat in on this meeting I realize that at times the person with the loudest voice really led the meeting.  This is something I have recognized in my leadership courses and it proves true for the local church as well.  I am glad however that the members of the board were very conversational and civil regarding their opinions.  I honestly would like to return to another board meeting where more decisions are being made so that I could see the process that takes place.  I learned a lot about finances through the conversation that took place since that was the major topic discussed.  

Week Three Administrative Work

Week Three

 

Administrative Work

 

Since the Church I attend is not going to have a board meeting until later in February I could not attend a board meeting by this week so I moved ahead to week four in the syllabus and interview Pastor Klotz about the administrative work that he does.

 

I interviewed Pastor John Klotz of New Life Community Church on January 19^th to talk to him about the administrative work that he does.

 

Here is the list of Administrative work that Pastor Klotz does on a weekly basis:

1. On Mondays totaling the attendance of Sunday school, Church, nursery and Children's Church so they can have a count of how many people were there Sunday

2. Meeting with the secretary to go over the tithes and offerings from Church

3. Meeting with the various ministry team leaders

4. The Church has a day care so he sometimes does work with them and the parents of the daycare

5. Take phones calls of people that call in

6. Make phone calls for supplies or other needed calls

7. Trying to get volunteers involved in the different ministries

8. Answering the questions that people have

9. Meeting with people if they stop into the Church

10. Setting up the chairs in the sanctuary or taking them down depending on what events are coming up

11. Doing different service things around the Church that need to be done such as changing light bulbs

 

 

The observations that I made from the meeting with Pastor Klotz and the list that he gave me is that he does not have a whole lot of administrative type work. New Life Community Church does have a full time secretary and I was thinking that might explain the reason why pastor Klotz does not have a lot of administrative work. Pastor Klotz seemed to think that he had a lot of administration duties and that he was often annoyed by them but I thought that he had it rather easy.

Ministerial Ethics Review

While I was reading the article I started to get a little upset at the idea of playing with numbers or doing shady business in the church.  I know that some of the options presented by Coach that I really would take offense to, are decisions made by pastors in the local church all the time without a hint of hesitation.  Maybe I'm wrong, but as a leader in the church I want to keep myself above reproach.  I want to set the standard.  

In those situations it is so easy to toy with the idea of taking the easy route or gaining personally from our dealings.  Its funny, but even though these are just possible scenarios I had a hard time choosing answers.  I got a little upset with myself about that because I know how I want my ministry to look, but I also know how hard it might be to do everything by the books.  Thankfully I have mentors and accountability partners in my life who can assist me in saving my integrity.  Former Pastors and church treasurers are some very close family members and so I will have people around me who know the ins and outs of church finances and who can ask the tough questions.  

I guess the sooner I begin to recognize the challenges that I will face concerning my integrity in ministry, the more I can prepare myself to make the decisions that may have been able to sneak away with.  Strength grows over time too.  I believe that as I continue to face these situations and have victory over them, the easier it will become to say no to temptation concerning finances.  I want to be an example of integrity and set the standard for the members of my congregation.  I don't want to benefit from the church but I want the church to benefit from my actions.  

Week Two Essay

Response to Drury Article: What Evangelicals Believe About Tithing

 

    I thought that this article by Drury raised many good points about how "Church people" feel about tithing. I was also surprised about some of the statistics that Drury mentioned in the article such as if everyone in a congregation tithed 10% then most Church's income would at least double if not triple or quadruple. The first thing that this tells me is that the evangelical Church has a problem when it comes to tithing. I think that this problem with tithing could stem from the greed of the people of the Church or from pastors and Churches doing a poor job teaching, preaching and challenging members of the congregation to tithe. It is probably a little bit of both.

    The second paragraph of this article I found particularly interesting. The idea that most evangelicals think that tithing is not Biblical is foreign to me. I thought that Drury made a interesting point how many evangelicals view tithing much like the Sabbath command and if they set apart part of the Sabbath day then they are okay. I think Drury might be right that many evangelicals view tithing that same way and think that if they give something then they are okay.

    The third paragraph of this article made me angry about how many evangelicals view what the Church is and how they justify their giving to the Church by giving to a kayak trip. The last sentence of that paragraph makes the point that many evangelicals have wandered off from ecclesiology orthodoxy. I think that this is a huge problem in the Church and something that needs to be addressed so that people do not continue to justify giving to "the Church" when they are in fact not giving to the Church at all. I think that it is important and necessary for the people of the Church to give 10% to the local Church. I also think that the people of the Church need to give their tithe without concern if their tithe is going to pay the electric bill, pastor's salary, or to the children's ministry. As long as the money is being used as it should within the Church people should be worrying about what their tithe is specifically being used for, it is all going to help the Church and to support the ministries and people of that Church.

    I think that it would be good to thank the people of the Church that give tithes and/or offerings to the Church. But there are some problems with this. First of all there are few pastors that know what the people of the Church are tithing and giving. How can the pastor be expected to write thank you letters to everyone in the Church if they do not know what is being given? If it is a larger Church, even if there were 100 regular givers in your Church that is a lot of writing, time and energy into writing individual think you letters every year. I see no problem with sending out a photocopied thank you letter from the Church instead of a hand written letter to each giver in the Church.

    I believe that tithing should be done by all in the Church who have jobs and receive income. Ten percent should be given to the local Church and then anything else given to other ministries or organizations. In Luke 11:42 Jesus tells that Pharisees "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone." I know that Jesus is not coming out and saying specifically to give a tenth of everything you earn to God in this passage, but he is instructing the Pharisees that they are right in giving a tenth to God. I understand that there are hard times that people go through and they need to make the decision with much prayer and meditation if they can give their tithe or not. But I believe that tithing should be done at all times, even if that means taking a leap of faith.

Making a Budget

I interviewed Pastor Jared Kidwell on Saturday about making a budget.
1. look at the previous year and decide which needs adjusted, more or less
2. figure the amount of last year's giving and compare that to the attendance whether you can expect more giving or less giving in the upcoming year.
3. find out the amount given for the budget this year.
4. make appropriate adjustments...from #1
5. Present the budget
6. Make necessary changes

Week 2 Making a Budget

Week Two

Making a Budget

I am doing my practicum at New Life Community Church (NLCC) in Noblesville, IN. The lead Pastor at NLCC is John Klotz. I had a meeting with him on January 19, 2009 at 10:30 A.M. to talk about how NLCC makes their budget. This is only the second year that Pastor Klotz has been at NLCC and he has only been there to help make one of the Church's budgets.

Here is the process that Pastor Klotz told me he used to make the budget.

1. Look at last year's giving – there are records of this

2. Look at the last year's budget – find and look at last year's budget

3. Try to figure out what you expect to bring in this for this year's budget

    - There is a lot of guessing and estimating here…based off of last year's giving

4. Find out if there are any big changes you expect in giving

    - Have any families moved away?

    - Are there new families in the Church?

5. Look at the spending trends of different ministries from the past year

6. Determine if any part of the Church needs less or more funds based on spending trends

7. Get together with the treasurer and have them also do steps 1-6 and then use the two budgets to come to one final rough draft

8. Meet with the other leaders of the Church to discuss the budget and have them ask questions or propose changes

- Make any necessary changes or corrections during this time

9. Present the budget at the annual business meeting in November

10. Have a time for people to ask more questions and propose other changes

11. Make any necessary corrections or changes

12. Take a vote at the annual business meeting in November to approve the budget

Week 1: Kinds of Leadership

What Is Leadership?
Leadership is a process of getting things done through people. The quarterback moves the team toward a touchdown. The senior patrol leader guides the troop to a high rating at the camporee. The mayor gets the people to support new policies to make the city better.
These leaders are getting things done by working through people -- football players, Scouts, and ordinary citizens. They have used the process of leadership to reach certain goals.
Leadership is not a science. So being a leader is an adventure because you can never be sure whether you will reach your goal -- at least this time. The touchdown drive may end in a fumble. The troop may have a bad weekend during the camporee. Or the city's citizens may not be convinced that the mayor's policies are right. So these leaders have to try again, using other methods. But they still use the same process the process of good leadership.
Leadership means responsibility. It's adventure and often fun, but it always means responsibility. The leader is the guy the others look to to get the job done. So don't think your job as a troop leader or a staff member will be just an honor. It's more than that. It means that the other Scouts expect you to take the responsibility of getting the job done. If you lead, they will do the job. If you don't, they may expect you to do the job all by yourself.
That's why it's important that you begin right now to learn what leadership is all about.
Wear your badge of office proudly. It does not automatically make you a good leader. But it identifies you as a Scout who others want to follow -- if you'll let them by showing leadership.
You are not a finished leader. No one ever is, not even a president or prime minister. But you are an explorer of the human mind because now you are going to try to learn how to get things done through people. This is one of the keys to leadership.
You are searching for the secrets of leadership. Many of them lie locked inside you. As you discover them and practice them, you will join a special group of people-skilled leaders.
Good exploring -- both in this handbook and with the groups you will have a chance to lead.
Leadership in the Bible:
2 Timothy 4:5Hebrews 13:171 Peter 5:2Hebrews 10:25Jeremiah 3:152 Corinthians 12:20Psalm 33:31 Peter 5:31 Corinthians 14:331 Timothy 5:171 Timothy 4:12Galatians 6:1

Week 1: Church Budget

LaFontaine Christian Church
Pastor Jared
50% on ministers and staff
20% on Facilities
25% on Programs
5% on Denomination support and missions

the beginning

This is our first post as a group. First of all, welcome to all! Secondly, who and where are you guys doing your practicums? My pastor is Jared Kidwell at LaFountaine Christian Church. I feel that it will be an interesting time just because it is a very small church and I am not used to the small church atmosphere so I am excited to see what God has in store for me this semester!