What is the Biblical Basis for Church Management?

Would Moses have been considered successful if he crossed the Red Sea without the Israelites? Would we have access to Paul’s letters if he didn’t have a trustworthy delivery system? These leaders didn’t have the modern luxury of using a church management software, but it would have been difficult to accomplish their mission without proper systems and organization. 

Though education and pastoral care are core functions of church ministry, the Bible makes it clear that church leaders also need to practice wise church management and appropriate stewardship of the people and resources they have been entrusted with. 

With that in mind, here are three interesting examples of the biblical basis for church management.

The Biblical Basis for Church Management 

The Construction of the Tabernacle

One of the most clear biblical examples of church management shows up early on in the Old Testament. The construction of the tabernacle was a BIG deal. 

First, it required countless volunteer hours donated by people skilled in craftsmanship. Moses knew this, so he summoned two gifted artisans and “every skilled person to whom the Lord had given the ability and who was willing to come and do the work” (Exodus 36:2). Meanwhile, other Israelites took it upon themselves to bring freewill offerings to the sanctuary morning after morning. The synergy amongst volunteers was so great that the workers told Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done” (Exodus 36:5). 

How did Moses organize such a complex and successful volunteer team? The answer can be found a few chapters back in Exodus 31. God told Moses that He had chosen Bezalel, from the tribe of Judah, and that He had “filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of skills – to make artistic design… and to engage in all kinds of crafts” (Exodus 31:2-5). God also appointed a second person, Oholiah of the tribe of Dan, to help Bezalel. In this way, God assigned gifted leaders to oversee the construction of the tabernacle.

From a church management perspective, this makes a lot of sense. Without men and women who are willing to say yes to God’s call, it would be difficult to organize a mass of volunteers toward the successful completion of a goal. And without a motivated volunteer base, it would be challenging to get anything done at all! The biblical model for church management is most simply described as humble, God-fearing people putting their time and talents together to serve the Lord. 

The Organization of the Levites

The next example of biblical church management can be found in Numbers 4. Here we read that the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to organize workers for the “service of ministry.”  They took a census of the tribe of Levi, and they wrote down the names of all men “from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who could come to do the service of ministry and the service of bearing the burdens in the tent of meeting” (Numbers 4:47). At the end of the process, 8,580 Levites were identified to serve as ministers according to the process God had laid out for them. 

The organizational prowess demonstrated by Moses and Aaron is noteworthy. Churches with congregation sizes of over 2,000 people are considered megachurches today, and it takes a lot of organization to keep those churches running. I can only imagine how much work and intentionality it took to organize 8,580 Levites – along with the thousands of other people they had to sort through to narrow down this list!

Importantly, it was God’s instruction that prompted Moses and Aaron to organize His people in such a way, and it was God’s idea to implement a type of church management structure in order to help the Israelites thrive. Though many of our contemporary churches look a lot different than the camps of the Israelites looked thousands of years ago, we can still derive important principles from the census of the Levites. Namely, it seems that God blesses (and even suggests) at least some level of organization when it comes to the management of His people.

The Equipping of the Saints

In the book of Ephesians, there is a very short list of “leadership” functions that operate within the Church. Ephesians 4:11-12 tells us that God “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” While the word “leadership” is not used in this passage, there is an important church management and leadership principle underlying the whole of this passage: Church leadership exists to equip the saints for the work of the ministry and for the building up of the body of Christ! 

When ministry leaders find themselves in important positions within the church, it can be easy to become fixated on what happens within the church walls. Interestingly, only 2% of Christians will ever serve on a church staff, while the other 98% of Christians are out doing the work of ministry in their homes, schools, and places of work. 

As we reflect on the biblical basis for church management, we must understand this point. Our church management structures should reflect our call to build up the body of Christ and to equip the saints to go out into their communities as agents of cultural redemption. This is why I’m a huge fan of church management software systems. These software systems help church leaders to better support congregants as they go through growth tracks and get involved as volunteers. And it allows us to spend less time focused on administration and more time  focused on our most important ministry mandate: people!

The Benefits of a Church Management Software

Though the aforementioned leaders in the Bible were able to function without church management software systems, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the level of organization it took them to accomplish their tasks. And while the Church is not as much of an institution as it is a body of believers, we still need organizational structure to faithfully attach ourselves to God’s mission. 

Again, this is why I love an effective church management software. These software systems are game changers as we work to build up volunteers, organize ministry leaders, and equip people for the work of the Gospel. 

Perhaps you are building a physical church building, and you need to identify and raise up gifted volunteer leaders to help with the construction. A church management software can help you store information about peoples’ volunteer interests, spiritual gifts, and so much more! Maybe you desire to pay more attention to the people who come and go from your church, or perhaps you are working to organize discipleship groups to better equip your congregation. A church management software can help you identify new visitors and set up discipleship platforms so your congregation can flourish. 

Breeze’s church management software was designed to help busy church leaders like you to organize and communicate with people, store data, schedule volunteers, and manage events – you name it! If you would like to learn more about this powerful tool, click here.