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?