Church Administration Essay

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ARTICLE REVIEW: MANAGING CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS BY ROBERT D. DALE INTRODUCTION The Church refers the call out ones. They are People God has called, and is pursuing His salvation agenda with them. The church as organism and its institutionalization in the sixteenth century C.E calls for proper administration to enable it reach its God given goal. Robert D. Dale, a professor of pastoral leadership and church ministries at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, offers insight into how to manage Christian Institutions. This paper will review his work by giving a summary and showing how I agree or not agree with him. SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE Dale starts his article by asserting that church administration is a ministry, not methods; people, not paperwork; human processes, not inhumane policies; management, not manipulation. He therefore defines administration and management as refers to people processes of an organization and help organizations use their resources well. Administration is growing people, not simply doing things. It is vital if a church is to reach its mission. He says that church administration or management is a science, an art, and a gift. As a science, it involves procedures and techniques that can be learned by study and by practice. As an art, it calls for relational sensitivity, intuition, and timing. This is to say that administration involves natural talents that are enhanced to some degree by experience and training. As a gift, it is a supernatural Spirit-endowed ability. Paul names administration as a spiritual gift (1 Cor. 12:28). Dale describes church administration with four actions. To him, church administration calls for choosing, creating, catalyzing, and coordinating personal and institutional resources. He describes these actions in details, give reasons, and give directives as to who should carry out the action and how it
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