Forcing You To Do Something

I'm often asked, "What do you like about PBG?" Here's one answer I often give: PBG forces us to DO something.

The natural drift of most church leadership boards is to take reports & give reports, but not really accomplish very much. They look back at what happened in the last 30 days and ahead to what's coming in the next 30 days. PBG forces us to try and do more.

At a minimum, if we simply read and follow our Board policy manual, the following things will happen:

1. The Board will have to develop "desired outcomes" for me. They will have to define what a "win" looks like.

2. I will have to lead the staff in drafting specific ministry plans to achieve the desired outcomes.

3. I will have to submit regular reports to the Board about the progress (or lack of progress!) we're making toward the outcomes.

4. The Board will hear and evaluate the progress updates and have to give feedback about the adequacy of our ministry plans.

None of that guarantees success, but it's a huge step in the right direction.

Does your structure force you to do something?

Callahan On Committees

Another helpful quote from Ken Callahan's book, Effective Church Leadership:

"The old myth was, the more people on more committees, the higher the ownership for the local church. The truth was, the more people on more committees, the more meetings that were held and the less mission that was achieved." (ECL, p. 213).

That's a harsh quote, but generally true in my experience.

That's why PBG churches are structured, not around committees, but around ministry teams. How are the two different? Here's a few examples:

1. Committees are appointed by a nominating committee. Ministry teams are gathered by a leader.

2. Ministry teams usually have a starting date and an ending date. Committees usually last forever, whether they're effective or not.

3. Ministry teams actually do stuff. Committees tend to talk more about doing stuff than they actually do stuff!

4. Committees tend to meet once/month (because that's why they've always done!). Ministry teams meet as often as their work requires them to meet, which may be more or less frequently than once/month.

What other differences have you seen and experienced?

PBG Lessons from Effective Church Leadership

Over Thanksgiving break, I discovered Ken Callahan's book, "Effective Church Leadership" on my father-in-law's bookshelf. It's certainly not a new book, having been published in 1990 by Harper Collins. However, the chapter titled, "Missional Structures" caught my eye. In it, he provides a great summary of why the traditional Church Council/Boards structures fails to work effectively in many congregation. Callahan calls it "the tree-forest flaw":

"People cannot see the forest because of their preoccupation with the trees.

Each person gets to the council bringing the tree of which they are in charge. Each person counts on the council to provide coordination and cooperation so that each tree around the table will get "its fair share of water" on an annual basis. But suppose you ask that council, "What major priority to advance the whole are you, as a team, growing forward in the coming three years?" Usually, the response is a blank look or a puzzled silence.

That council cannot see the forest because of the trees. They have been so busy ensuring that each part gets its fair share of water each year. They have two difficulties:

1. seeing the whole
2. looking more than one year ahead

The test is very simple. Read the minutes of most councils for October of a given year. Then read the minutes for October two years earlier. The names will have changed. The discussion will be the same." (ECL, p. 231).

Does that quote sound sadly familiar to you? If so, it may be time for you to start looking seriously into PBG.

PBG Reflections Inspired by Bill Hybels' Axiom

Bill Hybel's 2008 book, Axiom, recently reminded me of a challenge I've experienced in putting PBG theory into practice in the church.

In writing about his experience in managing church staff, Hybels says,

"For years I wondered how closely I should lead our staff, how tightly I should manage people. After lots of experimentaton, here is where I have landed.

If staff members are doing their jobs really well--meeting or exceeding my expectations--then I give them more freedom and look over their shoulders less. I explain my spirit of liberty to them by saying, 'You've earned this latitude with solid performance. Your diligence and thoroughness and 'win' rate have bought the privilege of my looser management style.'

But if performance begins to sag--the monitoring increases--quickly...

Performance buys freedom." (Axiom, p. 137)

That sounds a lot like how I anticipated PBG would work in the church. But my experience so far has been that the monitoring level of our Board doesn't change very much. I submit the same reports whether "performance" is good or bad. My suspicion is that Boards are much better at increasing monitoring when performance is poor than they are are decreasing monitoring when performance is good.

I guess I'm not surprised by that. When monitoring is done face-to-face, as in Hybels' illustration, changes are easier to make. But PBG Boards do accountability largely through policy, not inspection. And once policies are written down, most Boards are reluctant to remove them, even if they don't appear to be needed.

I'm curious if others have experienced this too. Any wisdom to share?

People Don't Like Changes Or Surprises

A while back I had the privilege of sitting at the feet of Pastor Knute Larsen, long-time pastor of The Chapel in Akron, Ohio and the author of The ABF Book (Adult Bible Fellowships). For several hours, Knute shared nuggets of wisdom he had gained over many years of pastoral service. One in particular, I'll never forget:

"Remember, people don't like changes or surprises. . . and they REALLY don't like surprises!"

How true! Changes are inevitable, especially in a growing congregation, and it's usually the responsibility of Boards and Pastors to lead people through them well. One of the best things we can do to lead well through change is to avoid surprises. Change is inevitable, but surprises shouldn't be.

A few thoughts on avoiding surprises (and the pain that goes with them):

• Don't hide bad news about the congregation from the congregation. Share it kindly--be careful not to assign blame where it's not deserved--but don't hide it.
• Tell members about potential changes well before they're finalized. Even if they don't get a vote in the decision-making process, people appreciate the opportunity to share their thoughts & feelings. Your members don't always need to get their way, but they do need to be heard and understood.
• Communicate bigger changes using multiple means. The greater the change, the greater the need for communication. Talking about a significant change at a single congregational meeting is not enough. One article in the church newsletter is not enough. Use meetings and newsletters, as well as emails, verbal announcements, open forums, surveys, bulletin boards, and anything else you can think of.

One final thought on leading change: beware the danger of demonizing those who resist change. Just because someone disagrees with your proposal doesn't mean they've sided with the devil!

A few years ago, when our congregation was going through a significant change, one of my Board members sent me the following. It's been extremely helpful to me. I hope it will be for you and your congregation also.

WHY PEOPLE RESIST CHANGE

1. The risk of change is seen as greater than the risk of standing still.

2. People feel connected to other people who are identified with the old way.

3. People have no role models for the new activity.

4. People fear they lack the competence to change.

5. People feel overloaded and overwhelmed.

6. People have a healthy skepticism and want to be sure new ideas are sound.

7. People fear hidden agendas among would-be reformers.

8. People feel the proposed change threatens their notions of themselves.

9. People anticipate a loss of status or quality of life.

10. People genuinely believe that the proposed change is a bad idea.

"Hit The Bullseye" by Paul D. Borden

I've been wanting to read a Paul Borden book for a long time now. My interest was peaked when I saw how often he was quoted in Winning on Purpose by John Kaiser, a recommended resource of PBG church.

I'm now starting to work through his 2003 book, Hit the Bullseye: How Denominations Can Aim the Congregation at the Mission Field. Here's a thought-provoking quote:

". . . we must restore some kind of polity that marries authority, responsibility, and accountability. All current polities separate these three concepts. Some polities do it in theory while all do it in practice. Congregations are scared to death to put authority and responsibility together because most believe it will create organizational monsters with dictatorial leaders. This fear is well founded, if there is not clear and powerful accountability. Yet because of our concept of "family" we run from accountability like animals from a forest fire. So we create polities that separate authority from responsibility, resulting in frustration and the loss of our best leaders." (p.142)

Has your congregation experience the effects of separating authority, responsibility and accountability?

How does your church hold its leaders accountable for achieving the mission?

Re-thinking Voters' Meetings

Recently, Community Church of Joy, a Lutheran "megachurch" in Glendale, Arizona voted to leave their denomination, the E.LC.A. Here's what caught the eye of PBG church: the unanimous vote of the congregation was 129 in favor and zero against. That's right: a church with 6,800 baptized members had only 129 people attend a critical meeting. (Feel any better about your own voters' meeting attendance?)

Clearly, it's time to re-think the entire concept of voters' meetings. Here's a few thoughts from PBG church:

1. It's time we acknowledge that voters' meetings have a very bad reputation with most people. At best, they're viewed as dreadfully boring. At worst, they are often places of conflict and fighting. No wonder they're so poorly attended!

2. Because they are so poorly attended in most churches, voters meetings are NOT an effective tool for communication with the congregation. Anything of importance said in a voters' meeting needs to be said again in written communication, probably in multiple formats.

3. Voters meetings reports must contain a level of detail that is appropriate for a group of people who meet only 2-3 times/year. For example, do the voters really need to see every single line item of the church budget or would a higher level summary suffice?

4. "Robert's rules of order", though designed to ensure the participation of all, have a tendency to scare most average people. Far from encouraging participation, "Roberts' rules" shut many people down out of fear that they will violate "the rules." If voters' meetings are going to be effective, those who lead the meetings have to find a way to follow "the rules" while maintaining an atmosphere that feels less formal.

5. If we expect people to show up, we need to hold them at times that are most convenient for people to attend. Most people are not going to come out for an evening meeting on a school night.

What has your congregation done to improve your voters' meetings?

Senior Pastor Transitions

Recently, I was extended a call by another congregation in another state. After four weeks of prayer, frank discussion, and soul-searching, I decided to decline the call and remain at my current congregation.

Now that it's over and "the pressure's off", it's become a good time for my Board to consider, "How ready are we to handle a senior pastor transition?"

Here's some of our thoughts so far:

1. Every transition is unique and therefore, requires a unique transition plan. We cannot possibly plan ahead for every contingency. However, some things will be common to every senior pastor transition. We should try and be ready for those things that we know will happen. This includes items like:

A. Will we appoint one of other staff to serve as "interim senior pastor" or would we recruit an "interim senior pastor" from the outside? If so, how would we go about doing that?

B. Which ministries could we continue without a senior pastor and which would likely need to be put "on the back burner" during the transition?

2. Whenever a senior pastor announces he is leaving, there will be a temptation for many members to feel like "the sky is falling." Board members need to quickly and confidently communicate with the congregation that:

A. a transition plan is in place and

B. that God is in control of his church and promises He will see us through every challenge we face, including senior pastor transitions (see First Corinthians 3:6)

3. The departure of a beloved senior pastor creates a grieving process not unlike grieving the death of a loved one. All the traditional "stages of grief" will be present: denial, anger, sadness, acceptance. Members may need a forum where they can identify and work through these feelings with others.

What else has your church learned about preparing for senior pastor transitions?

Leadership vs. "Complaint Management"

Here's another great observation my Teaching Pastor recently shared with our Board:

"Someone will come to a board member and say, 'This area is a problem!' It then becomes an agenda item, a 'Let's-Do-Something" item.

How does a board member know this is truly a problem? Do not people closer to the ground have a better idea? If there is a problem, is it the Board's concern if it does not violate a policy or interfere with an outcome?"

How does this observation challenge you and your board? Have you crossed the line from genuine leadership into "complaint management?"

Representation or Leadership?

Another gem from Larry Osborne's book, The Unity Factor:

"Is the primary purpose of a church board representation or leadership? . . . Many, if not most, churches, have opted for the representative model. It fits well with our American democratic principles, as well as one of our most cherished doctrines, the priesthood of believers. It insures that everyone has a chance to be heard, not just those who are powerful or well connected. . . But a board of representatives also has its negatives. . . .

I've become a strong advocate for a leadership-oriented board. . . They are more concerned with leading than responding to every whim of the congregation. When faced with a difficult decision, they ask first, not "How will people react?" but "What does God want us to do?"

This is not to say that a leadership board is unresponsive to the needs and concerns of the body. On the contrary, good leaders are always in touch with their people. But a good undershepherd never forgets he works for the Chief Shepherd, not the sheep." (p. 36-37).

How do Osborne's words challenge you and your board?

PGB theory vs. PBG practice

Here's another PBG struggle my Teaching Pastor recently shared with our Board:

"In theory, the senior pastor is judged by adherence to policy limitations and outcomes, but in practice, most of his time is spent doing things which have no direct relation to them. For example, depending on the week, sermon preparation and planning can take from a third to a half of his time. People expect quality work at the high impact times of the week, namely weekend worship. There are myriad 'interruptions', even if one tries to manage time in a tactful manner."

I know I've struggled with this--a lot! Is your Board aware of this challenge? What are doing to address it?

Modifying PBG To Fit The Church

My Teaching Pastor did a great job sharing insights about PBG at our Board meeting this week.

Here's another challenge about PBG he shared with our Board:

"Leadership sometimes has a hard time discerning that the PBG model cannot be taken over from the secular world without modification.

One of the dangers of PBG is that Boards get enamored with holding the pastor accountable while doing little to support him. PBG is based on the premise that the CEO has authority to direct those responsible for carrying out the work of the organization. This does not hold true for the church. . . . the work of ministry is largely dependent on members volunteering their time, expertise and wealth. The members must be committed to participating in the various opportunities the staff creates to get involved in the mission and vision. However, the pastor cannot direct or order members to participate in the activities. He can teach, he can inspire, he can be a role model, but he cannot direct."

Is your Board aware of this reality? What is your Board doing to both hold your pastor accountable AND support him?

Victims Of Our Own Success?

Next week, I'm bringing my Teaching Pastor as a special guest to our Board of Directors' monthly meeting. He's been asked to share some of the lessons he's learned about both the benefits and challenges of working in a PBG church.

He's got some great insights to share. In addition to working at a PBG church now, he helped lead his previous congregation into PBG as well.

I asked him yesterday to give me a sneak preview of some of the things he'll be sharing with our Board on Tuesday. The first words out of his mouth have really stayed with me. He said,

"One of the dangers of PBG is that it can make senior pastors victims of their own success."

In other words, as soon as you do something well, the Board asks you to do more. And when you do that well, they ask for more yet. But at some point, it's just not possible to do more without it taking a serious toll on the physical, emotional, and/or spiritual well-being of the pastor and staff. And because Senior Pastors and church staff want to do well and be seen as "team players" and "hard workers", they rarely share their feelings of burn-out. They simply suffer in silence.

His words made me think of Dallas Willard's thought-provoking book, The Great Omission. In it, he says of pastors,

"The need to achieve is too great. Invariably, it is the personal & spiritual life of the minister that suffers. . . he often comes to feel strongly that the circumstances in which he works are in conflict with the very goals for which he entered the profession in the first place." (TGO, p. 32).

What's your church doing to make sure that your pastor and staff are not becoming "victims of their own success?"

PBG Church Profile--Immanuel Lutheran Church, Belvidere, IL

Immanuel Lutheran Church in Belvidere, Illinois moved to PBG a few years ago. More recently, they made their governance documents available on-line. Here's the link to their Board policy manual :

https://f1.ctsmemberconnect.net/garoupdb/O-0000000773/G-0000019648/docs/Root/Immanuel_Governance_Document%20-%201.29.09.pdf

You'll also find their Constitution and Bylaws here:

https://f1.ctsmemberconnect.net/garoupdb/O-0000000773/G-0000019648/docs/Root/Immanuel_Constitution_2007_updated_Nov.[1].pdf

Because Immanuel used the same consultant my church did, our governance documents look a lot alike. But there are also some notable differences. For example,

• Their named their governing board "The Vestry", instead of "The Board of Directors"
• They maintained a Board of Elders.
• Their Vestry has an executive committee, which, among other things, carries out the senior pastor performance evaluation.
• Their policy manual includes extensive details about senior pastor transitions in section 4.7

Thanks Immanuel, for putting your stuff on-line, so other PBG churches can learn from you! God bless your ministry!

Finding leaders: by election or appointment?

Another thought-provoking quote from How To Break Growth Barriers by Carl George:

"The future tells us that appointment, rather than election, will be the more common way people come to ministry. A church that hands most of its ministry slots to elected positions is on a collision course. Elections too often operate on popularities, not ministry competencies." (p. 152)

Do you agree? Have you experienced this in your church? If so, what are you doing about it?

The Pastor's role under PBG

Here's another thought-provoking quote from How To Break Growth Barriers by Carl George. On the changing role of the senior pastor under PBG:

"...the senior pastor must understand a certain role change is necessary to be an effective leader of staff: from being a manager to being a leader.

What is the difference? Leaders set a direction; managers outline the steps to the destination. Many of you will have to do both jobs to some extent. But most churches (and businesses) are overmanaged and underled. Pastors are more obsessed with doing things right than with doing the right things. They give more attention to efficiency than to effectiveness." (p. 155)

Pastors, how do those words challenge you?

PBG's role in Breaking "Growth Barriers"

How To Break Growth Barriers, originally published by Carl George in 1993, is an interesting and helpful read for any leader of a growing church.

George contends that congregations commonly hit three plateaus as they grow. The plateaus are defined by average weekend worship attendance. They are: the 200 barrier, the 400 barrier, and the 800 barrier. He further contends that, at the 40o barrier,

"One of the most important issues to negotiate is the changing role of the church governing board. Planning and administration must become a staff function, not a board responsibility." (p. 145)

"Why? At this point the church has become so big that it is no longer practical for part-time workers to manage the church's coordination tasks. Too many details arise that cannot wait until the board convenes each month. No matter how efficient the board tries to be, it can regularly bottleneck the staff's efforts to build growth momentum." (p. 149)

Does that sound familiar to you? Is it possible that your governance structure is impeding the growth of your church?

The Unity Factor

One of the goals of the "PBG church" blog is to share resources that help church boards grow in effectiveness. Today, while searching my bookshelves, I re-discovered this gem: The Unity Factor by Pastor Larry W. Osborne. It really is a "must-read" for every church board.

Pastor Osborne offers a wealth of insights and practical suggestions on a wide range of subjects pertinent to boards, including:

• Nominating, electing & training new board members
• Helping board members work together effectively
• Evaluating the pastor's performance & determining salaries
• Leading change in the congregation
• Structuring board meetings to ensure time given to pray & long-range planning.

For those still exploring PBG, the closing paragraphs of chapter nine may be especially helpful:

"As a church grows, it loses much of its close-knit family feel. There is no way a group of 500 can experience the same community that a church of 150 enjoys. A larger church will also have less tolerance for shoddy programs and performance. In a church of 800, Aunt Martha's renditions aren't quaint; they're painful. It's not that people suddenly have become less loving. It's that the majority don't know her personally. So instead of appreciating her sincerity and effort, they're embarrassed by her mistakes.

Church government also goes through significant changes each time a church reaches a new plateau. In smaller churches a highly participatory form of congregational government usually works fine, but in a larger church it quickly becomes unwieldy. In most cases, the larger the church, the harder it is to get a quorum for a special business meeting. And contrary to what many people think, the problem is not apathy; it's changing sociological expectations. The larger the group, the more people look to their designated leaders for direction and decision making, and the less interest they have in the nuts and bolts of running the church."

Governance in "The Very Large Church"

The Very Large Church by Lyle Schaller is a classic in understanding the dynamics of larger congregations. Schaller defines "the very large church" as a congregation with an average weekend worship attendance between 750 and 1,800.

Among many other important insights, Schaller says,

"A crucial barrier to becoming a very large congregation often is in the system of governance." (p. 113)

He goes on to describe those congregations that have broken through this "crucial barrier." It's one of the best summaries I've found about why many of us have embraced PBG in our congregations.

Schaller writes,

"...most very large congregations, in some cases counter to their own constitution or denominational polity, operate on the assumption that:

1. Leaders are called to lead;

2. not every opinion deserves the same weight as other opinions;

3. informed opinions are more valuable than uninformed opinions;

4. most people naturally will prefer efforts to perpetuate yesterday over challenges to create a new tomorrow;

5. congregations are worshiping communities of people called to follow Christ, not political democracies;

6. the number one criterion in making decisions in ministry is not, 'What do our people here prefer?' but rather "What would Jesus advocate if he were speaking to us in this room today?";

7. the larger the number of people actively involved in making a particular decision, the more likely that process will result in a watered-down compromise rather than a bold step into the unknown; and

8. God's call to the vast majority of the members of that very large church is to be engaged in doing ministry, not in attending committee meetings." ( p. 114-115).

How do Schaller's words challenge you and your church?

Benefits of PBG--First Year Reflections

Recently my congregation passed the one-year mark of living under PBG. Here's some of the benefits I've observed in just the first year:

1. Every meeting matters---Before we adopted PBG, we had a LOT of meetings--many that weren't very effective. Some could have been covered with just an email or a memo. Others just didn't need to happen at all. Since adopting PBG last year, I've found that every meeting I've attended has been both necessary and productive.

2. Focusing on the future--Under our old system of governance, we spent a lot of time reporting on the last 30-60 days and looking ahead to the next 30-60 days. But, no one was thinking long-term. No one was dreaming about the kind of church we wanted to be years down the road. Now, under PBG, that's all we talk about!

3. Ministry alignment--Even under the old governance, we had lots of great things happening in our congregation. But, it was very difficult, if not impossible, to align ministries around any common objectives. Now, all our ministries are talking about and working toward the same four desired outcomes.

What benefits has PBG brought to your congregation?

Are you REALLY a PBG church?

One of the things I've noticed over the last couple years since my congregation adopted PBG is that many churches out there mistakenly think they're doing PBG already. However, simply having a group called a "Board of Directors" and reading Carver books from time to time doesn't automatically make you a PBG church.

Here's a couple mistakes I've observed:

1. You are probably not a PBG church if you have a Board of Directors AND a Board of Elders. This is, in my opinion, a big mistake many churches make as they try to move to PBG. Their thinking seems to be that spiritual issues will be brought to the Elders and administrative issues will go before the BOD. Sounds clear, right? The problem is that in a church, everything is spiritual. (At least it should be!) And once a ministry involves more than a couple people, there will also be administrative issues that need addressing. Once that happens, then what? Does the pastor bring the given issue to the BOD or the Elders? Or both? It sounds clear on paper, but in reality, it's a mess. Essentially, you've created the very problem you were trying to solve by adopting PBG in the first place! One of the greatest strengths of PBG is the clarity it brings to both authority and accountability. Everyone is accountable to one, and only one, person or group. If that's not true in your congregation, you're not really a PBG church.

2. You are definitely not a PBG church if your governing board "leads" simply by responding to staff initiatives. In PBG, the Board, not the staff, should be setting the strategic direction of the congregation. The focus of the Board is not to approve staff initiatives, but to monitor the results of those initiatives against the Board's predetermined "desired outcomes." If your Board has never developed "desired outcomes", or isn't monitoring the congregation's progress toward the desired outcomes, you're not really a PBG church.

Boards need to lead leaders

Here's another thought-provoking quote, from John Carver's, Boards That Make A Difference,

"With respect to the staff, it is pivotal that the board not only lead, but that it lead leaders. Bigness must be passed on. Leading leaders calls for a mentality that allows others to make decisions. The board should never give the message, by trying to intervene in every possible mistake, that to err is unacceptable. Emphasizing the avoidance of errors rather than the creation of breakthroughs propagates not leaders but followers. It encourages not decision makers, but bureaucrats. Leading leaders requires tolerance of risk, because leaders do not remain in the safe, old ruts. They try and sometimes fail." (BTMAD, p. 199-200).

What is your board doing to ensure "the creation of breakthroughs" and not just "the avoidance of errors?"

Where Boards Go Wrong--Diagnosis From The PBG Bible

John Carver's book, Boards That Make A Difference, could easily be called "the PBG Bible." Originally published in 1997, BTMAD explains the PBG model in great detail. It's a valuable tool for any church trying to implement PBG and therefore, worthy of many conversations at PBG church!

In chapter one, Carver diagnoses "What Goes Wrong" with many boards. See if any of these observations sound familiar. . .

"Time on the trivial. Items of trivial scope or import receive disproportionate attention compared with matters of greater scope or importance. . .

Short-term bias. The "time horizon" about which a board should make decisions is more distant at the governing level than anywhere else in the organization. Yet we find boards dealing mainly with the near term and, even more dysfunctionally, with the past. Last month's financial statement gets more attention than an agency's strategic position.

Reactive stance. Boards consistently find themselves reacting to staff initiatives rather than acting proactively. Proposals for staff action and recommendations for board action so often come from staff that some boards would cease to function if called upon to create their own agendas.

Reviewing, rehashing, redoing. Some boards spend most of their time going over what their staffs have already done. . .

Leaky accountability. . . Having established a CEO position, the board members continue to relate in their official capacity with other staff, either giving them directions or judging their performance.

Diffuse authority. It is rare to find a board-executive partnership wherein each party's authority has been clarified. A vast gray area exists. When a matter lies in this uncertain area, the safe executive response is to take it to the board. Instead of using this opportunity to clarify to whom the decision belongs, the board simply approves or disapproves. The event has been settled, but authority remains as unclear as it was before."

Does any of that sound like your church's board?

Making Staff Meetings Support Desired Outcomes

After we moved to PBG, it was clear that our staff meetings would need to be re-worked a bit. Right away, we realized that unless the Board's four desired outcomes became a regular topic of conversation for our staff, they would be quickly forgotten.

Here's what we've decided to do:

All of our ministry staff develop plans for the upcoming year built around the four desired outcomes of the Board. Throughout the year, ministry staff meet together weekly to discuss the plans and their on-going implementation. We cover one desired outcome each week, so over the course of a month, each of the four desired outcomes gets reviewed.

We go around the table and have each person briefly review their plans as well as what's working and not working. Before we move on to the next person, we take a moment for the other staff to give feedback to the staff member who just shared.

Typically, the entire meeting takes less than an hour.

I'm sure we won't do things exactly this way forever, but for now, it seems to be working for us.

How is your congregation using staff meetings to support PBG?

How To Develop A Board Policy Manual

As I've studied PBG churches, I've noticed two distinct approaches to developing a Board Policy Manual:

Approach #1--Start on day one with a single policy in force, usually something like this:

"The Senior Pastor shall not act in a manner that is unethical, imprudent, illegal or inconsistent with the Constitution, Bylaws and Governing Policies of the congregation."

The Board then develops additional policies as they go.

Approach #2--Start on day one with the above policy in force, along with many, many others that have been pre-drafted for the Board. Usually this includes many pages of specific polices about financial matters, personnel, reports the pastor must provide the Board and more. The Board is free to change any of these policies at any time, of course, but they start on day one with a large number of recommended policies in place.

My congregation decided to start our journey into PBG using approach #2 and in hindsight, it probably had to be that way. The detailed draft policy manual helped our congregation understand better how PBG would work and it gave them confidence that all the bases were adequately covered. If we had tried to go with approach #1, I'm not sure our congregation would have been willing to adopt PBG at all.

However, as we've continued our journey into PBG, I've seen some definite down sides to approach #2:

Down side # 1: It tends to bury the Board in minutia and prevents them from focusing their time on the big-picture leadership that they alone can give the church. The role of the Board tends to become "policy enforcement" instead of "visionary leadership."

Down side # 2: Boards tend to be reluctant to eliminate policies already in place, even when they seem to be unnecessary. ("Let's leave it there--it must be there for a reason!")

Downside #3: It's hard to remember and follow all the policies when there's so many of them!

As I look through our rather lengthy policy manual today, I often wonder how many of these policies would still be in place if we had decided to follow approach #1. My guess is that it would be a lot, lot shorter!

Which approach did your congregation use? What upsides and downsides have you experienced?

Choosing New Board members

Prince of Peace is almost one year in to the PBG journey now, so it's time to elect some new members to our Board of Directors.

We will have three vacancies come June 1st. The biggest question we've been wrestling with is, how many people do we put on the ballot? Three? Five? Ten? Everyone who gets nominated by the congregation?

It's a tough decision with no clear right or wrong answer.

On the one hand, putting only three names on the ballot doesn't feel quite right. A certain amount of choice does give the voting members of the church a more significant role to play. If we only give them three names for three positions, why even have an election at all?

On the other hand, too many names on the ballot brings challenges also. Too many choices on the ballot practically ensures that the congregation will not be well informed about who they're voting for. Who has time to get to know the qualifications of twenty candidates? It also means that some will be "winners" and others will be "losers" in the election. Hard to avoid hurt feelings in that scenario!

We decided to balance these concerns and go with a ballot of five, from which we'll elect three. We've published bios of all five candidates and produced a ten-minute video about the candidates that we're showing at the voters' meeting, right before the election takes place.

What does your congregation do?

Defining and Measuring "Success"

Adopting PBG forces your congregation to clearly answer two very important questions:

1. What does "success" look like for our church?

2. How can we tell whether we're making progress or not?

In my congregation, we've answered the first question with four "desired outcome" statements. Our "desired outcomes" center around evangelism, assimilation, discipleship and pastoral care. They define "success" for us like this:

• Evangelism - Non-believers and the unchurched are coming to faith in Christ and are being enfolded in the life of the church.
• Assimilation - Every person who joins the church is using his/her gifts to accomplish the work of the church.
• Discipleship - Church members are consistently encouraged, challenged and equipped to take “next steps” as a disciple of Jesus.
• Pastoral Care - Every person in the church is known, loved and cared for in a personal way.

In response to the second question, we've drafted "metrics" (i.e. ways of measuring success) for each of the four desired outcomes. Our current metrics are:

Evangelism metrics:

• Non-member baptisms
• Non-member adult "affirmations of faith"
• Non-member youth confirmations

Assimilation metrics:

• The number and percentage of members serving on a ministry team
• The number and percentage of members making financial contributions in the last year.

Discipleship metrics:

• Weekend worship attendance
• The percentage of members involved in a Bible class or small group.

Pastoral Care metrics:

• The number and percentage of members involved in a small group.
• The number and percentage of members who feel known, loved and cared for in a personal way.

We're well aware that these metrics don't, by any means, give us a complete picture of the success or failure of our desired outcomes. But it's a start.

How does your congregation define "success?"

How are you measuring it?

Staff Advisory Councils Make PBG work

Under PBG, church staff are given much more authority for making day-to-day ministry decisions. Though that idea may make some people nervous, it really is a good thing. Frankly, staff are in a better position to make a lot of these decisions, because they're at the church every day.

However, every PBG church needs to ensure that staff are not just carrying out their ministries on their own, oblivious to the thoughts, desires, and ideas of the regular people of the church. To do their jobs well, staff need the advice and counsel of regular members of the church.

My congregation has made this happen by mandating that programmatic staff meet at least twice/year with an "Advisory Council", composed of 5 lay people. Some members are chosen by the staff person, the others by the Senior Pastor. At these meetings, staff present their ministry plans for the coming year and get feedback, advice and counsel.

We're just getting started, but so far it seems to be working really well.

Here's the video we put together for the first meetings of the Advisory Councils. It explains both PBG and the role of the Advisory Councils pretty well.

Selling PBG to your congregation

Whenever congregational leaders decide that PBG is a good idea, they then face the hard task of getting their congregation as a whole to feel the same way. The last thing on earth you want to do is to bring PBG to a congregational vote without plenty of time to educate your people and answer their questions first.

The leaders of my congregation used a variety of means to inform our congregation about PBG, including many forums and informational brochures. One of the most effective things we did, however, was to create this video:

In it, three well-known Lutheran church leaders in our area of Northern Illinois talk about their experience in transitioning congregations to PBG. The three leaders are:

• Pastor Alan Buss, First Vice-President of the Northern Illinois District of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod and Senior Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Belvidere, Illinois.
• Pastor Dan Gilbert, former pastor of Cross Lutheran Church in Yorkville, Illinois and current President of the Northern Illinois District.
• Dr. Jack Giles, Congregational Services Executive for the Northern Illinois District. Dr. Giles previously served on the staff of two churches using PBG: Trinity Lutheran Church in Lisle, Illinois and St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Minnesota.

This video gave our people confidence that PBG had already been tried and found effective in many other congregations.

Though initially designed just for Prince of Peace in Palatine, Illinois, this video should prove valuable to any congregation exploring PBG.

PBG Church Profile--Trinity Lutheran, Houston, TX

Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown Houston, Texas operates under PBG. You can find their Board policy manual at this link:

http://www.trinitydt.org/pdf/PolicyManual.pdf

An interesting twist here is that they have made the Elders of the church a committee of the Board.

PBG Church Consultant--Les Stroh

If I were to give one recommendation to a church considering a transition to PBG, it would be this: don't try to do it alone!

One of the best decisions my congregation made as we explored and implemented PBG was to hire an outside consultant to help us. This is the man we chose: Les Stroh of Cornerstone.

Over the last few years, we've used Les in several ways. First, he came and explained the PBG model to our church council and staff. Later, he helped us develop a plan and timetable for making the transition to PBG. His input was invaluable as we drafted our first Board of Directors' policy manual. And after we adopted PBG, we brought Les back again to train our new Board.

Each time, Les brought a wealth of helpful insights. If you're looking for someone to help your congregation explore or implement PBG, I'd certainly recommend Les Stroh.

You can learn more about him at this site: http://lesstroh.com/.

PBG Church Profile--St. John Lutheran, Rochester, MI

Saint John Lutheran Church in Rochester, Michigan began operating under PBG in October of 2003.

Their web site states that the "Primary advantages of Policy Governance® include: fewer meetings/more ministry, improved accountability, efficient decision-making, and better focus on our mission and vision."

Other PBG churches (and those exploring PBG) will find a wealth of helpful information on their web site. Follow this link: http://www.stjohnrochester.org/Church.aspx. Then, click on "Inside SJ" on the toolbar and go to "Governance."

Some of the resources you'll find there include:

• Great summaries of how PBG works at Saint John
• Their Constitution, Bylaws and Vestry Policy Manual
• 2008-2009 Desired Outcome Policy Goals and Measures
• Vestry meeting minutes
• Vestry Meeting Calendar

Thanks to our brothers and sisters at St. John for making it all available!

PBG Church Profile--Gloria Dei Lutheran, Houston

Gloria Dei Lutheran church in Houston, Texas is another PBG church we can all learn from.

Many of their important documents are available on-line. Follow this link: http://www.gdlc.org/about/board_directors.aspx

You'll find there:

• Their Board policy manual


• Minutes from all their recent Board meetings


• Their Senior Pastor's ministry plans for 2009

Very helpful stuff for the rest of us PBG churches! Thanks Gloria Dei!

Moving to PBG in one day?

"Flexible, Missional Constitution/Bylaws--In One Day, Not Two Years" by Alan & Cheryl Klaas was a very helpful resource to me as my church explored moving to PBG.

According to the book jacket, this book, "incorporates principles of policy-based leadership developed by John Carver in his book, 'Boards That Make A Difference' and principles of leadership in the church described by Kennon Callahan in his books, 'Twelve Keys To An Effective Church' and 'Effective Church Leadership'."

If your church is investigating PBG, the first half of this book (especially chapter four) will be invaluable to you. It lays out, in simple terms, not only how the structure works in a congregation, but why it's needed.

The second half of the book is devoted to outlining in detail their unique method for redrafting your congregation's Constitution and Bylaws to incorporate the principles of PBG. Their suggestion? Do it in a single day! As someone who leads a church that did the two year approach to change, I can see the attraction. However, I have to admit that I'm still highly skeptical that their one-day approach would have worked well in my congregation. Still, I know a brother pastor who used the Klaas' approach and was very happy with the result.

Whether you incorporate their one-day change approach or not, you'll find this book a helpful tool. As always, after you've read it (or if you've used the Klaas' approach), share your comments here at PBG church!

Another sample policy manual

Saint John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in West Bend, Wisconsin operates under PBG.

To check out their Board's policy manual, follow this link: http://www.stjohnswestbend.org/Portals/StJohnsWB/docs/Public/Policy%2003_03_08.pdf

Thanks to Saint John's for making it available!

Evaluation Has Its Limits

Evaluation is a big part of PBG.

"How are we doing?" "What can we do better?" "Are our ministries effective or ineffective?" PBG churches ask these kind of questions a lot. And that's a good thing.

But leaders of PBG churches must also recognize that evaluation has its limits--especially in the church. A lot of what we do can't be easily measured and evaluated. That doesn't mean we have to abandon evaluation altogether. It just means that we have to recognize that the Holy Spirit's work among us isn't limited to what shows up on all our nice reports.

As you wrestle with this issue in your church, you might want to read John Ortberg's new article titled, "How Am I Doing? The thrill (and danger) of evaluation."

Here's the link: http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/currenttrendscolumns/leadershipweekly/howamidoing.html?start=1

As always, once you've read it, I'd love to have you post some comments here at PBGChurch.

Helping Your Board Evaluate Itself

Tonight, my Board of Directors did its very first self-evaluation. It's a good thing for Boards to do from time to time. Boards, just like individuals, can very easily slip, over time, into doing things they shouldn't.

Here's a good resource for your board to use to evaluate itself:

"The Great Board Debate--How Should Ministry Boards Govern?" by James C. Galvin. You'll find it at this link: http://www.galvinandassociates.com/ideas/Great_Board_Debate.pdf

His "Five Ways To Function As A Board" should inspire plenty of healthy conversation among your board members!

When is it time for PBG?

When is it time for a church to explore PBG? I wouldn't presume to know how to answer that question for every church, but here's how it happened at my mine:

Prior to PBG, my congregation operated under a model of governance made popular by Don Abdon. We had the usual array of boards: Elders, Stewardship, Trustees, Fellowship, Evangelism, Missions and Discipleship. The Chairpersons of each board, along with a few officers and the pastor, met once/month as our church council. It worked really well for many years, especially because it involved lots of people in the work of the church. But as the church grew and ministries got more and more complicated, we started to see a number of problems with the Abdon model, including:

• Some ministries became large enough and complicated enough that they couldn't be effectively led by volunteers. Staff leadership was required. However, as staff took on a leadership role, lines of authority and responsibility between boards and staff became increasingly unclear.
• Because of this lack of clarity, even relatively minor decisions took way too long to be finalized. We seemed to spend more time "almost making decisions" than actually making them!
• We were suffering from "the silo effect." Each board and staff person cared deeply about their area of ministry, but no one was looking out for the church as a whole. Our ministries desperately needed alignment and real accountability.
• We spent way too much time managing our present and very little time creating a better future.
• The Senior Pastor could no longer function simply as the preacher, teacher and spiritual advisor to the Council. The size of the church required him to take on a more significant role as leader.
• Women were restricted from serving on our Board of Elders, because of our beliefs about the pastoral office. However, most of the work of our Elders were actually doing had nothing to do with the pastoral office.

Together, these struggles convinced us it was time to explore a new way of doing the work of the church. For us, that new way was PBG.

What issues caused your church to look at PBG?

Help from the Alban Institute

The Alban Institute has published an article on their website that can be very helpful for churches exploring PBG. It's called, "Beyond 'Corporate': New Insights on Larger Churches" by Susan Beaumont.

In the article, Beaumont talks about three different congregation types:

• First, the "Multi-celled church": Congregations with annual operating budgets of between $400,000 and $1,000,000 and between 250 and 400 people in worship attendance.


• Second, the "Professional church": Congregations with an annual operating budget of between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 and/or weekly worship attendance of 400 to 800.


• Third, the "Strategic church": Congregations with a budget between $2,000,000 and $4,000,000 and/or an average weekly attendance of 800 to 1,200.

Her observations of the realities and challenges of each church size are truly insightful.

Here's an excerpt from her analysis of the governance needs of "Professional" churches:

"In the professional congregation, the governing board must learn a more distant approach to leadership, relinquishing the daily management of the church to the staff team. Working with the pastor on vision articulation, the governing board is instrumental in creating policy and systems for managing performance, maintaining accountability, and preventing vision drift. The board spends less time on the daily fiduciary work of the congregation and more time on strategic leadership."

Sounds like PBG to me!

You'll find the full article at this link: http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?q=printme&z=2&id=6370. I highly recommend it.

After you've read it, I'd love to have you post your comments.

A Sample Board Policy Manual

If PBG is going to work in your congregation, you've got to have a good policy manual for your Board of Directors. The Board's policy manual guides the Senior Pastor in all his work, setting both the strategic direction and the boundaries in which he must operate.

I've found looking at samples from other PBG churches to be very helpful.

Follow this link to see the latest version of my congregation's policy manual:
http://reachgrowserve.org/frm/policy_manual.pdf

If you lead a PBG church and have your policy manual online, I'd love to have you post the link in the comments here.

A Great Resource for PBG churches

Of all the resources my congregation has used to introduce and support the implementation of PBG, this one was, without a doubt, the most helpful: "Winning on Purpose", by John Edmund Kaiser. (Abingdon Press, 2006).

Kaiser's model, called "Accountable Leadership", differs slightly from the classic PBG model laid out by John Carver. (Kaiser is careful to note the differences wherever they occur). But the differences are minimal enough that they are not problematic.

Before we made the transition to PBG, we bought a copy of this book for every member of the staff and church council as well as every member of every board. It was well worth the investment.

Here's just a few things I liked about Kaiser's book:

1. For starters, unlike all of John Carver's stuff, Kaiser's book does not need to be "translated" for the world of the church. Kaiser writes for churches, and with great sensitivity to the various denominational traditions of his readers.


2. Kaiser uses easy-to-understand sports metaphors to explain his model. More than anything else, this helped our people really "get it."


3. Even if your church isn't considering PBG, you should have your leaders read the first quarter of this book. It's a clear and challenging presentation of the purpose of the church. The subtitle of the book reveals both Kaiser's heart and intent in writing, "How to Organize Congregations to Succeed in Their Mission."

I highly recommend "Winning on Purpose" to you and your church.

After you read it, I'd love to have you post your own comments about the book here.

What is PBG church?

"PBG" stands for "Policy-based governance." My church--Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Palatine, Illinois--made the switch to this structure in June of 2008. It's going well so far, but not without its challenges. I'd love this blog to be a forum where pastors and leaders of other PBG churches can share ideas and learn from one another.

Here's some topics I'd like to discuss in the future (in no particular order):

• What resources (consultants, books, web sites, etc.) helped you make and implement the change to PBG?
• What challenges have you faced in making this business model work in a church setting?
• How does your Board handle performance evaluations for the Senior Pastor?
• How many "desired outcomes" has your Board given your Senior Pastor? What are they? What are you doing to ensure that they are truly guiding the work of your congregation and staff?
• How have your staff meetings changed since moving to PBG?

Do any of those topics interest you? What would you like to discuss?