 Okay. Good morning everyone. Welcome to this class on church and ministry administration. I have started the recording of this class so people can make this available to other people. All right. So welcome again. Why don't we someone just pray and we will get started in this course. Could somebody just lead us in prayer please? Thomas, would you like to pray? Yes, we can. Go ahead. Father in Jesus name we thank you for this wonderful time of God. You are so good. You are so wonderful a daughter. As we step into the Father we are only new things. Holy Spirit we need your grace. We need your help to understand the things of God. We thank you for this wonderful time. I'm going to each and every one has to grasp the things of God. Astasis as well. Let me understand and we connected in the spirit and understand the things of God. Thank you very much. Okay. Welcome everyone. I just wanted to introduce the course to us and we will get started today in our first lesson on this course. I've just put out the the course outline also the notes for the first lecture. Let me just share that with us. So this is PC310 church and ministry administration. This course outline or overview has been put up in the classwork section. You can download it and just look through it. What are we going to do in this course? Why do we have this kind of a course on church and ministry administration? We are all aware that although the ministry work is ministry of the word and the spirit it also requires in a good organization administration to be able to have the church or the ministry whatever we are doing so that we can be effective and have impact for the kingdom of God. So while a lot of the courses have dealt with the spiritual side teaching us important things we also felt that we would have to deal with some of the practical side of ministry in the terms of administration, organization, media, technology. That will be another course that we have in the third year and so this is one of those practical side courses that address the practical side of ministry. So if we can combine the two the spiritual and the practical we can have much impact, great impact for the kingdom of God. So what we're going to do in this course is we're going to talk about the organization and administration of the church or ministry. A lot of what we will be talking about is from a church context but all of these things will apply to any Christian ministry. So even if it's not a church, a local church type ministry, if it's a Christian ministry doing something specialized, maybe a youth ministry, maybe music, maybe counseling, maybe taking care of children or something different. It may not be necessarily a local church, it could be some other form of Christian ministry. A lot of things we learn will apply to all of them. Now we are going to learn from others as well as share with you a lot of what we are doing here at EPC Bangalore and we know that certain details may differ from place to place, how certain legal things may differ from the way it is in Bangalore to another city or another part of the world. Those differences will be there but in terms of organization, administration, a lot of these lessons and learnings can be used anywhere in the world. So some of the things we'll cover we'll talk about the importance of good administration, what are the objectives, how do you set up that legal entity, we call it a trust, a church trust and governance, what kind of an organization structure do we need or what are structures that we could think about? We talk about having policies, guidelines, we'll talk about systems and processes that run in order to run the organization. We'll talk about managing people, working with people that is staff and human resource management. We'll talk about creating culture and the importance of culture and how that affects how the church functions. We'll talk about finance, accounting, budgeting, legal side and then running projects. The planning and the coordination of various aspects of ministry, we'll talk about ministry teams, volunteer teams and the culture in the church, so workplace culture versus church culture. We'll talk about executing projects, making use of technology and how we can be excellent and all of these things. So we're kind of trying to develop a full framework here where you think about these things and apply it to the ministry that you are doing. Not all of these things will come in place from day one but as you keep growing what you're doing, the ministry or the local church as that grows a lot of these things will be necessary. We'll have simple assessments along the way as we go in September, October, November and you're familiar with the grading system already. I will keep giving you these course notes as PDF documents as we progress. There are of course there are many books that you could look at in terms of church administration but I would refer you to two of these books. They are a little expensive. You have to buy them in US dollars and on Kindle so if you're interested you can but I will be drawing important content ideas from these books along with things that we are sharing from our own experience here at all people's church so if you can buy it or get these books it's fine, if you cannot get it don't worry about it. I will be sharing ideas from those books as part of the course notes as well so don't worry about it and many of you are familiar with our own publication The House of God. We have a few chapters that address administration and so on. Let's get started first of all by talking about the importance of good organization and good administration. Why should a church or a Christian ministry think about having good organization and good administration? We'll also look at some excuses people make. When I say people I mean Christian leaders, pastors, those in leadership, those who are leading Christian organizations, some excuses that that we commonly run into as to why people neglect in a good administration, good organization, so we'll address some of those things. Now let's look at things first from a biblical perspective and then from a practical perspective and then we will close by just addressing some of these excuses. So when you talk I want to think about organization and administration from a biblical perspective. Is there a biblical basis for us to emphasize good organization and administration or is that only for management schools and business schools and not for the church? Is there a basis, a biblical basis to talk about these things and I just want to bring our attention to a few things we see in the Bible. You could probably add to this list. I'm just highlighting a few things. So first of all we see in scripture that God himself is a God of order, he's a God of design, he's a God of organization and creativity. So we see this in creation itself, the way God went about creation. The first chapter of Genesis, there's a certain order, there's a certain sequence in which God himself goes about doing things. On day one he did this, on day two, day three, day four, you know there's a certain order in that and in all that God created we see order, we see design and we see things are very organized. Of course there's a lot of creative, this is creation, therefore it's a tremendous expression of God's creativity but we also see order and design and organization in everything, in all of creation and that is what science does. Science is a study, it's a study into the creation of God and trying to understand, trying to discover the design, the organization and the amazing things God has put in there. Now when you look at at a high level, you look at the universe, the sun, the moon, the stars, everything is very organized, the earth is rotating on its axis, it's revolving around the sun, it's going on and on and on and because of its position, because of its angle of inclination, because of its revolutions, we have weather conditions where all of these things, everything is in order, it's not chaotic. So it tells us that God himself is a God of order, design, organization, creativity and let's read that for Scranton's 14 verse 33, we'll read a few scriptures, I will only reference these passages as we go along but could somebody read for us, 1st Corinthians 14 and verse 33, please. So Paul, of course, we understand the context here in 1st Corinthians 14 but Paul is pointing us to God and he says, you know, God is not the author of confusion, so he's talking about how the church service is running and what people do in the assembly of believers but he's saying God is not the author of confusion, but he's a God of order, he's a God of peace as in all the churches of the saints, all the assembly, the gatherings of all believers, so everywhere in all gatherings of all believers saints, there's got to be an expression of who God is that he's not the God of confusion, but he is the God of peace, order and tranquillities, he's that kind of a God. So what we must understand is that order, design, organization, things being in proper place is really an expression of who God is, it's an extension of who he is and that's for Paul is saying even in the local church when people gather there's got to be order because that's an expression of who God is. Now when we go through the scriptures, we look at some of the old, some of the new, we see time and again the Bible highlighting the importance of organization and administration, delegation and so on and I'm just going to, you know, highlight some of these things. In Exodus 18 is a classic example, we, as many of us are familiar with this, you know, Moses is leading this huge nation of people and he is, you know, he's sitting there to also care for them and Jethro, Moses' father-in-law sees what's happening. You know, could somebody please read for us from Exodus 18, verses 13 and 14 please. Exodus 18 verses 13 and 14. So all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, what is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge while all these people stand around you from morning to evening? So you could imagine this, you know, try to picture this in yourself, Moses is sitting there and you know, you've got hundreds of people around him who've come to him to solve their problems. They probably had lots of, you know, maybe different issues, different things, challenges, problems they're having and they're all lining up for Moses to solve it and Moses' father-in-law sees what's happening and he says in verse 14, what are you doing? Why are you sitting all by yourself from morning till evening to solve these people's problems? And then Moses' father-in-law explains to Moses, why is this Moses saying Moses, you need to find people that you can appoint as judges or, you know, delegate this responsibility to them so that they can, you know, take care of all the smaller issues. If there are matters they cannot handle, let them bring that to you. You know, so here's a very classic example of somebody advising a leader. Moses is the man of God, he's the prophet of God, but in terms of organization, he was not doing what was right and he didn't have anything. He was sitting there by himself trying to solve all the people and so his father-in-law comes and says, Moses, you know, you need to delegate. You need to have more leaders under you. You need to have more people who can help you do this work. So create, you know, what we would, in modern terms, we would say delegate, have leaders, have a team, have an organizational structure. You know, we would use all these terms today, but that's basically what Chetro is telling Moses. Moses, you have these people and help them do the work for you. Same thing, you know, in Numbers chapter 11, so if you just quickly look at chapter 11, we're not going to read the whole chapter. Moses himself reaches a point where he says, you know, oh Lord, I am not able to lead all these people. Numbers chapter 11 verse 14. Numbers chapter 11 verse 14, can somebody read that? I mean, we could read the whole chapter, but I'm just picking up one or two verses. Numbers 11 verse 14, can somebody read that? I am not able to bear all these people alone because it is too heavy for me. So, you know, in this chapter, Numbers 11, if you read the whole, you know, full chapter, you understand the context, but the people are crying out to Moses for help once again. And Moses goes to God and says, God, I cannot handle this anymore. That's too much for me. And then in verse later on in that chapter, basically God tells Moses, Moses, I want you to find 70 people, 70 leaders, find, you know, point 70 leaders, and I will anoint them and they will help you take care of the people. Okay, so once again, same thing. And God is telling Moses, have more people, have an organization, have leaders under you, delegate responsibility, and God will empower those leaders to do their work. And it's very interesting that God is telling Moses, you need to have this. You need to have people, you need to have organization. And God says, I will anoint them to help you do the work. And so this is one great example where that speaks to us about the importance of organization, the importance of administration in order to do the work of God. We'll quickly look at some other examples in Numbers chapter 10, if we just flip back a page on a chapter, Numbers 10, you know, as the people, again, you need to read the whole chapter to understand what's happening. But, you know, we see here Numbers 10, that as these people are making their journey through the wilderness, God doesn't say, you know, everybody just get up and walk at random. You know, God instructs Moses to organize all of them by their tribes around the Tabernacle, right? And they're all organized, they're all well organized around the Tabernacle, the North, certain tribes, South, certain tribes, East, certain tribes, West, certain tribes. And then he says, when you're about to move, you blow the trumpet, and then tribe by tribe, you march and you make your journey. It's really interesting, the book of Numbers in here, especially in chapter 10, he talks about, you know, when the trumpet is blown, people should gather and then, you know, and then you start out, you go on your journey, tribe by tribe, you make your journey. So again, you know, God is kind of giving his people organization, he's giving his people administration, says, okay, don't just get up and, you know, everybody walk randomly. No, you're going to move in a very orderly manner, tribe by tribe. The way you direct them is through the blowing of the trumpets and, you know, and you move in a very orderly manner. So again, you find that in doing something God wants us to do, there is order, there is structure, there is proper administration, so on. Quickly, we can make mention of some other examples, there's about worship in the Tabernacle. And of course, God told Moses to build the Tabernacle. But then he also said, you appoint priests and Levites for various duties in the Tabernacle. Certain people are designated to do certain tasks. So even in the worship, priests handled certain tasks, Levites handled more of the maintenance type of work in the Tabernacle. They would take care of that Tabernacle. And the same thing, when you read about David, during David's time, he had a huge, excuse me, a very elaborate, you read about this in First Chronicles 25, a very elaborate system put in place in the Tabernacle. Because in David's time, David had instituted 24-7 worship going on. So for a period of about 30 years, there was worship going on continuously non-stop in the Tabernacle. But in order to do something like that, he had about 8000 people working in the Tabernacle. There were huge teams of worshipers, musicians, singers. There were huge teams of people to do the work, physical work around the Tabernacle. So those are like a big group. If you read the details, you'll find there's about 8000 people and they were all highly organized. They were all given, you know, one-hour slots, the singers and the musicians are doing one-hour slots in which they would come, they would do their part. And so this was a spiritual work, which was worship to God. But if you look at the details, it was extremely highly organized and well-administered. So in order to do the spiritual work, there was huge organization involved and good administration involved. And similarly, I'll just one more example from the Old Testament, is the book of Nehemiah. In the entire book, you read how Nehemiah went about rebuilding the walls of the city of Jerusalem. I'd given him a vision to fulfill that. But then when he went in there, he got various people involved, you know, different, and he organized them around the wall and given the different parts of the wall to build. And they were all organized while some were working, others were protecting them. They were looking out for those who are doing the work. So another example of proper organization and administration, Nehemiah was carrying out a vision, God had put in his heart. But in order to do that, he got people involved, he got different kinds of people involved, and he got them all very well organized so that the work could take place. So just some examples in the Bible where we are seeing the work of God being done, but through good organization and administration. Now, of course, when you come into the New Testament, something that you and I are very familiar with, we see in the evolution of the local church, the church that began in Jerusalem very soon, it comes to a place where the church needed dedicated people to handle administrative tasks. So in Acts chapter six, when they had to serve food for the people, the Apostles said, you know, we need seven men whom we are going to point over this business. So let's go there to Acts six, and we will just look at there in Acts six. And we could read that. Okay, verse three, please. Acts six, we just read verse three, somebody could read that for us. Therefore brethren seek out from among you seven men of God, the patient food of the Holy Spirit, and with whom we may appoint over this business. So the Apostles realized that while they were focused on prayer and the ministry of the word, the spiritual side, they needed people who would come alongside them and take care of the business of the church. In this case, it had to do with serving food to all the people who were there. So they said, you know, get seven men, but these seven men had to, you know, they had to be of good reputation. They have a good report that before the Holy Spirit and wisdom, they needed, they needed certain criteria here in order to do the simple thing of serving food to the people. And later on, as we progress in the growth of the church, you come to First Timothy three, there it's very clearly identified. You know, Paul talks about bishops, he talks about deacons. Bishops basically are spiritual elders, those who are involved in the spiritual side of the ministry. But he also mentions deacons. Those who are handling the administration, the organization of the church, the practical side of things. So he said, you know, the church needs both. We need elders, we need deacons, we need people who will handle the affairs of the church, the work of the church. And in Romans 16, you know, Paul is referring to a lady who was handling the work. So let's just go to Romans 16. It's interesting to read. Now let's read verses one and two, please. Romans 16 verses one and two. I command to you who pay our sister, who is the servant of the church in Canterra, that you have received her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assisted her in whatever business that she has made of you for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also. So Paul is recognizing and recommending Phoebe. But what is Phoebe? Phoebe's work. It is, you know, what we would say today, we call it administrative type of work. She is handling certain things. You know, he is a business of the church, but she is a helper. She's an assistant. She is serving the people with what she's doing. Right. So and Paul is commending her, he's recommending her and he's saying, you know, she's a big blessing to others as well as to himself. So we see in the life of the church itself that there are people who are involved in spiritual ministry, but there are also people who are handling the organization, the administration, the practical things that need to be done in the life of the church. Another thing that we do understand here in the church as a body is that there are gifts and ministries in the church that are specific to helps and administrations. Right. So first of all, the church is a body. That means it's a system. So when you look at a body, let me just stop sharing and just look at the screen for a bit. Okay. So when we look at the human body, the body at the lowest level, let's say, we start up with the cell, but cells are grouped together to form various tissues and organs. And organs are specialized in their function. And then several organs work together. Now we have systems and processes in the body. Actually, we have your skeletal system, respiratory system, the vascular system, and different things that happen in the human body. But all sorts of the cells are grouped together and they form eventually form organs, which are specialized. So even so the church is compared to a body. So therefore, the church also should function. The church wants to function. It should have this kind of specialization. It should have this systems. It should have processes for the proper functioning of the spiritual body, the body, which is the church. And what we also find is that in the church, God has placed certain gifts that he has given to people, which are very administrative in nature. So if you look at Romans 12, Romans 12, and then we are looking at verses six to eight. In Romans 12 verse six to eight, I'll just mention this. He says there in verse seven, he uses the word ministry. Ministry is any kind of service. So even if somebody's serving as an usher, as a deacon in accounting, in doing something, in promoting, in promotions, in media, they are doing service. So that's included here in this word ministry. This is just verse seven. And then in verse eight, he talks about those who lead. So you could lead anything. You could lead a group of people. You could lead a certain area of ministry. So that leadership ability, whatever it is and how it is expressed, is a gift and a function in the body. It's a leadership. So we see here that service, ministry or leadership are gifts given in the body, and they need to be put to use. Same thing. And I just want to point out here, in 1 Corinthians 12, and I think this is important, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and let's read verse 28. 1 Corinthians 12, 28. Could somebody read that for us please? And God sets some of, some in the church, first apostles, secondary prophets, thirdly teachers. After that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps governments, diversity of tongues. Okay. So, notice in verse 28, what Paul is saying. He's saying, God has appointed, so this is not man appointing, but God appointing. I mean, God has put this in the church. And of course, he mentions in apostles and prophets and teachers and miracles and gifts of healings. But then what he says, he mentions, helps administrations. So this is where, you know, it's slightly different from what an apostle does, or a teacher does, or a prophet does. It's helps. Meaning, any kind of service, assisting, you know, somebody assists in media, somebody assists in technology, somebody assists in any other way, helps. And administrations. And he says, God has appointed these. So in the church, there are people whom God has put to serve in this capacity as helping in the ministry, as administering. The word administering, the administrations is interesting. It's talking about somebody who navigates the ship, you know, like the person who is in charge of making sure where the ship is going. So there are people who help with that kind of work. Of course, you have people who are apostles and prophets and teachers and evangelists and they're doing their work, but you also have people appointed by God who do helps and administrations. God has given them that grace and given them that familiar with is that when Paul, he writes to the churches, and we read that verse, 1433, but you also find this in other places where Paul says, you know, the church, there has to be order in the church, the way the church functions, there has to be order. So what we have done right now is we've just kind of scanned through the Old Testament, scanned through the New Testament. We've seen that in the functioning of ministry, in the functioning of what God wants done, there has to be organization, administration, order, and that it is part of what God wants among his people. It's not foreign to us. It's not, you know, just for people who are in secular, what we refer to as secular organizations, but it is there part of ministry or part of what God wants to do. Let me just continue to share my, share the document with you and just speak from that. Okay, I'm just sharing this Word document, you know. So let's talk about the practical side. You know, we just, we looked at it from a biblical side, the importance of good organization and administration, but let's talk about the practical side. From a practical side, you know, there is a need or there's an expectation from people today that the church must be organized and efficient. You know, that means if you're a pastor, the congregation expects things to work well with the church, you know, from an administrative and organization perspective. For example, if somebody wants a letter from the church, they need to get it in a timely way. If somebody needs, you know, there are a lot of administrative things that they need help with, maybe a letter for school admission, a letter for, you know, various things for marriage and you know, so on. They expect the church to be organized, to be efficient and to provide that kind of service. Or even in a service, when they come into a service, a church service, they expect things to happen properly, you know, or in a church event, there is expectation from people that the event should be organized efficiently and so on. So we cannot say, you know, you know, we cannot avoid that. We have to be organized to be efficient. Secondly, what from a practical side, when you look at it, people are eager to serve with their skills, they're willing to volunteer. So in most churches, people want to contribute in some way and they feel that, look, you know, I have certain skills. These skills may not be that of preaching and teaching and, you know, what we call a spiritual ministry. These skills may be in something that's more of administrative in nature, that may be more like helping, but I want to serve, I want to volunteer and I want to contribute towards the life of the church and so people are eager and so we need to, you know, give them the opportunity and welcome that. And thirdly, the world in which we live requires that because the world is changing, the world around us is changing, the way people live life and they go about life. They're using technology more and more, the way they interact with people is changing. So the world also, you know, if we are going to reach people outside the church, we need to be able to reach them in ways in which that are relevant to them. And so the church needs to, you know, upgrade itself in terms of the use of technology or other things that will help it reach and help it be relevant to those outside the church. So from a practical perspective, organization, administration becomes a necessity. It's no longer, you know, this now, so let's look at this lecture, I guess, looking at what are some excuses, you know, that people in churches, ministries make for poor organization. How would we respond to that? I mean, I'm just putting this out there so we can think about it, right? So once, sometimes people, you know, especially if a pastor or a spiritual leader, they would excuse saying, look, you know, we don't have proper training. You know, we have been to seminary, and to bother college. And they only talked to us about the Bible, about how to, you know, interpret scripture or preach scripture. But we were not trained to run an organization. We were not trained to lead. And we don't, we were not trained to handle technology. We were not trained to, you know, do these things. So sometimes that becomes an excuse that pastors give, you know, okay, we were only trained to preach the Bible, teach the Bible. But we were not trained to organize a church. We were not trained to run a accounting department or oversee an accounting department, so on. So that lack of proper training becomes an excuse that Christian leaders could make. Of course, our response will be, well, you can have other people. I mean, one is you can learn some of these skills. Secondly, you could have people who have the skills, you know, to come and help. Connect to that, another excuse, you know, leaders make is, oh, we don't have skilled people, you know. We don't have the means to hire skilled staff. And if you want somebody, you have to pay for them. We don't have the means to pay for them. So therefore, the church is lacking in the organizational administration in that area. But, you know, I think the response to that is, look, there are lots of volunteers, there are people who are willing to volunteer in that area. And so if you announce that you want volunteers, there may be some people who can help in some of this area. So eventually people will come and they will, you know, help. And it's a good way to help people be a part of the church because they feel that they can even contribute to the church through the skills they have. A third excuse sometimes people make, you know, they say, look, only, you know, those who have been trained in spiritual matters must be involved in the life of the church. You know, how can you have people who have quote, unquote skills that are not spiritual be involved in the life of the church. But that's where we can point them to the scripture and say, look, the scriptures say that there are people whom God has appointed who serve and helps and administrations. So it's not just people who are doing, you know, apostolic, prophetic, pastoral type of work. But even those who are doing helps and administrations, God has appointed them and they can come along and be part of what's happening in the life of the church. A fourth excuse that we may run into is, you know, people say, well, we want to focus on spiritual things. We are a spiritual ministry. Let's not get distracted into doing organization and administration and so on. But then in response to that, we have to help them see the value of good organization and administration that actually if you have good organization and good administration, it can make the spiritual ministry even more effective. They can help the spiritual ministry reach further and wider when you have good organization and good administration. Just two more things we look before we close here is, you know, sometimes we say, people say, look, look, we don't want to become, we won't have a spiritual atmosphere. We don't want to become corporate like, because when you have an organization, when you have administration that you, you know, you need to have a lot of policies and processes and so on. Then it becomes like a corporate. It's no longer spiritual atmosphere. Then that's where we need to look to God and say, look, God himself is a God of order. He's a God of organization. So having organization, having a structure, having formal procedures is not unlike God, but God himself is a God of order and organization. Lastly, some people say, well, this is God's work. You know, he doesn't need our help. He'll just get it done. You know, why should we set up an organization? Why should we, you know, do all these kinds of things? This is God's work. He'll do it. It is true. It's God's work, but he works through people. He works through organizational structures. And you're having great examples in the Bible. You know, God told Moses a 0.70 leaders, you know, that God put it in Nehemiah's heart, you know, how he should organize so that the walls could be rebuilt. So it is God's work, but he's working through people and he works through, you know, the organization, the administration we do, they become channels of God's work in us and through us to help others. Okay. So I have kind of shared on the importance of organization and administration. I just want to see if you have any questions, comments, thoughts before we close. Anybody, you want to say anything, you want to ask anything, any comments? Okay. So we will kind of, I think we should have more discussion. I see the comments on the chat, but we will, you know, engage in a little bit more discussion as we go along. I think I did all the talking today. I didn't give you a chance to interact, but we will do that next time. Okay. All right. Thank you for listening patiently. And let's, you know, wrap up, let's close in prayer and we will pick this up next week. And, sorry, do we have another class on this? Yeah, later this week on Friday, we'll pick this up and take it forward. Okay. Could somebody please close in prayer? We will dismiss. Sharon, you want to close in prayer? Thank you Jesus for this one, please. Time to prayer. Jesus, I thank you for you, for our pastor, for our APC ministry, for our Bible college, father, whatever we are learning, father, that we are in our ministry of God, in your ministry of God. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for leading us. Thank you. Thank you, God, that you are in our class of God. Thank you for your presence in our class of God. Father, I'm praying that the blessing of God bless our ministry of God, who are in ministry of God. Father, I'm praying that the blessing of God bless our class. And, Father, I'm praying that whatever we are learning about that should be used in our ministry. Father, I'm thanking and submitting this class into your hand of God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Well, see you Friday. God bless you. See you again soon. Bye.