MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED SIMEON MAY / CEO / THE CHURCH NETWORK / PHILL MARTIN / DEPUTY CEO / THE CHURCH NETWORK / DALLAS, TX
Even so, for Belaski, it was the proprietary MinistryPay. com church salary survey that first inspired his TCN membership 15 years ago. At that point, he was developing a salary matrix for his own church staff using MinistryPay. com as a data source.“ We’ ve included it in our analysis ever since,” he says.
For Dr. King, who has a long history with NACBA / TCN( having first heard of the organization in the late 1980s, when he was in seminary), certification training has been a lifesaver. True to form, he earned his Certified Church Administrator( CCA) designation in 1992.
“ I’ ve learned all kinds of practical and strategic information that I hadn’ t received in seminary,” he points out.“ The continuing education requirements for retention have also kept me on the cutting edge of church administration.”
Having this advantage has also been a priority for Turner, who earned her CCA designation in 2013.
“ It gives you a stamp of validation about the level of excellence and the information that you bring to bear,” she points out.“ In business, you get your MBA. In accounting, you get your CPA. In the church world, many people think you can just fly by the seat of your pants. But, as churches grow and the level of scrutiny increases, it ' s really great to have an organization that supports being very equipped for all that.”
Phill Martin( right) presents an award to Dan Busby of ECFA at The Church Network annual conference
A more complex calling
Martin, too, has heeded the expanding complexity of the church administration role. In fact, he says it’ s the biggest shift he’ s seen in 18 years with TCN.
“ There are more laws related to HR. More accounting principles that need to be applied. More legal issues,” he explains.“ To do the administration of the church well today— and within regulations and laws— it takes a lot more understanding and professional expertise than it used to.”
In the next five to 10 years, both he and May expect the administrative function of growing congregations to become more decentralized and, frankly, more similar to for-profit entities.
“ There ' s not a direct translation of the business world to the church business world,” Martin clarifies.“ The bottom line is different, of course; the metrics and the accountabilities are different.”
Even so, May and Martin agree that while some people come out of the pew to do this work— and make the transition well— others become frustrated for this very reason.
QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE CHURCH NETWORK:
Year Established: 1956( known until 2014 as National Association of Church Business Administration, or NACBA) Members: 1,800 Local chapters / chapters: 50 + Staff: 5 full-time +“ an army of volunteers”
For membership information, or how to join: visit http:// thechurchnetwork. com / join
“ They want the church to work the way they ' re used to things working in the business world,” May explains.“ Part of what our certification program is about, is trying to create the foundational framework to understand the unique side of doing administration in congregations.”
Forecasting what’ s next
In the next five to 10 years, Martin and May expect church administrative roles to involve more volunteer engagement, a shift driven primarily by the rising cost of employee benefits.
“ Whereas you used to have one person who would be considered a part of the professional ministerial staff, you might, at some point, have four or five people involved in the functioning,” Martin says.“ Some might even be lay volunteers.”
May agrees, and says he’ s already witnessing this shift in many mainline congregations.
Consequently, The Church Network’ s educational and training offerings will follow suit. Key and critical to that adaptation: the continued advancement of church administration as a ministry, not just a function.
In Martin’ s own administrative experience, he has always been considered clergy, receiving clergy training and subject to clergy accountability.“ However, in many congregations, the administrative staff— even someone with a parish administrator title or business administrator title— are not.”
As such, he says The Church Network will strive to clearly articulate the significance of ministry around the role of administration.
“ This is one of the struggles [ we face ],” he adds.“ But, as we look at the scriptural references around spiritual gifts, there ' s not a hierarchy of those spiritual gifts.”
As May, Martin and the TCN team adapt to these changes in church administration, one thing is for sure: their members agree and are in step with them.
“ Back when I joined, there was no educational track for folks like me to become [ church business administrators ],” Taylor says.“ Then and now, the broadest attraction is that there’ s a continuing resource I can draw from to do the job.”
For Belaski, getting to know hundreds of exceptional men and women— all of them making invaluable contributions to advancing the Kingdom— has been the biggest membership benefit of all:“ They’ re doing it by bringing leadership and efficiencies to their respective churches. It compels me to take my game to a higher level.”
For Turner, it’ s the quality and caliber of information at her fingertips, on a wide variety of topics, that keeps her coming back year after year.
“ I’ ve said it over and over: When you’ re looking for an answer, you can feel extremely confident that the information provided has been vetted,” she says.“ And, it’ s presented with such excellence that, if you follow it, you’ ll be on track, above par, and— in many instances— at the cutting edge of what’ s being done in ministry.”
8 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | JULY / AUGUST 2018