Decisions

Jonathan Parnell post:  How to Lead in Making Major Decisions

Pastor John in 2002:

The following guidelines are intended to guide a pastor or elder or director in writing recommendations that will help the Leadership (and, if appropriate, the congregation) understand, approve, and act on significant suggested courses of action.

I don’t mean that all these guidelines must be followed for every decision the Leadership must make. They apply to more major proposals — the kind that will be costly, or will affect many people in important ways, or may seem to the Leadership different from an assumed path. In these cases, thorough, careful, Biblical persuasion is needed. The assumption behind these guidelines is that at every point truth is paramount.

Eight Guidelines

1. Pray with out ceasing.
2. Meditate on the Word of God day and night.
3. Gather true information related to the proposal.
4. Think through as many implications of the proposal as possible.
5. Write the proposal including a coherent and orderly presentation of the proposal, an explanation of it, the implications, and the rationale.
6. Give copies of this written proposal to the Leadership sufficiently in advance of the meeting at which it will be considered.
7. Read the proposal to the Leadership or read a coherent summary of its key parts at the meeting when it is to be discussed.
8. Seek a thorough discussion of the proposal, with all the Leadership urged to participate in the discussion. Allow the head of the Leadership group to guide the discussion to appropriate action.

Read the entire article, Guidelines for Leading Leadership in Major Decisions.