Ministry Management System

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senior pastor

Executive Limitations

By

Purpose

This policy establishes and communicates certain limitations on the Senior Pastor’s authority set forth by the YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team.

Scope

The Senior Pastor is empowered with the responsibility and authority necessary to conduct the church’s day-to-day affairs, including establishing a strategic plan to achieve the organization’s “ends” as defined by the YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team. To this end, this policy includes general constraints and limitations that define the functional and operational boundaries of the Senior Pastor’s responsibility and authority under the supervision of the YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team.

Responsibility

As with all policies and other documentation contained in the Management System, all ministry area leaders must ensure the details of this policy are known and followed by all YOUR CHURCH paid staff and ministry area volunteers.  The primary responsibility for this policy rests with the YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team.

Policy

Biblical Limitations

No programs, activities, or teachings contrary to or undermining Biblical doctrine may be implemented.

No individual may be appointed to or permitted to continue in a position of leadership whose behavior is contrary to Biblical values as determined by the Senior Pastor and the YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team.

Congregational Limitations

The Senior Pastor may not create or allow conditions, procedures, or decisions that are unsafe, undignified, unnecessarily intrusive, or coercive or that fail to provide appropriate confidentiality or privacy regarding any congregant.

  1. No application forms that elicit information for which there is no clear necessity.
  2. No methods of collecting, reviewing, transmitting, or storing member information that fail to protect against improper access to the material elicited.
  3. No facilities that fail to provide a reasonable level of privacy.
  4. No failure to establish with members a clear understanding of what may be expected and what may not be expected from the church.
  5. No failure to provide sufficient weekly worship services to accommodate the congregation’s needs.
  6. No failure to establish programs to ensure the spiritual growth of church members.

Employment Limitations

The Senior Pastor may not cause or allow any unsafe, unfair, undignified, or unlawful treatment of staff.

  1. No staff may be hired who are unwilling to endorse YOUR CHURCH’s mission, vision, core values, beliefs, etc.
  2. No staff who are unwilling to become a member of YOUR CHURCH or who, through their lifestyle or doctrinal position, are ineligible for church membership may be hired.
  3. No staff member whose conduct contradicts Biblical values may be retained as determined by the Senior Pastor and YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team.
  4. No budget in which the cost of salaries and benefits exceeds 50% of the total budget.

Business Limitations

The Senior Pastor may not cause or allow any practice, activity, decision, or organizational circumstance that is unlawful, imprudent, or in violation of generally accepted personal and professional ethics, including the following:

  1. No decisions, procedures, behaviors, or conditions with members, attendees, donors, vendors, business partners, or the local community that are undignified, intrusive, rude, or that can be construed as a conflict of interest.
  2. No unreasonable exposure of the organization to claims of liability.
  3. No failure to protect information, files, and intellectual property from loss or damage.
  4. No ownership transfer of any real property without prior approval of the YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team.

Financial Limitations

The Senior Pastor may not cause or allow the development of fiscal jeopardy or compromised fiduciary responsibility, including the following:

  1. No five-year period without at least one external audit. YOUR CHURCH’s next audit should be conducted by or before 20XX.
  2. No accounting procedures contrary to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
  3. No significant church assets left unprotected, inadequately maintained, or unnecessarily risked.
  4. No borrowing of funds without prior approval of the YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team.
  5. No loss of funds due to inadequate control procedures.
  6. No unbudgeted expenditures without written approval from the YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team. Approval of an unbudgeted expenditure requires a majority vote of the YOUR CHURCH Leadership Team. (This policy does not apply to unfavorable budget variance, addressed via monthly reporting and Senior Pastor oversight.)

Communication/Reporting Limitations

The Senior Pastor may not allow the Leadership Team to be uninformed about any Biblical, business, financial, employment, or other issues actually or potentially under its authority and oversight. The Senior Pastor will …

  1. Report promptly an actual or anticipated noncompliance with any Leadership Team guideline or policy.
  2. Advise the Leadership Team if, in the Senior Pastor’s opinion, the Team does not comply with its own policies.
  3. Submit reports or other monitoring data required by the Leadership Team in a timely, accurate, and understandable manner.
  4. Notify the Leadership Team of anticipated adverse media coverage, threatened or pending lawsuits, or allegations of significant staff failures to meet employment standards.

Related Documents

Church By-Laws
Staff Policy Manual
Strategic Plan
Cash Flow Management Strategy
Finance Team Charter