5 Signs Bad Governance Is Stifling Your Church’s Growth and Mission
4. Your staff hates the board.
I realize hate is a strong word. But I’ve met enough church leaders who loathe their boards to know the problem goes both ways.
Sure. Look. I know you don’t have your ‘dream board’ yet.
You inherited a board when you stepped into leadership. We all did.
When I began in leadership, the three small churches had a total attendance of 45 people (adding all three together), but had 18 elders (I’m not making this up).
The average age of the eldership was about 70, and they had all presided over churches that had been stuck for decades. There were some great people on the board. And there were a few who were not ideally suited for leadership.
That could have been a recipe for disaster.
But why not see it as an opportunity instead?
You have to start cultivating a relationship with the people you have in leadership before you can work with the people you want in leadership.
If there are toxic board members, you can deal with that. And over time you can build a better board.
But if you hate your board after three years of leadership, it’s not your board’s fault, it’s yours.
You haven’t done the hard work of cultivating a relationship of trust or moving unhealthy board members off.
So get started. Be a great steward of who you have, not who you don’t have.
5. Your board focuses on complainers.
If your church board meetings usually begin with “So and so isn’t happy about X,” you have a problem.
Sometimes boards feel it’s their responsibility to speak up for people who don’t have a voice.
That might be true for widows and orphans. It’s not true for the cranky church member who is opposed to everything.
As my friend Reggie Joiner says, great churches focus on who they’re trying to reach, not who they’re trying to keep.
Why do so many churches struggle with trying to please people?
That’s great question. Here are a few blog posts and a book I’ve written on the subject of handling opposition to your vision:
3 Hard but Powerful Truths About Likablity and Leadership
Why You Need to Stop Thinking Your Church Is for Everyone
Boards (and congregations) that focus on who they’re trying to reach will be much healthier and do much better than congregations that focus on complainers.
What Do You See?
I realize this is tough medicine and may come as a shock to some leaders, but I do think bad governance is the silent killer in many churches.
