Ask most churchgoers to identify the key components of church life and they will likely mention preaching, pastoral care, and worship. Few will think of insurance policies, utility bills, or the sound system upgrade. Yet without someone attending to those things, the work of ministry quietly grinds to a halt.
From Carrying Dry Cleaning to Carrying Responsibility
My journey into church administration was anything but planned. When I was first employed by Brackenhurst Baptist Church in August 1998, my job description was deceptively simple: take as much off the pastors’ plates as possible. My first assignment as a pastoral assistant was to plant grass in the church’s front garden.
As personal assistant to the pastors, I was responsible to run dry cleaning, take children to piano lessons, and collect post. Over time, as I identified administrative needs, the role naturally transitioned.
In the intervening years, that instinct to serve has grown into a wide-ranging portfolio: overseeing website and social media maintenance, handling banking and insurance, managing staff schedules, producing the weekly bulletin and order of service, etc. I have come to appreciate just how much administration is involved in church life.
A Biblical Case for Church Administration
The very question of employing someone for church administration is one that has been asked time and again over the years. While administrator is not a formal church office, like elder or deacon, and while not every church will be in the privileged position to be able to employ an administrator, there are biblical principles that underly the need for church administration.
Consider 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul lists the gifts God has appointed in the church: apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts of healing, and, notably, helping and administrating. God has given his church a range of giftings, none of which is superfluous. If the New Testament highlights administration, it is clearly something that the church requires.
When administrative work is left undone, it does not simply disappear. It accumulates on the desks of elders and pastors, whose calling is the ministry of the word and prayer. I was employed, to some degree, to help the pastor by doing some of the administrative stuff he should not have to do. The decision for the church to hire an administrator was theologically driven, not pragmatically.
Advice for Churches Without an Administrator
While not every church will afford a vocational administrator, it is not an unwise use of resources if it is doable. Having someone on staff who is dedicated to administration will enable the pastors to do their work better, which will benefit the church in the long run.
Churches without that budget must be proactive. Pastors should sit down and honestly list every task that is consuming their time but pulling them away from study, visitation, counselling, and shepherding. That list becomes the basis for a conversation with the deacons: How can they help?
Beyond the deacons, churches should understand that God has gifted church members for ministry purposes. Churches have members gifted in finances and maintenance who could fill administrative roles that pastors cannot. A member employed as an audiovisual technician will likely be of significant assistance to the running of the church.
The key is helping church members understand that the church does not belong to the staff but to the whole body. That means returning people to the logic of 1 Corinthians 12. Where are your giftings? How can you use them for the building up of the church rather than the building of your own little kingdom? The goal is not to produce consumers in the church, but to mobilise the body.
More Than an Administrator
Of course, this does not mean that an administrator cannot take on other responsibilities. An experienced administrator who knows the church deeply may be well-placed to take on pastoral responsibilities too, creating a genuine partnership with the senior pastor rather than merely lightening his load.
Sometimes, faithfulness in small things—even planting grass in front of the church—is where a gift is discovered.