Creating Executive Limitations For Senior Pastors

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish and communicate certain limitations to the authority of the Senior Pastor as set forth by the Christ’s Church of the Valley (CCV) Leadership Team.

Scope

The Senior Pastor is empowered with the responsibility and authority necessary to conduct the day-to-day affairs of the church, including the establishment of a strategic plan to achieve the “ends” of the organization as defined by the CCV Leadership Team. To this end, this policy includes general constraints and limitations which define the functional and operational boundaries of the Senior Pastor’s responsibility and authority under the supervision of the CCV Leadership Team.

Responsibility

As with all policies and other documentation contained in the Management System, it is the responsibility of all ministry area leaders to ensure the details of this policy are known and followed by all CCV paid staff and ministry area volunteers. The primary responsibility for this policy rests with the CCV Leadership Team.

Policy

Biblical Limitations

• No programs, activities, or teachings that are contrary to or undermine Biblical doctrine may be implemented.
• No individual may be appointed to or permitted to continue in a position of leadership whose behavior is contrary to Biblical values as determined by the Senior Pastor and the CCV Leadership Team.

Congregational Limitations
The Senior Pastor may not cause or allow conditions, procedures, or decisions that are unsafe, undignified, unnecessarily intrusive, coercive or that fail to provide appropriate confidentiality or privacy related to any congregant.

1. No application forms that elicit information for which there is no clear necessity.
2. No methods of collecting, reviewing, transmitting, or storing member information that fail to protect against improper access to the material elicited.
3. No facilities that fail to provide a reasonable level of privacy.
4. No failure to establish with members a clear understanding of what may be expected and what may not be expected from the church.
5. No failure to provide sufficient weekly worship services to accommodate the needs of the congregation.
6. No failure to establish programs to ensure the spiritual growth of church members.

Employment Limitations
The Senior Pastor may not cause or allow any treatment of staff that is unsafe, unfair, undignified, or unlawful.

1. No staff may be hired who are unwilling to endorse the mission, vision, core values, beliefs, etc. of CCV.
2. No staff may be hired who are unwilling to become a member of CCV or who, through their lifestyle or doctrinal position, are ineligible for church membership.
3. No staff member may be retained whose conduct is contrary to Biblical values as determined by the Senior Pastor and CCV Leadership Team.
4. No budget in which the cost of salaries and benefits exceed 45% of the total budget.

Business Limitations
The Senior Pastor may not cause or allow any practice, activity, decision, or organizational circumstance that is unlawful, imprudent, or in violation of generally accepted personal and professional ethics, including the following:

1. No decisions, procedures, behaviors or conditions with members, attendees, donors, vendors, business partners or the local community that are undignified, intrusive, rude or that can be construed as a conflict of interest.
2. No unreasonable exposure of the organization to claims of liability.
3. No failure to protect information, files, and intellectual property from loss or damage.
4. No ownership transfer of any real property without prior approval of the CCV Leadership Team.

Financial Limitations
The Senior Pastor may not cause or allow the development of fiscal jeopardy or compromised fiduciary responsibility, including the following:

1. No five year period without at least one external audit. CCV’s next audit should be conducted by or before 2015.
2. No accounting procedures contrary to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
3. No significant church assets left unprotected, inadequately maintained, or unnecessarily risked.
4. No borrowing of funds without prior approval of the CCV Leadership Team.
5. No loss of funds due to inadequate control procedures.
6. No unbudgeted expenditures without written approval from the CCV Leadership Team. Approval of an unbudgeted expenditure requires majority vote of the CCV Leadership Team. (This policy does not apply to unfavorable budget variance, addressed via monthly reporting and Senior Pastor oversight.)

Communication/Reporting Limitations
The Senior Pastor may not allow the Leadership Team to be uninformed about any Biblical, business, financial, employment or other issues actually or potentially under its authority and oversight. The Senior Pastor will …

1. Report in a timely manner an actual or anticipated noncompliance with any Leadership Team guideline or policy.
2. Advise the Leadership Team if, in the Senior Pastor’s opinion, the Team is not in compliance with its own guidelines and/or policies.
3. Submit Leadership Team reports or other monitoring data required by the Leadership Team in a timely, accurate, and understandable manner.
4. Notify the Leadership Team of anticipated adverse media coverage, threatened or pending lawsuits or allegations of significant staff failures to live up to employment standards.

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