Back for Church Administration

It has been several months since I have posted on this blog. A lot has happened since then. I have graduated from College, and am a Social Scientist (whatever that means). I am now enrolled in a wonderful course called administering the local church. This is the first time I have taken a course of study without the burden of a full time college course load, so I am anticipating a better commitment to regular, if not daily, journaling. A new approach this time around will be to journal about insights, "ah-ha" moments I have in the reading. I will post the phrase or comment, and expound a little bit on that. Let's try it out:

Several basic issues about administration are clear:
Budgets, facilities, calendars, and programs can and should be managed.
People are to be led but not managed.
As a branch manager of the eternal church of the living God, be sure to operate from a higher level than mere business strategies.

I think these are very interesting in that a church administrator is called to run a holy business. I have worked in sales for my father for almost 10 years now, and have seen the workings of a small business. The church cannot be treated exactly the same as a small business, because it is the business of kingdom building. It is a business because finances, buildings, curriculum, and all that stuff has to be coordinated and executed properly, but it is more than business because the bottom line is souls saved for the kingdom. One cannot live by business plan alone, but work with the hearts and souls and minds of a variety of people who mostly volunteer their time, energy, effort, and money to further the kingdom building business. What a tall order a church administrator is called to.