Aubrey Malphurs - Leading Leaders: Empowering Church Boards for Ministry Excellence

Books by Aubrey Malphurs

Being Leaders

Building Leaders (coauthor)

Developing a Vision for Ministry in the 21st Century, 2d ed.

Maximizing Your Effectiveness

Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century, 3d ed.

Pouring New Wine into Old Wineskins

Vision America

Ministry Nuts and Bolts

Strategy 2000

Values-Driven Leadership, 2d ed.

Developing a Dynamic Mission for Your Ministry

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Advanced Strategic Planning

The Dynamics of Church Leadership

Doing Church

Next Church (coauthor)

A Contemporary Handbook for Weddings and Funerals andOther Occasions (coauthor)

2005 by Aubrey Malphurs

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-0073-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

CONTENTS

T here arent many books on board leadership from a Christian perspective. I know of few. However, leaders and researchers have written a number of books and articles on governance boards from a corporate or business perspective. What does this tell us? Does the business world know something that we dont? Does it recognize the importance of good board governance to the life and productivity of a company more than Christians realize this need for the church? Those of us who have spent time on a church or parachurch board may wonder at such questions, and some of us might snicker a bit. But perhaps this is more a comment on the failure of Christian boards to function well than it is on their importance to ministry and leadership.

As we shall see, usually it is boards, rather than pastors, that lead churches. And if we believe along with Bill Hybels that the church is the hope of the world, and leadership is the hope of the church, then what are we doing to improve leadership at the board level? If the condition of our churches early in the twenty-first century is an indication, the answer is very little.

In North America and Europe we live in what now is generally acknowledged to be a post Judeo-Christian world that is drinking deeply from the fountain of postmodernism. There has been a growing attempt to train new pastors better and retool the veterans to face this challenge. However, little if any attention has been given to those who are actually leading the majority of churches in North America and Europethe governance boards, which may be called elder boards, deacon boards, trustee boards, and so on. If were to make a difference in this new century and if God is going to use us to turn things around in the next ten to twenty years, we must train leadership at the board level.

This book is an early step in that direction. As a consultant and trainer, Ive spent much time with pastors, churches, and denominations, helping them plan and think strategically and then to incorporate leadership development into their ministry. In practically every situation its been evident that the board in concert with the pastor is the key to what happens to the church. Ive said on numerous occasions, As the lead pastor goes, so goes the church, and thats true. However, another statement is also true: As board leadership goes, so goes the church.

Leading Leaders presents a new paradigm for board leadership. Ive discovered that theres a much better way for boards to operate than has been the case traditionally, and it doesnt depend on the size of the church. The information here applies to churches of every sizewhether small or a megachurch.

Some of the ideas in this book are based on the excellent work of John Carver in his two books Boards That Make a Difference and ReinventingYour Board, but, most important, this book is based on Scripture. In the chapters that follow I cite many portions of Scripture to support the new paradigm I recommend.

Carvers books promote the policies approach to board governanceIll say more about this approach later. Carver writes for and works primarily with nonprofit and public organizations not churches. However, Ive had a number of boards comment on the value of Carvers work, and they want help in implementing his policies approach in their churches.

This raises the question of whether its okay for Christians to use ideas developed by those who are not necessarily Christians. My response to this is that it depends. Even non-Christians often stumble on truth. God hasnt revealed himself only to Christians in the Scriptures (special revelation), but because of his common grace, hes revealed himself to non-Christians through general revelation. The entire Bible is true, but not all of Gods truth is found in the Bible. (If it were, it would be a huge book, too large to carry around.) Some truth is found in Gods creation. Thats why unbelievers are without excuse (Psalm 19). Thus I believe that were wise to research and study what non-Christians have discovered from Gods general revelation. But we must do this by running the information through a biblical, theological grid to make sure that it is actually Gods revelation and doesnt contradict Scripture in any way.

Church board leadership is deeply theological and must be approached from a biblical as well as a practical perspective. I want you to feel confident about applying what you will read in this book, because it is theologically sound. I recall one governance board of a large church that interviewed me as a possible leadership trainer. They were most interested in Carver and his practical approach but felt they could supply the theological dimension on their own without my help. I hope they did, but I fear that they (like so many others) are so thirsty for the practical that they forget the importance of the theological.

Leading Leaders is my third book in a trilogy on leadership. The first, Being Leaders, defines biblical leadership. The second, Building Leaders (coauthored with Will Mancini), addresses the development of leaders at every level of the ministry.[] Leading Leaders is for those who actually lead most churcheschurch boards. The twelve chapters and fourteen appendices of this book say that Im trying desperately to balance the theoretical with the practical. I want you to apply to your board what you absorb from these twelve chapters. And the appendices of this book are as instructive and helpful as the chapters, so be sure to read them when I refer you to them and as you develop your own board policies.

The questions at the end of the chapters will help you reflect on and discuss the content. I suggest that you read this book along with your governing board and that you use these questions for board discussion.

My deepest appreciation goes to the following fellow board members of my church (Lake Pointe Church), who contributed in so many ways to the writing of this book: Scott Edwards, Ken Hickman, Garen Horton, Steve Stroope, Robert Terry, Bob Walker, Jeff Watters, Dave Williams, and Sandra Stanley.