Church Operations Manual
Excellent source for church administration.
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About The Book
A compilation of documents for church operations from over 30 years of Ministry and church administration.
UNDERSTANDING CHURCH GROWTH
It is a Sin to be good if God called us to be Great– Thom Ranier
A friend handed me a book called “The Breakout Church” and this one statement has caused a revolution in my spirit, what has created a cause and effect. The Cause is; The Cause of Christ and the effect is for me to be great, not in the eyes of man but in eyes of God. I Pray the Church never tires of revival, evangelism and growth, because this is HIS heartbeat.
The growth of a local church is the natural byproduct of its spiritual health (intimate relationship to God). The church belongs to Christ, not to us. He has a unique growth plan & purpose for each local church that makes up His body. Christ, not man, makes the local church grow.
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Some churches are redwood trees, others are bushes; some are flowers, others are grass. But ALL of the plants in God’s forest have strong roots.Christ is interested in Kingdom growth New converts, not growth based on the3 Ms: materialism, marketing, & management.
Many People try and grow a church from Knowledge alone. In the Garden God gave the Tree Of Knowledge and the Tree of Life so that BOTH could be accessed. That we would have knowledge through life in Him. But most of the time we tree to access ONLY the Tree of Knowledge, This is where Church growth becomes skewed.The church should nurture and love people. The pulpit/pastor is the masculine (authority) side of the church but the pew/saints should be feminine (loving) side of the church.
This generation is trying to have revival with carnal reasoning. Due to a perceived disconnection between young men, in their frustration they are looking to other “successful”methods for growth. However our identity is not in OUR PURPOSE but instead in HIS PERSON! So the ways of men won’t lead us into the revival that GOD has planned for us.
God is interested in the right motives for church growth: love for sinners;a sacrificing lifestyle that is salt & light to the world; dependence on God ,true humility. Man’s motives for church growth are: Budgets, Baptisms, & Buildings, empire-building pride like the Tower of Babel, staff career-climbing; & guilt
What’s inside
Church Adminstration
Membership Agreements
Ministry Gifts
Forms
Important Church forms
Leadership Development
Job Descriptions
Chapter 1
The Small Minded Church
The comfortable, non-sacrificing church
We expect the staff to do the work of the church. “That’s what we pay them for, isn’t it?”
We expect missionaries to save all the souls. “That’s what God called them to do, isn’t it?”
Church leaders must stay out of the comfort zone & model sacrificing discipleship to the congregation. The church must be in the world to save those in the world. (John 17: 6-19)
Growing, spiritually healthy churches must make room for the non-Christian, the “near-Christian,” the immature Christian, & the backslidden Christian. Legalism & membership conformity cause the church to lose its warmth (salt & light).
The church must tithe its budget & time to go beyond church walls in the local community.
we don’t pray: (1) We’re comfortable & don’t want anything (2) We don’t care enough about others (3) We think small (4) We don’t want to get involved (5) We’re afraid God will respond & we’ll have to interrupt our comfortable routine.
What Church Growth Is NOT.
Church growth does not take place unless a new Christian enters God’s Kingdom. Transferring memberships between churches is “recycled”growth. Because our society is breaking down morally, most church growth opportunities today come from crisis ministry: divorce, unwanted pregnancies, alcohol & drug addiction, family abuse, etc. This is the harvest field that Christ labored in & said was white unto harvest. (John 4:35 & Matthew 9:37-38) Unfortunately, this is crisis ministry, not comfortable ministry.People leave one church because the Other Guy has it “GOING on”
In the World
Middle class America is comfortable and secular, so this is often a barren harvest field to work in. Unfortunately, many churches want to do all of their work in this harvest field, because middle class church members have money & usually require only a modest amount of the church staff’s time & energy. Crisis ministry church members can be disruptive to church routine & require a lot of time & attention. Highly legalistic churches don’t view the “crop” in crisis harvest fields to be very worthy of harvesting. (Matthew 9:1-6) if you are not in agreement with this principle, go see the disciples, most of them were crisis ministry converts.
Church growth requires the church to be all things to all people. (I Cor. 10:33)
Because God has a unique purpose & plan for each local church, He is doing special work in each church. Leaders should find where God’s special construction site is for their local church & go to work there. If we want our church to grow, we should work where God is already working in our midst!
The more a church grows numerically, the more it must engage in discipleship. New Christians need the best form of discipleship is “on-the-job” ministry service to the unsaved & to those in crisis. Disciples of Christ must get beyond the comfortable walls of the local church & go out into the world where people are hurting & searching for forgiveness & a fresh start in life.
The local church cannot grow if it seals itself off from the world for fear of being “tainted” by sin. We have the whole armor of God to help us be in the world but not be of the world. (Ephesians 6:13)
Churches should look for ministry partners to provide growth opportunities: Not trying to find reason to be busy…
…BUT NOT OF THE WORLD
The Lord’s local church is not a business (“The Church of Choice”). A CEO & board of executives shouldn’t run it. The job of the church staff & lay leaders is not to perform. This is The Lords role. Church leaders are to be spiritual role models, reflecting the light of the Holy Spirit to the congregation & a dying world.
The local church must not use the devices of the world (entertainment, material wealth & comfort, power, slick marketing, autocratic management, etc.) to run itself & promote its interests.
The church must emphasize OUTREACH (to the unsaved) over INREACH (to the comfortable congregation). Church leaders must encourage & empower members to get away from the church for outreaching ministry activities.As a Pastor My church would follow my lead, yours will too if you will be the Leader God called you to be.
You Lead from the Front. You Drive from Behind.
Did God call you to be a shepherd or a cowboy? Church leaders are to empower members, not control them (which is the proper role of the Holy Spirit). When staff seek to control people, someone goes out the back door of the church every time a new member arrives through the front door.The Bible is meant to be applied, not merely studied.
Small churches shouldn’t envy middle size churches. Middle-size churches shouldn’t covet to be large churches. Large churches shouldn’t lust to be super churches. All church growth is Christ’s business.
The wrong church growth tools are: pressure, competition, guilt, & entertainment.
The right church growth tools are: prayer, sanctification, discipleship, outreach, sacrifice, discomfort, sorrow, compassion, diversity, Bible-applying.
Your Value.
God doesn’t value you or your church for what you do. We don’t have to earn God’s love or blessings. God has a unique role for you & your church. Look at your ministry through His eyes, not man’s eyes. Church growth is truly God’s work.
Church growth happens one saved soul at a time.The grass & bushes in the forest are just as useful & necessary as the tall trees.Be the child of God he wants you to be & He will sanctify you to help the members of your church become the Christians He wants them to be. When the members of a church are the disciples God wants them to be, the church will grow & grow!
Chapters
Pages
This Book is born out of 30+ years of ministry, from Evangelism to Pastoral and Administrative experience.
About the author.
The Marshall family lived in Houston Texas under the pastorate of Rev Verbal W. Bean until his untimely death in 1976. Then in 1980
they moved to the Philippine Islands where they lived for 10 years starting many churches and a Bible College in Manila Philippines.
In 1986 Tim left the Philippines and returned to the USA to attend Jackson College of Ministries in Jackson Mississippi, as a Music Major.
Tim served two terms as an Associate in Missions worker in Hong Kong where he assisted Missionary Rev Robert Forbush. In 1989 Tim also received his Ministers License with the United Pentecostal Church Int. In September 1989 Tim Marshall and Melanie Forbush were married in Jackson Mississippi after having been childhood sweethearts since the ages of fifteen and thirteen.
In 1990 Tim and Melanie moved to Richmond VA to become the Music Minister at the Pentecostals of Richmond where Rev Joe Forbush was Pastor. They served there for just over two years.
In 1992 Tim and Melanie moved to Gainesville Florida as Minister of Music for Rev Jeff Arnold and stayed for two and a half years. In 1994 their miracle son Dustin was born, and in May of 1994 Tim and Melanie, with their newborn son, moved to Australia to again work with Rev Robert Forbush as Associate Missionaries, holding leadership seminars and choir clinics throughout the country. Traveling thousands of miles during their stay, Tim and Melanie organized the very first music conference in Australia in December 1995 during the United Pentecostal Church Of Australia ,General Conference in Brisbane Australia, holding over 80 classes in five days. Tim and Melanie traveled around that great nation holding leadership training seminars. Tim also received his General License as a Minister with the UPCI during this convention.
In 1996 Tim and Melanie, with their son Dustin, returned to the USA where they evangelized for a short time. In 1997 they became Associate Pastor and Minister of Music for Rev N.P. Urshan where they served for a year and a half, during which time Tim was Ordained as a Minister in the United Pentecostal Church International.
In June of 1998 Tim and Melanie had another child added to the family with the birth of Alexis Brooke Marshall. . They are currently evangelist with the United Pentecostal Church International. UPCI.
Tim Marshall
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