This is going to be a longer post, and hopefully will be the beginning of a discussion that will lead to a healthier, more effective church.

How a church is structured and led is not usually an issue for most people unless it is led poorly. Then, it is generally too late to do anything about it.  Unfortunately, churches are all led by imperfect people, in imperfect models, all hoping to follow the Lord. We don’t fully understand how God allows imperfect governing models to continue, except that His mercy for people is so great, and He has a longer view of how things will be sorted out in the end. (See 1 Corinthians 3,  Matthew 13:24-30)  It isn’t an attender’s fault that a leader falls away, or becomes caught up in narcissism, sin, selfishness, or pride.  Except that the attendee of a church who is in a true relationship with God has a responsibility to those around them in that community to speak the truth, to be discerning of false or misleading teaching, and to lovingly bring correction as a brother or sister in Christ.  Trinity Gatherings will follow the Lord and be directed using a model that would be best characterized as Biblical, Inspired, Accountable, and Collaborative. Of course, most churches will say that Jesus is the head of the church and run it like a business with the Lead Pastor functioning like a CEO. Or use the cover of Jesus as the head of the church while they have a small, select group of close or related people making the decisions without any openness or transparency. At Trinity Gatherings, we know that we can trust The Lord to build His Church. As a result, being open with how things operate, how they are funded, and where decisions are made is not a fearful thing to keep out in the open.  Trust in the Lord, is trust in the Lord.  He will provide adequately for whatever is needed, and we can be upfront and clear about how that provision is being used and invested through the local body.  

We believe that God redeems and calls all Christians to function in the Kingdom.  Jesus, as He builds His Church will have the Holy Spirit gift believers with certain as-needed empowerments for the building up of the body in love. (Ephesians 4)  Some of those gifts are in areas of leadership, vision, direction, insight, wisdom, and faith.   Jesus has promised that He will build His Church. (Matthew 16:18) We believe that we can follow His leadership in building His Church by watching for His calling and gifting individuals who can participate in helping shape the vision, direction, and supervision of the ministry. These roles are laid out in scripture to build the church into love, which is one of the characteristics of a community of believers.

We have so misunderstood the office of pastor in the church today and have instead used it as a catch-all for people directing a ministry, teaching, evangelizing, administrating, and sometimes caring for and shepherding.  Unfortunately, the gift and office around the Biblical concept of a “pastor” are not seen as much today.  In reality, we are all called to love, care for and steward those that God gives us.  That is our foundational understanding at The Trinity Gathering.  All believers are called to be ambassadors, priests, and saints.  All believers are called to love.  All believers are to be both disciples AND disciplers at the same time.  With that background and understanding, here is an opening discussion about how governance might be improved in the church today.

Leader/Visionary/Pastor Led, Elder Protected, and Board/Deacon Supported:

Mark Thomas, who pastored full-time for years and currently works with building churches all around the US, suggested the phrase that we are using. Thank you, Mark, for helping bring language to this governance design.

Leader/Visionary/Pastor Led means that God will call and ordain certain people to be leaders in a congregation. Keep in mind that in the church today, the usage of the term “Pastor” is wide-ranging. A person may not be gifted as a pastor/shepherd, but they may have the title of “Pastor” because that is what the church is used to calling leaders of churches. Unfortunately, this label is misused more often than not.   They may be gifted as administrators, pastors, teachers, with faith, wisdom, apostolically, prophetically, or any number of leadership giftings. But the term “pastor” or “shepherd” should be understood in the context of the Biblical descriptions of it. It would be better to say that a group of called individuals will lead the local congregation and will be responsible to the Lord for the well-being of each person God brings. The primary giftings will be walked out and a group of leaders will be committed to one another in mutual submission, seeking the direction of the Holy Spirit together, while acknowledging the gifts and strengths of the team that the Lord is building.  So, there may not be the same terms for leaders.  In some cases, they may be a teaching elder, a director, or a leader.  The real pastoring will be done at a more hands-on level where someone with the calling of a pastor will stand and commit to loving and caring for a group of people. Each Leader/Visionary/Director or Pastor is an undershepherd to the Real Shepherd – Jesus. (1 Peter 5)  So – we acknowledge that God will gift some to be the leaders of a church or a body of believers.  They can not function on their own however and must be willing to understand, in an environment of grace, how to trust God working through others in mutually humble submission.  Even someone who is gifted to be a leader is only granted that gift by the one who is doing the ministry – The Holy Spirit.  When we see ourselves as conduits of love and leadership that are flowing from the Holy Spirit to others, we can be more humble about the results and learn to trust and depend.

Biblically, the local churches were led by Elders.  Elder Protected means that there will be a group of elders who will hold the leadership pastoral, director, and teacher team accountable to their calling and to their following of Jesus as disciples. The elders will be faithful and committed believers who have demonstrated wisdom and maturity in all things and will be held to follow the Lord and keep the local congregation accountable to the core tenants of Biblical Christianity. They will be a small group of leaders who will provide an accountability check to the leaders regarding whether the direction and execution of plans are consistent with Scripture and sound doctrine.  In the Trinity Gathering model as we foresee it, elders will relate to one another within a local congregation and from one congregation to the next, interconnecting one gathering with another in accountability and growth.  As the movement grows, a council of elders will be formed to help connect one congregation/gathering to another and to build discipleship and accountability throughout the movement.  Elders will “eld” for a season, then take time off and merely serve. 

Board / Deacon Supported means that there will be a strategic group of people that will function as a board of directors to support the business and financial accountability of the local Trinity Gathering community. This board will oversee the investment of resources to the vision and strategy of the Kingdom movement. This board of directors will hold the leadership accountable for the vision and strategic direction.  In addition, there will be teams of deacons who actually function doing and supporting any ministry that goes on.  Deacons will be designated as ministry leaders and supporters and will function throughout the church doing practical ministry.  

All three of these groups: Leaders / Elders / Board-Deacons will be accountable and submitted to one another, with appropriate divisions of responsibilities and requirements for fulfilling their stated calling and duties. Within the local community, the Trinity Gathering will be one characterized by the openness of leadership, clarity of vision, and accountability in all aspects of discipleship.

Each Trinity Gathering will as well be a part of the Trinity Gatherings Movement, which will provide relational, strategic, visional, and spiritual oversight as each location coordinates the work of the Lord in a given region. local Trinity Gathering communities will be able to ask for help in leadership from the larger movement, which will have another layer of oversight and accountability for the leadership of each local community. Every Trinity Gathering community will adhere to the guidelines of sound financial management and transparent reporting recommended by both the ECFA and by working to achieve Transparent certification by the Excellence in Giving organization.  The need for each gathering community to be open with their finances and situation will help to undue the temptation to place our trust in man’s plans and strategies, and will hopefully begin to breed a greater trust in God.

Not every church or ministry is willing to be transparent in how God is leading, providing, and executing the ministry. Trinity Gatherings will be different in this way: We will not be afraid to submit to one another in Trust, Authenticity, and Humility. Ultimately, our trust is in the Lord and His building of this movement of congregations. As we trust only in Him, we are unafraid of telling the truth about His work, His provision, and His plans. Join us.