An Introduction to the HCC Leadership Team

The purpose of this introduction is to explain the background, purpose and practicalities of the HCC leadership team structure. Hopefully it explains most things but do talk to the team members or any of the elders if you have any additional questions, we’d be really happy to explain more.

Background

In recent years HCC’s primary leadership forum has been the eldership. The eldership have handled much of the spiritual and practical issues of church leadership including strategy, direction, finance, resourcing etc. Whilst this approach has some benefits it also carries some disadvantages, for example;

People with key responsibility for areas within the church (e.g. worship, youth, children, life groups) do not have sight of what is taking place and being discussed.
The leadership forum doesn’t directly benefit from the wisdom, experience, perspective, vision and gifting of the other leaders who are not elders.
There isn’t always clear visibility of responsibilities for different areas of ministry.
The communication channels between team leaders and the eldership may not be entirely obvious or effective.

The Bible indicates that elders are ultimately responsible before God for the government and oversight of the church as a whole, however the Bible is also very clear that the elders are not the only people involved in doing things, running ministries, influencing people, hearing from God and leading.

A new team

The eldership team carefully considered the organisation and leadership of the church from a biblical perspective and opted to establish a leadership team model which will allow us to lead and grow the church effectively. The purpose of the leadership team forum is to:

bring together the leaders who oversee all the major areas of ministry.
enable key leaders to contribute to the spiritual and practical strategy and direction of the church, alongside the elders.
influence how best to lead the church forward, corporately and in specific ministry areas.
absorb, live out and convey our ethos, values and vision into the wider church.
create a clearly visible breakdown of responsibility areas.
provide clear routes of communication between the eldership and the wider church.

Appointing other leaders (sometimes termed deacons) to support and serve alongside the elders is set out in the New Testament and mirrors Old Testament leadership principles. These leaders are men and women of Godly character and faith who are capable of handling whatever areas of work are appropriate to be delegated to them by the elders. These leaders carry responsibility for their areas of ministry but are not ultimately held accountable for the overall church.

What do the team members do?

Meet together at a monthly leadership team meeting.
Contribute to the planning, leadership and direction of the church.
Take responsibility for specific areas of work and in some instances, direct and coordinate a team (or teams).
Communicate inward and outward from the leadership team to and from team leaders, team
members and other church members.
Mentor team leaders and team members.
Recruit and train successors.
Continually seek to grow in maturity.

What if team members don’t have the availability to do all of these things?

We recognise that not everyone has the time and resources necessary to undertake all aspects of
coordinating teams. Especially directing, training and mentoring other team members. This is something we’ll always seek to discuss honestly and be realistic about. However, it is better to have a clear vision to work towards rather than set a lower expectation.

The leadership team is a high priority for the members but not above their relationships with Jesus, spouses, children etc. Leaders need to have their homes and relationships in generally good shape in order to be role models and to dedicate some quality time and attention to the task of leadership.

How do the elders select team members?

Leadership team members are selected primarily on the basis of character and spiritual maturity, as broadly set out in the Bible. All team members will be expected to broadly match up to the biblical criteria for assistants (also known as deacons) set out in 1 Tim 3:8-13.

Each person won’t necessarily have a specific ministry area to coordinate, however many key functions will often be represented e.g. worship, children’s work, small groups, mission and youth work. Key ministry staff members would often be expected to be part of the team, but staff members won’t join the leadership team by default. Not least because the staff team will grow larger as the church grows.

How large is the team?

The team will normally be around 10-12 people in total. The exact numbers will inevitably fluctuate from time to time. Whilst the team needs to tap into as much of the breadth of wisdom, perspective, vision and leadership gifting in the church as possible, a team larger than about 12 can become less effective.

What’s the role of the elders in the leadership team?

The elders remain responsible for the oversight and government of the whole church. They are held
accountable, before God, for the oversight, biblical teaching and effective management of the whole church. The buck stops with them. Naturally they can’t do everything by themselves and don’t have a complete breadth of perspective and insight. Hence they work in a wider team and delegate all kinds of work to competent and Godly leaders, in line with the New Testament examples of church leadership.

The elders and other members of the leadership team work in partnership, with everyone using and
extending their particular gifts and abilities. Just like a body, all the parts have distinct roles and
responsibilities, yet work in a complimentary fashion with complete equality of value and significance.

What sort of things does the leadership team work on?

The leadership team reviews and discusses a wide range of issues related to church life and leadership, including the different areas of practical ministry, spiritual direction, finance, resourcing, mission, meeting structures, events, courses and teaching topics.

There are some topics which won’t normally be discussed in the leadership team and will be handled primarily only by the elders, for example; issues of doctrine, significant pastoral issues or staffing issues.

How long are people likely to remain in the leadership team?

Many of the roles of the leadership team members are relatively long term so there is unlikely to be a high turnover. Team members are expected to give plenty of notice if they’re stepping down from coordinating a ministry area and the same would apply to the team members who don’t oversee a specific area of work. It isn’t a life sentence and we will seek to review everyone’s involvement so that individuals don’t get burned out, bored or lose inspiration for the work they’re involved in. Neither is it a job for life so from time to time people will change roles or simply step down from the leadership team. It doesn’t preclude them from joining again in the future, it’s just a natural part of running an organisation.

How do new people get to join the team?

People with leadership ability and character will inevitably get themselves involved in whatever areas of ministry they’re gifted in and passionate about. We will always be looking to train, develop and give
opportunities to people who love Jesus and want to lead. From time to time we may bring people onto the team for a defined period of time while they execute a specific project or we may give people an opportunity to get involved for several months before considering whether they and the elders think it’s appropriate for them to join the leadership team.

Are the leadership team members the only people who are considered to be real leaders or ‘deacons’ in the church?

No, of course not. Our church has loads of gifted, God fearing people with leadership ability who know their Bible and who serve and lead in all sorts of ways. These people fit the biblical criteria of character, lifestyle and doctrine required of assistant leaders (or deacons) otherwise they wouldn’t have been given responsibility for specific areas. It simply isn’t practical or necessary for all of these leaders to always be part of the leadership team.

September 2009