When budget is closely tied to the vision of ministry—particularly by those responsible for making that vision reality—then two positive outcomes result: staff can be held more accountable for what happens, and the annual fund drive can be based on the vision of ministry.

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Planning and the Budget

by Dan Hotchkiss

Congregations often plan and budget as though planning were one thing and budgeting another. Bringing the two together calls for a comprehensive calendar for goal-setting and evaluation.

A key event in the sequence is the annual planning retreat. Typically, this event includes the board and senior members of the staff, including lay staff as appropriate. Ideally, the group spends at least a day and a half off-site with a strict no-cell-phone rule. The agenda varies from year to year; the focus is always on discernment and strategy, the two zones of responsibility shared by board and staff. Some special attention to the mission is appropriate every year—but it is rarely a good use of time to tweak the wording of the mission statement that often; once every five years is more than enough, unless something is terribly wrong with the existing statement.

A more necessary work product from the retreat and related activities is the annual vision of ministry, an answer to the question, “In what new and different ways will we transform lives in the next one to three years?” To put it differently, the vision of ministry is the board’s short list of priorities. Why a short list? Because when a list of priorities is long, they’re not priorities! The vision of ministry is a short list of things the board means to accomplish, no matter what. The fact that something does not make the list does not mean that it won’t happen. While creating the vision, the board will bank a number of ideas for the future: pieces of a long-term vision to which the board is not prepared to make an ironclad commitment now. There is no way to do this without sometimes saying no.

The exact process for creating the vision of ministry will change from year to year. In some years, the ministry priorities may be so obvious that the board creates the vision quickly and uses the planning retreat for other purposes. Most of the time the vision of ministry emerges from a yearlong conversation, followed by deeper reflection and exchange during the retreat.

In addition to a vision of ministry, the planning retreat produces “open questions.” In discussing the congregation’s work and drawing out the hopes and worries of its leaders, retreat participants may find technical challenges surfacing that all but suggest their own solutions. If the boiler is broken, you fix it. Other challenges do not lend themselves to quick or even slow decision making. Perhaps your congregation needs to decide whether to abandon, renovate, or replace a building that has been the main symbol of its identity for 150 years. Or you may wonder how to serve a neighborhood whose residents are different from the people of your congregation. You may have a nagging sense, as Jonah did, that God is calling you to make radical changes, but the subject is too hot to push it to decision making. The board could make up its mind and announce a solution prematurely, but that seems likely to increase division rather than encourage movement toward a decision. With such challenges, the board can make a major contribution simply by stating the issue clearly as an open question—one it expects the congregation to address sometime in the future, but not now. For now, the next step is sustained, reflective, and inclusive conversation.

After the retreat, everyone has work to do. The staff needs to translate the board’s vision of ministry into goals and objectives. In larger churches, the senior staff has goals of its own. Even a simple common slogan, like “We will integrate social outreach into everything we do,” can be a good counter to the tendency of busy staff members to draw back into their departments. The staff’s goals take the board’s vision of ministry and move it to a more practical level. If the vision of ministry says, “We will make room to welcome more people,” the staff might say, “After the first of the year, we will add a second session to our children’s Sunday school. By then we will be ready to double the number of parking-lot greeters skilled at hospitality to families with children.”

Individual staff members set goals next. Beginning each staff member’s goal-setting conversation with the board’s vision of ministry and goals set by senior staff helps put parochial concerns into the context of the wider mission. It is the job of every ministry team leader to set the stage for goal setting in this way. Then the team proceeds to set goals for itself, and the staff member (in consultation with his or her team, supervisor, and colleagues) sets goals for himself or herself. A practice that promotes a sense of permission and autonomy among teams and their leaders is to presume that their goals will be consistent with the board and senior staff goals, and to deal only with exceptions, instead of sending all goals up the line to be approved.

The budget itself may be assembled by a finance committee and presented to the board for approval. A better process, though, is to put responsibility for creating the budget in the same place as responsibility for achieving the vision of ministry: the staff. At the very least, the head of staff should be required to sign off on the budget, saying to the board, “I believe this budget is a reasonable plan to achieve our vision.” Or not. In many congregations the budget process sails right from the committees to the board without the clergy leader (or other head of staff) even having to express an opinion. Under that procedure, it is a stretch to hold the head of staff accountable for much of anything.

With a budget created in this way, the annual fund drive can be based on the vision of ministry as well. Contributors are asked for amounts that, if most of them say “yes,” will make the vision possible. The board, clergy, and staff make it clear that the vision is not just something they hope to shoot for; it’s a goal they mean to reach. Year after year, people learn that when the congregation asks for gifts, it means what it says. If the members give what is asked, the results promised—the vision of lives changed through ministry—will happen.

Comment on this article on the Alban Roundtable blog (external link)

Other Resources:

Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership
by Dan Hotchkiss
In Governance and Ministry, Alban Institute senior consultant Dan Hotchkiss offers congregational leaders a roadmap and tools for changing the way boards and clergy work together to lead congregations. Hotchkiss demonstrates that the right governance model is the one that best enables a congregation to fulfill its mission—to achieve both the outward results and the inward quality of life to which it is called.

When Moses Meets Aaron: Staffing and Supervision for Large Congregations
by Gil Rendle and Susan Beaumont
In When Moses Meets Aaron, Gil Rendle and Susan Beaumont help clergy responsible for several-member staff teams learn to be both Moses and Aaron—both a visionary and a detail-oriented leader—in order for their large congregations to thrive. They immerse the best of corporate human resource tools in a congregational context, providing a comprehensive manual for supervising, motivating, and coordinating staff teams.

Discerning God’s Will Together: A Spiritual Practice for the Church
Danny E. Morris and Charles M. Olsen
Bible study, research, and fieldwork merge in this book of practical principles for decision making by spiritual discernment. The step-by-step approach can be used to help any size group learn a new way to make decisions—a way that is interactive, spiritual, and rooted in faith practices and community.

When Better Isn’t Enough: Evaluation Tools for the 21st-Century Church
by Jill M. Hudson
Approaching the postmodern era as a tremendous opportunity, Hudson identifies 12 characteristics by which we can measure effective ministry for the early 21st century. Based on those 12 criteria, Hudson has created evaluation tools to help congregations improve their ministry, help members and staff grow in effectiveness, deepen a sense of partnership, and add new richness to the dialogue about a congregation’s future.

Transforming Church Boards into Communities of Spiritual Leaders
by Charles M. Olsen
Olsen presents a bold vision of leadership—one that offers church board work as an integral part of congregational leaders’ faith experience and development. Board or council members’ faith is engaged and informs the way they conduct the church’s business. Discover inspiring, practical ways your board can make its meetings become opportunities for deepening faith, developing leadership, and ultimately renewing your church.

Copyright © 2009, the Alban Institute. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from the Alban Institute. (external link)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: Planning and the Budget

“A healthy [church] is one that actively and responsibly addresses  or heals its disturbances, not one with an absence of trouble.”
- Peter Steinke

It’s a reality of life that the Body of Christ, the church, wrestles continually with difficult issues and challenging times.  Whether it’s economic hardship, mission and outreach, interpretation of scripture, denominational decisions, or any of many other challenges, “being church” has always been fraught with disagreements, anxiety, and differing points of view.  Our Lutheran heritage is one of ongoing  reformation.  We are a church known for asking hard questions and struggling with real issues of life and faith. The following resources are a sampling of print and media materials meant to help provide some leadership tools for dealing with anxious times.

Julie K. Aageson
Director, The Resource Center
Coordinator, ELCA Resource Centers

• Peter Steinke’s work for church leaders is invaluable.  His book and accompanying video reflections, Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What will be especially helpful.  Steinke’s video, The Balancing Act, also provides good background. (B3302, DVDs146, 147)
• Additional articles, books, and media resources related to anxiety and family systems are described in the resource sheet: Family Systems and Healthy Congregations
• The video Reinventing Leadership with Rabbi Edwin Friedman describes how congregations become dysfunctional when gripped by anxiety.  (VT1689)
• Transitions and change are themes in Craig Satterlee’s When God Speaks Through Change, a “must read” for preachers and others who want to help congregations experience God’s presence, grace, power, and direction in challenging times. (B3078)
• Two Nooma films may help address some of the anxiety of difficult issues. These ten minute DVDs include You and Whirlwind. You deals with heated debates and disagreements. Whirlwind addresses how much we want certainty and answers in a world that often is uncertain.  (DVD 174 & 278)
• For worship, Stilling the Storm: Worship and Congregational Leadership in Difficult Times by Kathleen Smith shows how difficult times affect the worship life of a congregation and how worship can be a key part of healing.  (B3310)
• A short read, Difficult Conversations by Katie Day provides concrete direction for initiating, cultivating, and sustaining discussion of troubling issues.  (B3564)
• “Called to Deal With Difficult Issues” is a four-session method for congregational theological reflection and decision making.  It could be adapted to fit a number of topics.  (PR871)
• Differences is the title of a 4-minute DVD to help people explore and discuss their own differences through the ‘voices’ of dogs. It begins by exploring differences and ends by discovering how much we have in common.  It also helps point to common ground on which to build unity.  Supplementary materials at www.differencesfilm.com (external link) (DVD269)
• Promise and Peril: Understanding and Managing Change and Conflict in Congregations by David Brubaker helps leaders manage conflict in the face of change.  (B3608)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: Leading in Anxious Times

When pastors leave, a congregation begins the process of looking for new leadership.  Similarly, clergy leaving and clergy being considered for call begin a process of evaluation.  The following resources help both clergy and congregation through this important process.

Books

• Considering a New Call by James Antal (Alban) (B2480)
• Change of Pastors and How It Affects Change in the Congregation by Loren Mead (Alban) (B3121)
• Alban Guide to Managing the Pastoral Search Process by John Vonhof
• Elephant in the Boardroom: Speaking the Unspoken about Pastoral Transitions by Carolyn Weese and J. Russell Crabtree
• Pastors in Transition by Dean Hoge and J. Wenger (B3193)

Printed Resources

• Running Through the Thistles: Terminating a Ministerial Relationship with a Parish by Roy Oswald (PR808)
• So You’re on the Search Committee by Bunty Ketcham (PR1007)
• Ending Well, Starting Strong (Alban) PR1008

Organization

Interim Ministry Network (external link)
Dedicated to encouraging and educating congregational leaders during interim periods, the Interim Ministry Network provides education and information on the interim process, professional support and development, and practice standards.  Call synod office for contact information.

Other Media

• “To Call a Pastor: Helping Call Committees” (VT1620)
• Why You Should Develop a Pastor-Parish Relations Committee (VT2466)
• Many Voices Discussion Video for “The Congregation” (VT2466)
• “Ending Well, Starting Strong” (C299)
• Clergy/Staff Selection Tips (articles from Net Results) (K75)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: Resources for Calling a New Pastor

Leadership in the church is a multi-faceted topic. Whether we are talking about basic issues of faith formation and transformation or about management, the following resources may be especially useful for church leaders and congregation councils. Many additional print resources also are timely and important. Whatever leadership issues you may be facing, you will find here topics for monthly meetings, for faith formation and growth, new models for ministry, challenges to the way things may have been done in the past. Much food for thought!

Featured Resources:

• First Call (video)
• The In-Between Times: A Time of Pastoral Transition (video)
• To Call a Pastor: Helping Call Committees to Serve Effectively (video)
• The Opening Door: Calling a Woman as Pastor (video)
• Changing the Rhythm of Parish Ministry (video)
• The Rabbi’s Gift (video)
• The Overwhelming Love of God (video)
• The Goose Story (video)
• The Hardest Job: Leading a Congregation to Live From Its Liturgy (video)
• How Do We Help? The Goal of Christian Ministry (video)
• Taking Stock–the Shape of Faith Among American Protestants
• The Business of Paradigms (video)
• Paradigm Pioneers (video)
• The Church in a Changing Culture (video)
• Choices: New Concepts for Ministry in the 21st Century (video)
• The Power of Vision (video)
• A Call to Visionary Leadership (video)
• The Abilene Paradox (video)
• Fish! (video)
• Fish! Sticks (video)
• Congregational Planning Series (video)
• Leadership and the New Science (video)
• Leadership for the Congregation (video)
• A Peacock in the Land of Penguins (video)
• Running Good Meetings (video)
• Reinventing Leadership (video)
• Leadership for a Church in Mission (video)
• Riding the Wave: Strategies for Change (video)
• The Balancing Act–the Congregation as Emotional System (video)
• Groupthink (video)
• Congregation As Emotional System (video)
• How Your Church Family Works (video)
• Talking 9 to 5: Women and Men in the Workplace (video)
• Conflict in the Church (video)
• The Asoh Defense: Managing Blame and Forgiveness (video)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: Resources for Church Leaders

“A healthy congregation is one that actively and responsibly addresses or heals its disturbances, not one with an absence of trouble.” Every congregation, every family will know trouble, disruption, dysfunction. Knowing ourselves well enough to learn from these inevitable conflicts can contribute to stronger, healthier congregations and families. Healthy congregations have been a theme in the church for a long time. The following resources are selected from Peter Steinke’s work and from the work of family systems experts like Edwin Friedman, Murray Bowen, and Roberta Gilbert. This letter isn’t meant to be a finished work: we look forward to your input and suggestions of additional resources that will make this a more comprehensive bibliography.

Featured Resources:

• How Your Church Family Works by Peter Steinke
• Beating Burnout in Congregations by Lynne M. Baab – (B2864)
• Becoming a Healthier Pastor: Family Systems Theory and the Pastor’s Own Family by Ronald Richardson – (B3223)
• Bowen Family Systems Theory by Daniel V. Papero – (B2302)
• Church Conflict: the Hidden Systems Behind the Fights – by Charles H. Cosgrove and Dennis Hatfield
• Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What by Peter Steinke (B3302)
• Connecting With Our Children by Roberta Gilbert
• Creating a Healthier Church: Family Systems Theory, Leadership, and Congregational Life by Ronald Richardson (B2365)
• Eight Concepts of Bowen Theory: A New Way of Thinking about the Individual and the Group by Roberta Gilbert (B3322)
• The Emotional Side of Organizations (April 22-23, 1995)
• The Equipping Pastor: A Systems Approach to Congregational Leadership by R. Paul Stevens and Phil Collins (B1111)
• Extraordinary Relationships by Roberta Gilbert (B2313)
• Extraordinary Leadership: Thinking Systems, Making a Difference by Roberta Gilbert (B3321)
• Failure of Nerve, A: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix by Edwin Friedman (B2307)
• Family Evaluation by Michael Kerr and Murray Bowen (B2331)
• Family Therapy in Clinical Practice by Murray Bowen
• Family Ties That Bind by Ronald Richardson (B2497)
• The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter Senge (B1068)
• Friedman’s Fables by Edwin Friedman (B1071)
• From Stuck to Unstuck- Overcoming Congregational Impasse by Kenneth A. Halstead (B2179)
• Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church by Edwin Friedman (B764)
• Genograms in Family Assessment by Monica McGoldrick (B1067)
• Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach by Peter Steinke (B1714)
• Hidden Life of Congregations, The by Israel Galindo (B3008)
• How Your Church Family Works by Peter Steinke (B1277 and B3301)
• Our Community: Dealing with Conflict in the Congregation by Susan Lang (PR736)
• “Failure of Nerve, A: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix” by Edwin Friedman (C207)
• “The Congregation as an Emotional System” by Peter Steinke (C135)
• “Stress and Effectiveness in the Ministry” by Edwin Friedman (C90)
• “Selected Readings from Friedman’s Fables” by Rabbi Friedman (C218)
• The Balancing Act – Congregation as Emotional System (VT1946 and (DVD147)
• Congregation As Emotional System (VT1092)
• Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Conversations and Reflections with Dr. Peter
  Steinke (DVD146)
• Family Process and Process Theology (VT1300)
• How Your Church Family Works with Peter Steinke (VT1087)
• Reinventing Leadership (VT1689) (also available on DVD)
• Leadership and the New Science (VT2038)
• Dealing with Conflict (VT1685)
• Road to Abilene (VT1686)
• Groupthink (VT1684)
• Everyday Creativity
• The Goose Story (VT1992)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: Family Systems and Healthy Congregations