Evangelical Church Administration

About the Book

EVANGELICAL CHURCH ADMINISTRATION

A DISCIPLINED CONCEPT

FOR FERMENTING SPIRITUAL CREATIVITY

IN THE LOCAL PARISH

Gerald O. Breithaupt, D.Min.

The primary patterns of ministry and parallel patterns of administration form the background for Dr. Breithaupt’s discussion of the role of the minister in an evangelical concept of church administration.  His conviction is that evangelical church administration is a form of parish ministry designed to ferment spiritual creativity within the church.  His use of five different modular concepts of ministry for the process of problem-goal analysis and a strategy of crisis resolution in the local parish is organized to enable the parish to effect its evangelical mission.  The discussion of the critical importance of change in the local parish is particularly significant because it is related to an actual experimental parish of a major church denomination in which theory was put into practice.  Detailing the factual parish situation and discussing the change factors, he shows what parish decisions had to be accomplished before there could be parish spiritual growth.  The following synopsis outlines his thoughts as a minister engaged in a ministry of administration

EVANGELICAL CHURCH ADMINISTRATION

An image of administration being the entanglement of pencils and paperclips will not become a viable ministry of evangelical church administration until it is no longer seen as graphs, copy machines, and computers, but rather is perceived as a vigorous evangelical ministry to ferment spiritual creativity in the local parish.

The church does not exist in a peculiar half-world of its own without reference to the needs and experiences of the society in which it finds itself.  It has not arrived on the life-scene as a divine superimposed pattern for the society religious.  The church is a rational outgrowth of the needs and experiences of the first century christians changing, however slowly, to reflect the needs and experiences of modern christians.  If the church is to meet this vital challenge it must have in it an infinite capacity for mobility and adaptability, and dare not lock itself into the prison of status quo with static and immovable forms of organization.

THE PERSPECTIVE OF MINISTRY

With historical images and future roles of the parish minister under constant evaluation by a modern public, the theological context for pastoral work is being questioned in the witness box of social relevancy.  At the same time, the biblical concept of the task of ministry and the conditioning requirements of pastoral relationships are making new determinations of ministry in which old images may no longer apply to a modern theology of pastoral care.

THE IMAGE OF THE MINISTER  

In the local parish the image of the minister must be viewed as that of a professional person, but also as a responsible reconciler.  The technique that results from this kind of potential of an administrative ministry is traceable to a minister's ability to conceptualize the creative core of the Gospel in which change can happen in the lives of both people and parish, and the manner in which the structure of the church can be used to bring this to pass.  The manner in which the minister brings them into a coordinative whole, and the degree to which all of these elements are interacting, is a matter of professional skill which then becomes a technique of evangelical ministry of church administration.

THE ROLE OF THE MINISTER  

In the local parish the role of the minister must be viewed through the lens of role definition in which ministers determine their own self-concept of their role in society.  The formation of the master role of the minister is critical to the performance of that determined role in both the church and society, but ministers must come to grips with the role strain w

About the Author

Graduating cum laude from Asbury College, with undergraduate degree majors in Psychology and Sociology and a Biblical Greek minor, Dr. Breithaupt attended Garrett Biblical Institute Old Testament Studies. Graduating from Asbury Theological Seminary with a graduate degree of Master of Divinity, including a psychiatric chaplaincy internship at the state psychiatric hospital, his Doctor of Ministry degree was taken at San Francisco Theological Seminary with concentration in Parish Administration. He obtained a certificate as Administrator of Psychiatric Services. He also was a member of the Board of the National Academy of Parish Clergy. As an ordained minister of the United Methodist Church, his ministerial experiences have been in numerous pastorates. As a teacher he led bible conferences, taught college courses in religion, psychology, and administration. His writings include Why? (a book of christian faith), Let Them Sing (a theological analysis of hymns), numerous devotional and professional articles, and a newspaper column.