Revitalize Your Church

Image from https://www.xpastor.org 1.  Intelligent boards don't mind making complex decisions and they don't want the decision made for them ahead of time. 2.  The higher the engagement and leadership horsepower, the less likely rubber-stamping will be satisfactory.  They will not settle for the first, simple solution.  They need to think it through. 3.  Intelligent boards need good information in order to make good decisions.  This requires a good amount of homework on someone's part, and a clear presentation of options at the meeting. 4.  The best way to frustrate (and lose) intelligent board members is to clog the agenda with trivial non-essentials.  Every meeting should be built around the highest priorities. 5.  Hearty, constructive, debate, expressing differences of opinion is a good way to discover the best answer.  This requires at least some measure of emotional health on the part of all the participants. 6...

After leading or participating in over a thousand board meetings, I've concluded that the most effective boards have figured out how to do the following things well: B --  Believe:   Operate by faith rather than fear.  Prayer for guidance is essential.  When faced with a big challenge, what you do next reveals what you really believe about God. O --  Optimize:   Look for ways build up, strengthen and move forward.  Focus on the possibilities, rather than the problems.  No nit picking or circle spinning. A --  Argue:   Perhaps I should say "argue constructively."  A good board is not just a bunch of rubber stampers.  Neither should it be a collection of cantankerous cranks.  On a healthy board, divergent viewpoints are encouraged and expressed positively.  The best outcomes occur after the various perspectives are weighed.  There's a way to disagree agreeably, keeping the unity of the Spirit in t...