Organization Structure and Design
Organization structure and design: focuses on the most efficient way to group tasks, resources, and people to achieve organizational goals, optimize the performance of the organization, and meet the demands of a competitive environment.
An organization structure should be designed to clarify the environment so that everyone knows who is to do what and who is responsible for what results; obstacles to performance caused by confusion and uncertainty of assignment are removed; and there is furnished a decision-making communications network reflecting and supporting enterprise objectives.
An organization structure should be designed to clarify the environment so that everyone knows who is to do what and who is responsible for what results; obstacles to performance caused by confusion and uncertainty of assignment are removed; and there is furnished a decision-making communications network reflecting and supporting enterprise objectives.
Basic Principles of Healthy Organization
Harmony: Organization activities in the local church must promote and enhance congregational unity and harmony (Eph. 4:3-4). The following guidelines can serve to promote organization harmony:
A balance must be maintained between organization effectiveness (what to do) and efficiency (how to do it). Church leaders should be concerned about the needs of church members and with enabling other church members to meet these needs.
The church’s formal programs must be organized and managed in a personalized way by church member involvement, face-to-face communication, and church staff members who are available and approachable.
As a congregation’s membership increases, its leaders must not allow the growing number of programs and ministries to become isolated from mainstream congregational life. The church staff must fight the tendency to "run the church" for its members and instead equip members to run their own church under the staff’s leadership.
Diversity: The church must be organized in a way that makes room for diverse personalities, gifts, ministries, and goals (1 Cor. 12:12). Diversity can be promoted in several ways:
Over-organization must be avoided with its dangers of impersonal programming, streamlined inefficiency.
Great emphasis must be placed on communication and interaction as ways to encourage diversity, yet preserve unit of purpose.
The spiritual leaders of the church must carefully define the body’s mission, priorities, and goals to ensure that congregational diversity does not confuse how the church is led to serve Christ.
Enabling: Church organization must lead members to use their diverse spiritual gifts fruitfully (1 Thess. 5:11). Guidelines to follow are:
The church must stress discipling of members to equip them for service. Church leaders must fruitfully build themselves into lay members and provide opportunities to minister to others in the church.
The church must be diligently devoted to prayer so that God’s divine enabling becomes the foundation of all congregational efforts. The church must be run by God’s power first, not by human power.
The church’s lay leadership base must grow as the membership grows.
Accountability: The church’s organization should hold members accountable to Christ and to one another for their behavior (Rom. 14:12). The following recommendations can enhance healthy accountable.
A balance must be maintained between organization effectiveness (what to do) and efficiency (how to do it). Church leaders should be concerned about the needs of church members and with enabling other church members to meet these needs.
The church’s formal programs must be organized and managed in a personalized way by church member involvement, face-to-face communication, and church staff members who are available and approachable.
As a congregation’s membership increases, its leaders must not allow the growing number of programs and ministries to become isolated from mainstream congregational life. The church staff must fight the tendency to "run the church" for its members and instead equip members to run their own church under the staff’s leadership.
Diversity: The church must be organized in a way that makes room for diverse personalities, gifts, ministries, and goals (1 Cor. 12:12). Diversity can be promoted in several ways:
Over-organization must be avoided with its dangers of impersonal programming, streamlined inefficiency.
Great emphasis must be placed on communication and interaction as ways to encourage diversity, yet preserve unit of purpose.
The spiritual leaders of the church must carefully define the body’s mission, priorities, and goals to ensure that congregational diversity does not confuse how the church is led to serve Christ.
Enabling: Church organization must lead members to use their diverse spiritual gifts fruitfully (1 Thess. 5:11). Guidelines to follow are:
The church must stress discipling of members to equip them for service. Church leaders must fruitfully build themselves into lay members and provide opportunities to minister to others in the church.
The church must be diligently devoted to prayer so that God’s divine enabling becomes the foundation of all congregational efforts. The church must be run by God’s power first, not by human power.
The church’s lay leadership base must grow as the membership grows.
Accountability: The church’s organization should hold members accountable to Christ and to one another for their behavior (Rom. 14:12). The following recommendations can enhance healthy accountable.
- Church leaders should be held accountable both for what they do or attempt to do (effectiveness) and for how they do things (efficiency).
- Leaders must lead in a people-oriented manner and not become isolated and impersonal.
- Leaders must be held accountable for the spiritual growth and maturity of congregation members.
- Headship.: The local church must be organized around Christ, both in structure and in practice (Eph.1:22). The following recommendations apply:
- Church leaders should be chosen first on the basis of their relationship to Christ, not primarily for their business ability.
- Churches cannot be organizationally healthy unless they are first spiritually healthy.
- The best church leaders are those who follow Christ the most.