Foundations of Church Administration

Foundations of Church Administration provides insight and perspective on the various facets of church administration. Covering a wide array of topics such as budgeting, mentoring, and conflict resolution among many other considerations, the book attempts to provide pastors heading into positions of church leadership with tools and resources that will help develop and structure the administrative aspects of church leadership. We will summarize some of the more helpful aspects of the book beginning with the authors concern with Scripture.

            Many of opinions I have heard or the books that I have read regarding administration and Christianity have been significantly unconcerned with what the witness of Scripture has to say about the issue. This is not the case with this book. Rather, I almost found the constant interjection of Scripture to be borderline distracting. That being said, it is refreshing to see a book that takes Scripture seriously in this area of concern. It also seems as though the authors want to find Scriptural grounds of support on matters that they have already deemed to be 'effective' or at least sufficient. The simple reality that many of the chapters are at some level trying to make a case for the reorienting of church administration from a business perspective tells me that they think church should be operating as a business. I do not think I agree with this. Even if they are trying to provide a structure for the church through which the mission of the church is achievable, it simply does not sit right with me. However, the authors certainly do seem to be concerned with providing an administrative framework that is concerned with listening honestly to Scripture.

            The chapter that I found was most interesting and helpful was the chapter regarding organizational behaviours. This is the area I am most interested in and feel least confident with. I want to understand the various aspects of any given church structure so that I can best understand how to appropriate my abilities and serve the church as a whole. I do not think that the pastor is the sole or even the primary leader in the church at least not in the areas of governance and institutional direction. I see the pastor as operating as more of a theological voice that is speaking into the various situations of leadership. building projects, budgets, and programs are not of primary interest to me, certainly not as much as the proper trajectory of the church as a whole.

            The authors also seem to be interested in providing a perspective of leadership that is specific to larger churches. Much of the principles and suggestions that the authors provide are geared toward administrative tendencies that I cannot imagine would work in my church. Even though questions especially concerned with staffing were a little bit out of my experience, the chapters concerned with goal setting and staffing are particularly interesting to me. Perhaps I simply do not understand the intricacies of church administration, even after reading this book, but I have a difficult time understanding how some of these principles apply to our Canadian setting. I think that some of this information is good however, I simply feel as though it would be better to read this book within the context of doing administration. Many of the principles I agree with but have no context in which to understand them. I cannot see how some of them pan out in practicality.

The book is a little bit difficult to summarize because of the wide array of topics covered and the sporadic organization of the chapters. It is possible that because I am simply not geared towards any type of financial competency that I simply do not understand the ordering of the book. That being said, I think it ironic that a book intending to address concerns surrounding administrative structures is presented in a semi-chaotic fashion. There are chapters concerning financial issues eleven chapters apart as well as chapters with an unnecessary amount of sub-titles.

            While this book clearly has something to say for Scriptural direction, I feel as though many of the areas addressed in the book are matters already known to me, or is content best suited for someone already in these positions of leadership. All in all, I feel as though this book could be helpful, just not at this point in my education. 

Petersen, Bruce L., Edward A. Thomas, and Bob Whitesel, eds. Foundations of Church Administration: Professional Tools for Church Leadership. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2010.