An effective/fruitful church organizational structure is the one that supports fulfilling the Great Commission and doesn’t hinder forward moving efforts. Many churches have an established structure, but not one that fulfills this purpose. Organizational structure should be set to serve your vision and culture. Therefore, it needs to be organic and dynamic, ready to change when God does a new thing.

Unfortunately, many churches have established a structure that worked well in previous season of the church, but it now no longer supports the needs of the church and community. Indeed, yesterday’s structure could even hinder God’s agenda because of its inflexibility. Without intention to, we can become ‘structure first’ in our practice and quench the Spirit’s work that He is wanting to do through us.

Organizational structure in the church needs to be like a wineskin, flexible according to the wine inside it. Wineskins can stretch according to the need, but the wineskin serves the purpose of the wine, and not the other way round. 

A fruitful church organizational structure includes:

1. providing a mission-centric framework.
2. Focus on the use of resources toward the vision.
3. creates space for culture to grow.
4. changes in line with strategic development.

If the structure is unhealthy or ineffective, resources will not be maximized, and the church will be program-driven, process, or politically led instead of being Holy Spirit mission-led.

Five keys regarding church structure to be considered:

1. A healthy church has a structure that helps the church steward a fruitful culture. A healthy church culture helps the church develop the beliefs and behaviors needed for biblical fruitfulness.
2. Healthy church culture is derived from values. Values are the seeds of culture and reveal what we believe to be right, Godlike, and best. They give us a framework for making decisions that propels the church forward in fulfilling The Great Commission. True values will always be manifested through our actions. Many churches claim evangelism as a core value, yet only one or two people share their faith. Evangelism is not a core value in many churches.
3. Values are carried out through the church’s biblical oriented vision demonstrating God’s heart, shaped by His words. and shared God-given passions in the hearts of the leadership team.
4. The mission of the (worldwide) church is to fulfill The Great Commission. Every particular church has a unique mission of how to fill their part of The mission. Mission answers the key question, “What does our church exist to do?”
5. Church strategy, the prioritizing of actions and activities that fulfil the mission, advance the vision, generate the culture and further develop organizational structure needs.

When these five characteristics line up, you have organizational alignment. If the church is weak in organisational health, then one or more of these is ineffective or in opposition to what your stated purpose is.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.