Reaffirming the High Calling of Management and Administration

John Pearson

"God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you … administrative ability and put you in charge of the work of others, take the responsibility seriously." —Romans 12:6 & 8a, TLB

On your next coffee break, check out the cartoons from New Yorker magazine at www.cartoonbank.com. This hilarious archive has hundreds of cartoons in the "management" category. Example: In a large office area filled with hundreds of employees, the boss makes a lame attempt at encouraging a manager with, "Keep up the good work, whatever it is, whoever you are."

Funny. But not so funny. Scroll through these cartoons and notice an insidious pattern: either the boss/manager is a jerk or the team member is clueless. And usually there's an ample amount of ego feeding the situation.

The Bible says teachers should teach, leaders should lead and administrators should administer. It's all about spiritual gift alignment. Yet, somehow, the spotlight (in culture and in Christian circles) focuses on leaders and rarely, if ever, on managers. Leadership and management (in this writer's view) are inseparable. Olan Hendrix notes that, "Leaders must learn to manage, and managers must learn to lead."

Part of the problem is simplistic definitions and differentiations between the two that minimize the God-honoring work of management. The worst (in my opinion) is "Managers do things right, while leaders do the right thing." Imagine CEOs trying to inspire team members with that management put-down!

For every 100 books on leadership, just one or two articulate the careful and delicate teamwork required between leaders and managers. Co-author Larry Bossidy (a Fortune 500 company chairman) writes in Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, "Many people regard execution as detail work that's beneath the dignity of a business leader. That's wrong. To the contrary, it's a leader's most important job."

Here's our battle cry: "Yes, leadership is critical. And God-honoring leaders are crucial to every ministry. But Christian organizations and churches must reaffirm the high calling of all those who faithfully serve in management and administration."

Imagine what the management landscape will look like, in the years ahead, when we are passionate partners in reaffirming ministry managers!

With God's help, here's what could happen:

• Kingdom work will be extraordinarily more effective, as we do the right things in the most effective way, becoming excellent stewards of our resources.
• Managers and administrators will love their work and ministries, transforming Christian workplaces.
• The ripple effect will create a greater pool of competent and committed Christian managers and administrators.
• We'll chip away at the unbiblical divide between clergy and laity, helping all kingdom workers (especially those not on ministry payrolls) blend their work with their faith and a biblical heart for the workplace.
• Our people won't want to retire—for kingdom reasons!
• Our people will be consulting with for-profit companies—because we do it better.
• In 10 years, we'll have hundreds of nonprofits earning high regard from experts, education, the media and government.

Leaders, managers and donors: if this vision causes your heart to pound, join your colleagues in Christian Management Association in this exciting journey. After all, our middle name is "Management."

John Pearson is president of John Pearson Associates, Inc., a management consulting firm based in San Clemente, Calif., that helps nonprofit organizations in vision implementation with detailed execution. In December 2005, Pearson concluded 11 years as the president/CEO of Christian Management Association. Visit him at www.johnpearsonassociates.com