“For-Purpose”: The Meaty Matters of Constitution & Governance

“For-Purpose”: The Meaty Matters of Constitution & Governance

When I first graduated from Seminary, ‘constitutions’ and ‘governance’ were things that I knew the church had, but I never really wanted to talk about or have to worry about. You might even be considering whether to read on at this point. I mean, what on earth do those terms have to do with mission and ministry and growing God’s Kingdom?

As a young graduate pastor feeling called to equip God’s people to go out into the world to make disciples of all nations, I didn’t want any rules or regulations getting in the way of that. I mean, sure, I didn’t want to be doing anything illegal or anything, but I was less worried about getting the proper permissions and approvals than I was about releasing parishioners to engage people with God’s love in everyday life.

Fortunately my Parish was forgiving when I made a few mistakes starting out (there really is something about Lutherans and grace that I like!) A few years on (and with a whole lot more wisdom), if I had the opportunity to start over I would probably do things a little bit differently. At the very least, I would think about them a little bit differently.

Church governance is really the basis on which the Church is organised and operates. Our constitutions (and associated by-laws) lay out the ‘rules’ for how we will work and structure and minister together, and how we will interface with the wider community around us.

As people join into membership, they agree that this is the way we will act, behave and work together to achieve our mission and achieve our purpose together as a collective.

And so, to *not* follow this process, or these ‘rules’, is to not follow what we have fundamentally agreed on in order to be a truly ‘for-purpose’ entity within today’s world (I prefer the term ‘for-purpose’ much more than ‘not-for-profit’.)

God has given us clear directions and instructions, and these are made abundantly clear in our constitutions as to what we are here on Earth to do. And so following these ‘rules’ (and even I admit this at times) that might feel annoying or detailed or demanding, helps us to remain focussed on what we are called to do, and how we have agreed we are going to go about doing it.

Over time, this will change (as a District we are looking at changing some of the rules that have been in place since the 60’s!), and the requirements of the world in which we live will change, and we need to be able to work together and adapt so that we can continue to remain on purpose; that is, we need to remain committed to sharing Christ and Him crucified for our sins but raised to life so that we can be assured of our eternal salvation.

So while it might seem a little ‘boring’ to some, I remain committed to the Gospel (through our constitutions and governance) that we are called to as we seek to truly be a Church where Christ’s love comes to life.

PS. If you have read all the way through and if you are excited about constitutions and governance, then I encourage you to consider nominating yourself for a Committee, Council or Board of the District!