Don’t Print Your Church’s Policy Manual

by Mark Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader

...If you are a growing church.

By growing, I mean a church who is transforming, following the Spirit’s lead into a greater expression of church. Churches who are caught up in God’s movement in this world are constantly shifting, reshaping, and adapting. Change is constant in vitalized churches, making many policies and procedures outdated before the ink dries on the page.

Here are two indicators your church may be transforming toward a greater expression of church.

You need new job descriptions

Maybe you are unsure when your pastor and church staff are in the office, given the topsy-turvy pandemic adjustments. Perhaps your church staff doesn’t have a new normal yet; or when they do, you simply aren’t aware what it looks like. Even more, perhaps your pastor and staff work differently now, given the large-scale shifts afoot. When this happens, rejoice and be glad. This means your church is a learning organization, adapting to the current context as you go. On the other hand, when your pastor and church are functioning exactly as they did before the pandemic, well….

You need new policies and procedures

Since your church has learned and adapted, your pre-pandemic policies and procedures are outdated. Not every one of them, yet plenty. The purpose of policies and procedure manuals, along with employee handbooks, is to codify what works well in your church. Now that new practices are serving you better than the old, update those manuals and handbooks to reflect your current situation.

Then… and here is one high pay-off practice for becoming an adaptive church… never print a hard copy of your manuals, handbooks, or even job descriptions. Why? When these are printed, your church is communicating they are long-term documents. In turn this cultivates the belief that some things rarely change. That was the mindset of the twentieth century church paradigm. Here in the twenty-first century only learning churches will thrive. Let’s do everything we can to train ourselves toward being adaptive organizations wherein change is normal.

So, the next opportunity your church has to do a live presentation or discussion with your church leadership on policies, procedures, manuals, and job descriptions… project everything onto a screen. Make .pdfs. Use formats that lend themselves to swift adjustments.

Save yourself some ink, time, and trees by avoiding the printed page. You will very directly reinforce your church’s ability to adapt to its context, embodying the gospel with greater relevance through your church and in your community.