Earlier this week I posted a question about churches with congregational governance. I have received several responses including the following email from a pastor in Iowa. More to follow in the next couple of weeks.
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Greg,
Hello from Iowa!
Per your question about governance: We are a 10,000 member church with two satellites; a 2 ½ year old and a four month old. Like most quickly growing and multi-site churches we’re making up most things as we go and certainly are not experts in anything, but we do govern our satellites through the main site as you seemed to be asking about. i.e. We only have one Council and the satellite pastors report to me (I am one of six pastors at the main site).
The change this required in our governance was slight. Our Operations Director and I along with a small task force designed by our Council have been setting policy as we go along, but have developed a mix of ever changing independence/accountability that has worked. We simply keep our Council and senior pastor updated on this.
A couple of examples of the “blend”: Our oldest satellite just held their “own” capital campaign and did a somewhat independent search for a second pastor. However, both decisions required a congregational vote and our new member class/policies and annual congregational meetings are held completely jointly.
Anyway, I’m sure there are plenty of other multi-site churches with much more experience, but for us streamlined governance has definitely been the way to go as opposed to forming separate Councils or elder boards or the like.
Blessings,
Molly Juntunen
Teaching Pastor (Kingdom Expansion and Satellites
Lutheran Church of Hope
West Des Moines, Iowa
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Greg Ligon
Vice President and Publisher
Leadership Network
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