Editor’s Note. This video is part of the Advantage Membership. Learn more on how to become an Advantage Member or upgrade your membership.
In recent years, a growing number of churches have contemplated changing the governance structures contained in their bylaws. For practical reasons, these changes have often moved those structures from ones where voting rights for key decisions reside with members of the congregation to ones where that authority exclusively rests in the hands of a group of elders or the church’s board. To some church leaders, the changes make sense because they can reduce burdens and create efficiencies. But as Christianity Today’s podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill powerfully demonstrates, significant problems can arise in a church when a move to consolidate decision-making power occurs with little or no warning to the church’s members.
In this exclusive webinar for Advantage Members, attorney Erika Cole dives deeply into this trend, examining the roles and purposes of governance, the reasons some churches consider changes, and why leadership must exercise great caution and transparency before ever proceeding with one.
You can download the presentation slides here.
Find out more on this topic in Erika Coles article, The Dangers of a Quiet Governance Change.
