By Bill Easum
First, you have to understand that there are two kinds of beyond the box churches – conventional and unconventional. The following categories apply mainly to the conventional beyond the box church although some of them apply to both. For more on this see my book Beyond the Box
Lead Pastors Role
1. The live out the Christian life in such a way it sets a tone of servanthood throughout all of the leadership and thus into the church.
2. To embed throughout the church the DNA and a passion for all forms of multiplication.
3. To raise up and bring on staff paid or unpaid people with impeccable character and who are teachable and quick learners.
4. To develop a core team of leaders who become part of the vision casting and managing team.
5. More and more this person will function more like an Apostle than a pastor and see their role to be much more of a mentor and coach than pastor, thus fulfilling the biblical understanding of pastor.
An Executive Pastor
1. Administrative Pastor, or Church Business Administrator, is deployed to oversee the areas of the church such as facilities, finances, support teams, etc. This person may or may not be on the Leadership/Management team of the Church.
2. An Executive Pastor (other terms include Staff Director, Executive Director or similar) is deployed to oversee a large percentage of the staff, including the Administrative pastor. In this case, the Executive Pastor handles much of the day to day operations and programs, taking all of the day-to-day management off of the pastor. This person is an integral part of the Leadership/Management team of the Church.
3. In general the larger the congregation, the more likely they are to have an Executive Pastor role.
4. In recent years, in even larger churches, we have seen the rise of the Operations Director role. Executive Pastor overseeing the pastoral/ministry roles and the Operations Director overseeing administrative and facility issues.
Adult Spiritual Formation Person or as I prefer Lay Mobilizer
1. This is an old term that will disappear as more leaders understand the intimate relationship between spiritual development and action. Spiritual formation and concrete action will be the goal more than just spiritual formation.
2. This position will vary quite a bit and often have oversight for a wide range of ministries including prayer, small groups, spiritual gifts, spiritual directors, and more.
3. This person will be responsible for making sure that the church has a system in place for discipling people all the way from the market place to the mission field.
A Small Group Person
1. Responsible for developing a system and keeping it staffed with trained unpaid servants
2. Responsible for the oversight and shepherding of the first level of core leaders.
3. Responsible for embedding in the groups a passion for multiplication.
A Leader of Prayer
A Worship Leader
1. Responsible for raising up the core team out of whom all of the future needs of worship will arise.
2. For more on this role, see Beyond the Box, by Bill Easum
An Outreach Person
Responsible for fishing pools in which leaders can fish for converts and servants.
- Keep the missional issue present in everything the church does.
- Leads ministries like Servant Evangelism
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