5 Signs Bad Church Governance Is Stifling Your Growth and Mission

You probably almost didn’t open this article, did you? Church governance?

Who cares about governance?

Well, if you care about reaching more people and accomplishing your mission, read on.

I’m convinced bad governance is a key contributing factor to why many churches don’t grow. Conversely, I’m convinced that good governance is a key factor in why some do churches grow.

In fact, there’s a good chance your governance model is frustrating you right now… and you might not even know it.

Bad governance — or, more charitably, unhelpful governance — is pretty much the norm in the church world. Even if you have decent people on your board or boards, the system itself is sometimes an obstacle.

First, What Do I Mean By Governance?

The main tension pastors face is a church governance structure that is either too loose, leaving church leaders unprotected and ungoverned, or too restrictive, leaving visionary pastors handcuffed with too many rules and regulations and a lack of freedom to advance the mission.

First, a little clarification on governance. It’s such a wide term, depending on the context, that it’s good to be clear on what we’re talking about.

Here’s a simple definition of church governance: How the structure through which your church is organized and operates.

And church governance structures vary widely, to name a few:

Independent churches with congregational rule
Elder-led churches
Bi-cameral boards (elders and deacons)
Boards composed of outside leaders
Denominational structures involving elder boards, councils, vestries, wardens, bishops, dioceses, presbyteries, synods, and more.

Of course, this is only a partial list. Forms of church governance are almost as wide and diverse as the Church itself.

And sometimes, governance is simply bad. It’s either outdated, inappropriate for the church’s size (for example, congregational rule only works in very small churches), or populated by the wrong leaders.

I’ve never heard a conference talk on how governance can help a church grow, nor seen a webinar on it. Honestly, apart from How to Break Growth Barriers by Carl George and Warren Bird, I haven’t seen much at all.

But if you spend a few minutes reviewing the 5 signs of bad governance below, I think your church could be poised for growth as a future-ready ministry. Or at least you’ll have better insight into why things aren’t going as you hoped.

Bad governance is the silent killer of many great church missions.

Bad governance is the slient killer of many great church missions. Share on X

First, Please Know This Isn’t Written as a Personal Attack.

Before jumping into the signs that bad governance is stifling your church’s growth, here are a few words.

I realize that many denominations pride themselves on governance as much as they do on theology. I get that.

As you read through this, you might be tempted to think I’m being unbiblical in my critiques or even insensitive to your denomination’s approach. As a former member of a denomination (I lead a non-denominational church now), I can empathize.

Yet many forms of church governance are not so much biblical as historical, which means they should be open to change. Most governance systems were designed to work in an era when churches were smaller, communities and cities were smaller, and we were not living in a post-Christian America.

This doesn’t mean all vestiges of historic church governance should be ousted. But I’ve seen many cases where church governance hurts the church’s mission more than it helps it — what worked 200 years ago has stopped working today.

Churches that are willing to reformulate governance (within the parameters of scripture, of course) will do far better than those that don’t.

So, as we go through these 5 signs related to bad church governance, try not to get defensive. Stay open. There’s too much at stake not to rethink everything in the church.

In many cases, church governance hurts the church's mission more than it helps the church's mission. What worked 200 years ago has stopped working today. Share on X

5 Signs Bad Church Governance is Stifling Your Church’s Growth and Mission.

1. Your board or congregation loves to micromanage

Small churches are notorious for wanting approval on every decision, from the paint color in the kid’s ministry rooms to every hire in the church to every minute curriculum change.

That’s a recipe for disaster.

Why?

Once you reach a certain size, ministry becomes complex enough that two hours a month or even a monthly congregational meeting isn’t nearly enough time to meaningfully review the issues before the congregation.

Just think about it for a second.

At a minimum, a pastor or staff member will have spent 160 hours working on issues in a month. A board member might spend two. A congregational member might spend an hour—or, more likely, about 30 seconds—before passing judgment.

Why would you let church members vote on something they've thought about for 30 seconds? Share on X

How can a board make a decision on every item in the allotted time? How on earth can a congregation?

Yet it’s not that hard to find board members and congregational members who have opinions on everything — no matter how ill-informed those opinions might be.

Boards and congregations that micromanage keep their churches small because of their need to control every decision.

Churches in which boards micromanage rarely grow beyond 200 in attendance because the issues facing churches larger than that require boards to stop micromanaging.

Micromanaging shrinks the size of the congregation back to the size in which everything can be ‘controlled’.

One more thing on micromanagement.

Great leaders never say, “Please micromanage me.” So, if you want to repel great leaders, micromanage them.

Great leaders never say 'micromanage me'. If you want to repel great leaders, micromanage them. Share on X

2. Your congregation demands consensus

Somewhere along the way someone got the idea that everyone has to agree with every decision.

That’s actually crazy.

Where on earth did the idea that we need consensus on every decision emerge?

If Moses had waited for consensus before leaving Egypt, the Israelites would still be in slavery.

Consensus kills courage. Churches that look for consensus will never find courage, and churches that find courage will rarely find consensus… at least initially.

When you drive for consensus, decisions get watered down to the point where all the risk is gone, and any boldness evaporates. You get churches that come out in favor of yard sales and Mother’s Day. And that’s about it.

Look, if you and your spouse can’t agree on where to go on vacation, how do you think you’ll get 200 (or 2000) people to agree on anything significant as a church?

Almost nothing gets accomplished if everyone has a say.

So, should you ever try for consensus? Well, yes, but likely at the board level. John Stickl has a fascinating approach to consensus style leadership in a mega-church context that he explains on my leadership podcast.

Consensus kills courage. Almost nothing significant gets accomplished when everyone has a say. Share on X

3. Your board or congregation doesn’t trust the staff

This sounds so basic, but it’s so often missed.

For a church to grow and be healthy, there has to be a high level of trust between the staff, the board, and the congregation.

Naturally, that trust has to be earned by the pastors and staff.

But it’s amazing to me how many people in churches distrust their pastors and staff for no good reason. Churches that cultivate a default assumption of suspicion, not trust, will always pay a price.

Bottom line?

If you don’t trust the staff, fire the staff. If you trust them, let them lead.

If you don't trust the staff, fire the staff. If you trust them, let them lead. Share on X

4. Your staff hates the board

I realize hate is a strong word. But I’ve met enough church leaders who loathe their boards to know the problem goes both ways.

Sure. Look. I know you don’t have your ‘dream board’ yet.

You inherited a board when you stepped into leadership. We all did.

When I began in leadership, the three small churches had a total attendance of 45 people (adding all three together), but had 18 elders (I’m not making this up).

The average age of the elders was about 70, and they had all presided over churches that had been stuck for decades. There were some great people on the board, and there were a few who were not ideally suited for leadership.

That could have been a recipe for disaster. But why not see it as an opportunity instead?

You have to start cultivating a relationship with the people you have in leadership before you can work with the people you want in leadership.

If there are toxic church or board members, you can deal with them and, over time, build a better board.

But if you hate your board after 3 years of leadership, it’s not your board’s fault, it’s yours.

You haven’t done the hard work of cultivating a relationship of trust or moving unhealthy board members off.

So get started. Be a great steward of who you have, not who you don’t have.

When it comes to people, be a great steward of who you have, not who you don't have. Share on X

5. Your board focuses on complainers

If your church board meetings usually begin with “So and so isn’t happy about [insert issue here]”, you have a problem.

Sometimes, boards feel it’s their responsibility to speak up for people who don’t have a voice.

That might be true for widows and orphans. It’s not true for the cranky church member who is opposed to everything.

Great churches focus on who they’re trying to reach, not who they’re trying to keep.

So, why do so many churches struggle trying to please people?

It’s a great question to think about. While there are countless reasons, I think one of the main reasons is that leaders struggle to navigate people who oppose the vision they have for the future.

If you’re looking for more handling opposition in leadership, here are 3 great places to start:

Boards (and congregations) focusing on who they’re trying to reach will be much healthier and do much better than congregations focusing on complainers.

Focus on who you're trying to reach, not who you're trying to keep. Share on X

So, What’s The Best Form of Governance?

That’s the question you’re here for, right? What IS the best model of governance?

The best answer to that question is this: Whatever form best helps you advance the mission.

Once a church reaches a certain size, governance almost always has to change for the reasons stated above.

Because of that, I personally prefer a staff-led, elder-guided, and people-gifted approach to governance — an approach I learned from the team at North Point and that works very well.

Staff-Led

Being staff-led allows people to lead with appropriate freedom.

I say “appropriate” because we’ve all sadly seen the problems and pain that happen when staff are allowed to lead without accountability. But I also say “freedom” because I’ve seen just as many (or more) staff who feel hamstrung and held back by a micro-managing board.

Elder-Guided

An elder-guided church has internally selected elders that govern to ensure the staff and congregation stay true to the church’s mission, vision, and values and that the church remains healthy and faithful.

That doesn’t mean the church can’t have outside advisors (other pastors or leaders), but an internally selected board helps keep the congregation true to the local mission and team to which it’s called.

People-Gifted

A people-gifted church is one where the Body of Christ lives out its ministry by using its gifts both inside and outside the church.

When those three things are in place, churches have an excellent chance of living up to the potential of their mission, seeing real and often rapid growth while retaining a governance approach that encourages accountability and freedom to live out the calling of ministry.