Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Business of Church

I just returned from the annual meeting of the National Association of Church Business Administration (NACBA). I've been a member of this group since 1992, when I had the privilege of completing the Fellow in Church Business Administration at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.


When I graduated from college with a degree in accounting, I knew I had been called by God to work with churches in the area of business and administration. My wife and I packed up our belongings and left with our 6 month old son to head to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1981, where I obtained a Masters in Religious Education, with a concentration in Business and Communication.


From 1981-2004 I served on the staff of three churches in various positions, with combinations of communication, education, discipleship, and administration. These were three different types and sizes of churches, in three different states, in three different ministry settings. But there was always a common denominator:


The church is not a business, but it needs to follow business principles to make it most effective in its true calling.


I'll be exploring this idea the rest of the week.

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