by unSeminary: Thanks for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. This week we’re talking with Ben Cachiaras, lead pastor of Mountain Christian Church. Mountain Christian Church was founded back in 1824 and currently has four campuses in Maryland.

Ben is with us today to talk about how to foster thriving relationships between the elders and the senior staff at your church.

Theology of eldership. // The sad reality about many relationships between elders and senior church leaders is that they can be antagonistic. Navigating the challenges of this relationship are vitally important because the mission of the church is at stake, and so is the health of the pastor. Where does one begin in taking steps toward unity and strong, healthy relationships? First ask what is the theology of eldership at your church. Are the biblical descriptions checklists, or descriptions of the kind of elders you’re looking for? Why or why aren’t they important to your church?Ask important questions. // Mountain Christian Church has a high view of eldership. Among some of the qualities and characteristics they look at are: someone who has mission of the church at stake, someone who is a person of character and competency. Would they have chemistry with the other people on the team, and are they ready for the commitment? What does their stewardship and contribution at church look like? Lastly, do they have a Christ-centered home? Developing elders is part of the leadership pipeline at Mountain Christian; these individuals are already serving and demonstrating leadership and MCC seeks to help them rise to their next level.Develop a year-round process to find and create elders. // Some years ago Ben began this leadership pipeline process for elders by inviting some people to talk with him and two existing elders about developing their skills and leadership in the church. This led to a 13-week period of development where they met and studied scripture, holiness, character, and skills such as how to develop a team and cast vision. Now there is a booklet and curriculum developed to walk people through everything from their gifting and personality tests to spiritual disciplines and leadership skills. This leadership pipeline has become a great source for discovering future elders.Relationally connect. // Teams that are relationally connected lead better. The elders need to be in deep relationship with Christ and bring their strengths to the table. And Ben and his elder team care about each other and know what is going on in each other’s lives. When the elders are taking their walk with Christ seriously and their relationship with each other seriously, they can lead the church better. Meet regularly. // At Mountain Christian there are regular meetings to nurture these relationships. During monthly business meetings they examine high level metrics and trends at the church together. There are also monthly study meetings in which they talk about non-business things. This might include reading and discussing a book together as well as meeting over a meal at someone’s house and spending time in prayer. Lastly, go on offsite retreats annually. MCC uses this time not only to build camaraderie but also to prepare for new challenges. Sometimes it’s just the elders attending the retreats and other times their spouses come along too.Trust each other. // The role of elders is vitally important at a church. But in order for their role to be effective, there must be trust between the pastor and elders. Elders need an instinct not to control everything, but rather function at a higher level to protect the church. On the other side, if the lead pastor is defensive about questions he’s asked, that’s a big yellow flag. Create a culture that validates the relational component of eldership and makes time for it. When you have a team aligned, you’ll be able to lead well with vision.

You can learn more about Mountain Christian Church at mountaincc.org. Ben also has a blog at outofmymind.cc.

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Thank You to This Article’s Sponsor: Risepointe

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Source: Insights into Thriving Relationships Between Elders & Senior Church Leaders with Ben Cachiaras

The post Insights into Thriving Relationships Between Elders & Senior Church Leaders with Ben Cachiaras appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Patrick Bradley: What is the end game for a church plant Management Team? When does a Management Team win?

Understanding the Management Team win is important in recruiting team members and in keeping everyone shooting at the same target. You’ll have a Management Team for several years and even the best teams can experience mission drift.

A Management Team wins when they:

Work Themselves Out of a Job

It’s kind of like being a parent and seeing your teenagers off into the real world. The Management Team provides leadership until the new church can make it on its own in these three ways:

Self-Sustaining

If it’s going to be an autonomous congregation, the church should be able to support itself financially before too long. Many times other congregations represented on the Management Team have shared their resources to get the new church started. But no mother church wants a boomerang church living in their basement.

Self-Governing

The planter needs to raise up leadership from within over the course of a couple of years. Slowly the baton should be passed from the Management Team to the local Elders.

Reproducing

Eventually the mother church wants to have granddaughter churches. Studies continue to show a connection between church plants that get involved early in planting another church and their own health and sustainability.

Head Problems Off at the Pass

In the mean time, the Management Team wins when they have access to enough information to know what’s going on. Their leadership experience and wisdom will help you see opportunities and problems on the horizon and maneuver accordingly. Probably that information takes the form of ministry reports and/or church metrics. If you keep your Management Team in the dark, they’ll won’t be able to help with your real issues.

Your Management Team is an invaluable resource during the first years of your new church. Set them up to win and you’ll win, too!

The post When Does a Management Team Win? appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: When Does a Management Team Win?

The post When Does a Management Team Win? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Patrick Bradley: Autonomous church planters should come under the authority of a church plant Management Team. Here’s what a Management Team is:

The New Testament makes a strong case for congregations being overseen by a plurality of Elders. But when you’re starting a new church from scratch, you won’t have Elders (and typically shouldn’t – more on that below).

There are different models of planting churches, but from a leadership structure standpoint, planters in my circles are starting new, legally autonomous congregations. So all of the leadership systems and structures they experienced in past ministries must be recreated for the new church.

A Management Team will function as your temporary Eldership. I’ll explore those roles in my next post; we’ll stick with form for today.

It Should Be External

Those installed on your church plant Management Team should meet the Biblical qualifications of being Elders. Even if you have a candidate or two that meet that criteria on your initial Launch Team, you should still have an external Management Team.

Ultimately, your ideal local Elders will be people who came to faith as adults at your church plant. They will own your mission & DNA like no other. But it’s important not to install your local Eldership too soon in the church plant for two reasons:

You’re creating a new church culture; transfer Elders will come with another church’s DNA
Promoting new believers to positions of spiritual authority too quickly can be destructive to all parties

Where to Find Them

There are different ways of going about assembling an external Management Team:

If you have strong ties with a local mother/sending church, staff or Elders from that church could serve
If several churches have formed a network to birth your church, a rep from each church could serve
Your mentors and former ministry colleagues could serve

One thing to be sure of, though, is that the team you assemble is able to govern you. You need people who are willing to speak the hard truth to you and call you to account. Don’t assemble a toothless advisory board of yes-men.

Another thing you should strive for is diversity of age, wiring, background, race, etc. We were first called Christians in Antioch, where the leadership was diverse [Acts 13].

How Many Should Serve?

Your Bylaws will spell out how many should be on the team, but it should be no fewer than 3 (especially if it’s you and 2 others). You’re submitting to their collective authority, so you shouldn’t be able to out-vote them.

And especially for a church just getting started that has to move fast and make lots of decisions, I’d suggest not making the team too large. The 11-man squad pictured above would not be ideal.

Long Distance is OK

Though there may be some advantages to your church plant Management Team being local, today’s technology makes virtual meetings incredibly viable. So don’t let geography limit your pool of candidates.

How Often Should They Meet?

Again, this should be outlined in your Bylaws, but at the very beginning, your church plant Management Team will probably need to meet every month for an hour or two. This church plant thing is a moving target and there will be lots of decisions that need to be made quickly.

Up Next:

4 Reasons You Need a Church Plant Management Team
When Does a Management Team Win?

The post What is a Church Plant Management Team? appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: What is a Church Plant Management Team?

The post What is a Church Plant Management Team? appeared first on Passion for Planting.