Louis Weeks knows the church, having served as a pastor, missionary, professor, and president of a Presbyterian seminary. This diverse experience taught him much about church administration. His book makes a strong case that administration is often seen as “scutwork” — menial, tedious, boring, and often seemly unfruitful — but is, in reality, truly ministry.
These pages defend this case without being a “how-to” manual. Rather, in eleven chapters, Weeks introduces a theme and then a wonderful series of examples of churches profoundly ministering through administration. Instead of a “how-to” do it in the future, this book tells how it has already worked.
A variety of subjects are covered: pastoral care, temptations in ministry, governance, visitation, stewardship, worship, leadership. The reader should not be tempted to pick the chapters of interest and read them first because the book flows graciously from beginning to end with the theme building from concept to practicalities within the life of a congregation.
I have yet to find many busy pastors who relish administration of church matters. In fact, most dread that aspect of the life of a congregation. Weeks makes clear the need to see administration
as the heartbeat of authentic ministry. The recurring theme is to search for “best practices,” a term borrowed from other organizations in the secular world. Weeks tells readers why he wrote the book: “This project grew from my wanting to learn from and teach about these healthy churches that flourish amid the shifting paradigms that throw others into dysfunction and despair” (p. 1).
He introduces each subject with a biblical illustration to remind the reader that administration is ministry. For example, in the chapter on stewardship the author reminds the reader of Paul’s words to the Corinthian congregation that you will be enriched in every way for your great generosity (II Cor. 9:11-12). Weeks notes that almost all those interviewed for this study said that money matters in the life of the congregation were among the most difficult and time consuming issues in their ministry. This is a very helpful chapter for those pastors and church leaders who are always reticent to deal with the stewardship life of a congregation.
Throughout this book readers are made aware that regardless of the size of the church’s membership, the issues are almost always the same. Pastors and leaders of churches from small to very large are interviewed. But in all cases the challenge is to grow leaders and create the atmosphere of a team working together. It was helpful to be reminded that “Leadership is perceived as making transformations and giving people a vision by which to live, while management is perceived simply perpetuating the status quo” (pp.13-14).
The author has a particularly helpful section on the pastor’s role, that of staff, and that of lay leaders. Clarifying each of these roles could help congregations avoid considerable conflict. If ministry is the ultimate goal, then collaboration is a necessity. Under the theme “Love binds everything together,” the author illustrates how this can happen from the way staff meetings are used to the way a session meeting and committees properly function.
The chapter on Temptations in Ministry should be required reading for every seminary student wanting to be a church pastor. If every pastor now serving read it, his or her attitudes would change significantly. Many pastors suffer from loneliness, feelings of isolation, overworking, and fears of rejection — all of which are real for many pastors. But it does not have to be this way. Weeks wants the reader to see “best practices” that develop strong lay leadership and shared responsibilities in governing the church. It is fashionable to criticize seminary faculties for their failure to teach those who will be pastors how to do ministry in a church. Since this does seem to be on the agenda of seminaries, perhaps the best hope is for all pastors to learn from each other how to do ministry in the local church. Weeks supports that idea. Is this a perfect book? No, because there are no perfect books; but this is a very, very helpful book. Both current and future pastors and church leaders should not only read this book, but also keep it handy as a manual for being a church that does all its ministry for God’s glory.
ROBERT W. BOHL is a retired pastor and moderator of the 206th General Assembly, now living in Naples, Fla.
