If you’re anything like me, there’s an instinctive tendency to see some roles in the local church as “spiritual” and others as merely “practical”.
The “spiritual stuff” is the preaching, the prayer meetings and the latest evangelistic initiative. The “practical stuff” is writing the minutes, printing the newsletter and emailing the rotas round… obvious.
And then God goes and says that administration is a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12 v 28). It’s right there in the list with teaching and healing and helping.
Why? Because God knows that if the body of Christ is to proclaim the gospel faithfully, then good administration is essential.
As far as I can see, church administration isn’t designed to be about bureaucracy. At its heart it’s all about helping the people of God to communicate, and ensuring the wonderful resources God gives us are co-ordinated, so that we can all play our part in the extension of God’s kingdom.
It’s “spiritual stuff”.
At its best, good administration:
It’s exciting, essential gospel work that helps bring people to Christ and grow in Christ.
As someone who’s done a lot of admin this really encourages me, particularly this week as I prepare a workshop on administration for the CRE exhibition in Peterborough next week.
And hopefully if you’re someone who does some admin work for your church, it’ll encourage you. Your work isn’t just “practical stuff”; it’s spiritual, and you’re using a spiritual gift to serve God. If you’re someone who has a different role in the church, why not make a point of “encouraging an administrator” every week this year?
After all, church admin is “spiritual stuff”—part of the way God’s people continue the biggest point on any church’s to-do list: to go and make disciples of all nations.
