Am I ready to serve?
You have been nominated to serve, Should you accept? Here are a few key questions that you should answer.
- Do you have a call to our church’s mission?
- Where are you at in your spiritual maturity to handle the weight of the position?
- Do you have time and family support?
- Are you willing to volunteer, serve as a team member, be a team player, and put the good of the ministry ahead of your own?
- Are you willing to accept the role description?
- Are you willing to be unpopular, say what is on your mind even when it is a minority opinion, in a respectful humble loving way?
What Should I Be Aware of?
- We are a not for profit incorporated entity with charity status. We are governed by a constitution, bylaws, charitable purposes, statement of faith, and vision.
- The role you have been nominated is primarily concerned with providing visionary oversight.
- The role you have been nominated for has specific duties you must agree to in order to accept.
- Our church has a history of board decisions you need to be familiar with.
- Our church has several challenges we are facing.
Liabilities
Board members have a duty to honesty, loyalty, care, and diligence. They carry the weight of the organization and are personally liable for its activities.
As a board member you are committing to putting in place policies and practices that protect the organization and its members.
At our church, we have liability insurance to cover our board and members from issues that may arise. The insurance covers any legal challenges provided the board has successfully fulfilled its fiduciary duties, did not breach trust, meeting government requirements, acted within their scope, without negligence, ensuring good risk management, in the best interest of others and the organization.
Church Boards are Unique
- Board members are both directors and beneficiaries so a potential exists for conflict of interest between personal and corporate interests.
- Directors are emotionally attached to our church and believe they have great expertise in church life. This creates a greater sense of ownership than normal.
- Directors need to balance the tension of humble leadership and openness in order to be effective. They must realize the grace on them for the position they are in but also be aware of the gaps in their own knowledge, experience, and ideas of leadership.
- Church board leadership are often the first experience church members have in leading an organization and are growing in how to be a good board member.
- Church boards have spiritual overtones that agency boards do not. Directors have a harder time evaluating the performance of the pastor and voting against their wishes.
- Our church invests time in board orientation and development in nonprofit organizational management.
- This is why we invest time in building a relationship in our board team.
What’s the Biblical Perspective?
We must see the church as an organism that has an organization to operate in Canada. The need for church boards, membership, and annual meetings are the product of our nation, not the Bible.
We cannot lose our identity while fulfilling our civic duty or mix up the two.
We must do well. We must be wise in business, clear in accounting, excellent in policies, habitual in order, constant in structure.
We must also be led by God’s word and voice. We must not lose our convictions, or lose sight of our vision, mission, and values.