The goal of daily church operations is to provide the senior pastoral staff with the information and tools they need to achieve the vision God has placed upon their hearts. To accomplish this task, the personnel and systems employed by the church need to provide this information and tools in a manner that the pastoral staff can use and understand. The following are a couple of things to follow as you manage the operations of the local church on a everyday basis:
1. Systems are not life, but are necessary to support life. Just like a skeleton does not live on its own but a living body must have a skeleton to exist, administrative systems don't live on their own, but they are necessary to support the life and vision of the church.
2. Know your personal administrative weaknesses and admit them...then get help. Too many pastors and their staff get in trouble for trying to be superman or superwoman, and forget that God has not given any one of us everything we need for effective ministry so that we will learn to rely on one another. This is why healthy, effective, gift-diverse teams are non-negotiable.
3. Lead pastors need to understand the finances of the church and then separate themself as much as possible from handling the money. Redundant systems are required for accountability.
4. Err on the side of transparency (with your leadership, your congregation, etc.).
5. Learn to think through every detail and contingency before an event happens. Have plan A, B, and C ready. For example, before an event know things like how many trash cans you need, where you are placing the trash-cans, and where and how often you will dump the trash.
6. Keep notes and files for each recurring event and/or service. Review (debrief) after the event is done, and preview the notes before planning the event again the next year.
7. "Spend church money as if it was your money.”
8. Trustworthiness in finances and administration will release greater spiritual ministry and leadership through you (Luke 19:11ff).
9. Excellence in administration that supports the vision will make people in your organization happy and will bring glory to God (1 Kings 10:1-10).
10. Learn to clearly communicate where you are going, and as much as possible, release people to figure out how to get there. Others will come up with systems better than anything you could have ever figured out. Control freaks won't be able to lead this generation anywhere!