Paraklesis
[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]
September 2025
Peter Adam
Dear friends,
We need godly and effective governance, management and administration in all our churches and ministries, for gospel growth and God’s glory!
‘Governance’ means setting goals, values, godliness and structures of a church or ministry, including the employment [and dis-employment] of paid staff, the management of money, and a transparent structure of responsibilities and accountabilities.
‘Management’ means creating and maintaining the implementation of these goals, values, structures, systems and accountabilities.
‘Administration’ means making the systems and methods which serve these goals, values, structures and accountabilities, work effectively
If you are a lone church planter, you will be doing all of these, as well as the ‘hands-on ministry’! If you are doing ministry in a large church or ministry, then more people will be involved in doing these ministries.
For some people ‘Governance, management, and administration’ is a constant frustration. ‘I want to get on with “hands-on ministry!”’
As it happens, I enjoyed doing this ministry as much as ‘hands-on ministry’, because it enabled the ministry of others. It provides the trellis on which the vine of ministry can grow, to use Col Marshall’s famous image. I found as much joy in the ‘hands-on ministry’ of others as I did in my own.
However I also worked to ensure that many others were able to contribute to these important ministries!
Do ministers of the word need to have awareness and some competence in these areas which we now call governance, management and administration? Yes!
Do ministers of the word need to work with others in these areas, and share their leadership with others? Yes!
As Paul says, ‘an overseer manages God’s household [oikonomia]’ [Titus 1:7], and, ‘if he does not know how to manage his own house [oikos], how can he take care of God’s church?’ [1 Tim3:5].
A 1st Century AD Roman ‘household’ or ‘house’ included the immediate family, other relatives, the slaves, and the family business. This was much more than dad, mum, two children, and a cat! The ‘oikos’ or ‘oikonomia’ was a business as well as a family, and included the family business as well as family life. In short, relationships and business!
Here are 12 big mistakes ministers of the word might make:
- Devote all their time to governance, management and administration, and neglect their own Christian growth and prayer, and not convert, disciple, and train others in ministry.
- Devote themselves to governance, management and administration, and adopt secular models of these skills, without questioning how they should be done according to Biblical principles.
- Do all the ‘hands-on ministry’ themselves, and not enable or train others to do any ‘hands-on ministry’, and so not have to develop corporate governance, management and administration.
- Do and encourage and train others to do lots of ‘hands-on ministry’, and ignore the need for governance, management, and administration.
- Have good governance, but not see the need for effective management and administration, and so produce maximum frustration for the church or ministry.
- Leave governance, management and administration to others, which may result in governance, management and administration heading in one direction, while their own ‘hands-on ministry’ tries to achieve other goals.
- Help to create good management and administration, but fail to set clear Biblical governance goals, so that the church is well-organised, but aimless, or merely self-serving.
- Reduce of gospel ministry to just one main task, such as ‘caring for the congregation’, ‘doing evangelism’, ‘Bible-teaching’, which results in the neglect of governance, management and administration, which will choke the church or ministry in the long-term.
- Put off setting up a procedure of governance until a big and divisive issue arises, by which time it is too late. [Church planters please take note!!!]
- Avoid setting up governance structures by appointing an external ‘Advisory Committee’ or ‘Committee of Reference’ which has no power to act. [Church planters please take note!!!]
- Forget to include the members of the congregation, or the lay leaders, in the processes of governance, so that the lead minister, or the staff team, have all effective power and authority and power. Keeping lay leaders and all the members out of any participation in governance and leadership is both highly efficient and highly unsatisfactory.
- Ignore the issues of governance, so that other forces, such as inertia, preserving the past, gate-keepers, or other powerful people fill the gap, or create contradictory confusion.
[One of the many reasons I enjoy being an Anglican is because we do not have to invent our system of governance; and what we have balances the responsibilities and authority of the minister, the lay leaders and the congregation every effectively; and includes external authorities who can intervene if we are negligent or meet an intractable problem.]
What are some Biblical principles which we need to implement?
- Leaders must remember that Jesus Christ is the saviour, head, builder, lord, and judge of his church [Ephes 5: 22-27, Matt 16:18, Rev 1-3].
- All leaders, including ministry of the word, evangelistic and pastoral ministry, governance and administration, should work together work to ensure that the word of God is spoken, read, preached, and taught [1 Tim 4:13, Heb 13:7]; that the gospel of Christ crucified is preached to those who are not believers [1 Cor 1:23, Rom 10:14,15]; that people of all nations become disciples of Jesus [Matt 28:19]; that God’s people are equipped for ministry [Ephes 4:12, 2 Tim 2:2]; that God’s people come to maturity in Christ [Ephes 4:12-16]; that the unity of God’s people is preserved, and that people use their gifts for the common good [1 Cor 12:12-14,7]; that faithful people are being trained so that they can teach others [ 2 Tim 2:2]; that God’s people love each other, and also love their neighbours [Jn 15:12, Gal 6:10]; that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone, following the faith once for all delivered to the saints, and is the pillar and foundation of the truth [Ephes 2:20, Jude 3, 1 Tim 3:15]; that the truth about God, the whole counsel of God is not distorted, and that false teachers are refuted [Acts 20:25-31, Tit 1:9]; that the church is living worthy of the gospel of Christ, and striving together for the faith of the gospel [Phil 1:27]; and that the church is growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and everyone is living godly holy and godly lives as they look forward to the day of God [2 Pet 3:18,12].
- Every member of the church has some responsibility for the health, welfare and ministry of the church, as we see in the letters of the New Testament addressed to churches, and in Jesus’ messages to the 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3. So every member of the church should participate in some way in selecting those who minister or govern in the church [Acts 6:3,4].
- All church members have different gifts, but all contribute to the common good, and should be honoured and recognised for their contribution [ Rom 12:1-8, 1 Cor 12].
- Leadership should be plural, not individual [1 Tim 5:17, Tit 1:5].
- Leadership should include the roles of overseeing, leading, ruling, directing, eldership, pastoring, teaching, shepherding, evangelising, discipling, ministry training, and deaconing.
- Leaders must not love money, be overbearing, violent, quick-tempered, but hospitable, loving the good, self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined [Tit 1:7-8]. They must be gentle, not quarrelsome, not recent converts, and be well thought of by outsiders [1 Tim 3:3,6,7]. There must be methods of accountability [1 Tim 5:19,20]. Money should be handled openly and transparently [2 Cor 8:16-21]. Elders should be honoured and respected [1 Tim 5:17-21]. Leaders should be diligent [Rom 12:8]; Favouritism must be shunned [1 Tim 5:21].
- Leaders lead by serving! Mark 10:44. Leaders don’t lord it over others, but should examples to others [1 Pet 5:3].
- Leaders lead by praying! ‘We will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word’ [Acts 6:3]. ‘I remember you in my prayers at all times …’ [Rom 1:9,10]. ‘Unless the LORD builds the house, the workers work in vain’ [Ps 12
- Leaders should look for eternal rewards, not earthly power or glory [1 Pet 5:4].
If you would like to read more, then I recommend:
Murray Capill, The Elder-Led Church: How an Eldership Team Shepherds a Healthy Flock, New Jersey, P&R, 2024.
And,
- Jeramie Rinne, Church Elders: How to shepherd God’s people like Jesus, Wheaton, Crossway, 2014 [9Marks].
- Thabiti Anyabwile, Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons, Wheaton, Crossway, 2012, [9Marks].
I constantly pray for God to raise up good leaders for indigenous churches in Australia.
Let’s pray together that God would raise up good leaders for all churches in Australia, and around the world!
Gracious God and loving Heavenly Father, we pray together that you would raise up godly, wise, and loving leaders for churches in every place in your world. Please equip them for all public and private ministries of your word, and for governance, management and administration as they are needed in each situation. Please equip and sustain every member of every church for their mutual ministry, for their participation in the life of their church, and for their growth in godliness and holiness. Please bring your churches to maturity in Christ, and open doors for gospel outreach in every community and in every nation. We pray this prayer in Jesus’ strong name, and for your glory. Amen.
With warmest greetings in Christ,
Yours,
Prayerfulness Book Launch in Melbourne
Here is an invitation to a Book Launch for no less than 8 books, including my Prayerfulness – Cultivating a Bible-enriched prayer life, published by Matthias Media.
Join us for an inspiring afternoon celebrating the launch of several significant new works in Christian theology, history, and publishing from Peter Adam, Rhys Bezzant, Paul Arnott, Tamie Davis, Barry Borneman, Michael Bird, Tim Patrick, and Brian Rosner. Books will be available for purchase on the day.
Thursday October 9, 2025
2:30pm for refreshments. Formal start at 3pm.
Ridley College – 170 The Avenue, Parkville.
Tickets are free, but booking is required for catering: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1452479
If you live in the UK
You can buy Prayerfulness from https://uk.10ofthose.com