Please don’t let the title of this article cause you to move on to something else. This is important for you and for your church.

I have a confession to make. I like policies. In my previous career, I wrote, analyzed, taught, and applied policy. That’s where I learned two of my favorite sayings: “Clarity is our friend” and “words matter.” Both are very true in the world of policy.

Why church policies don’t work is something to talk about.

A good place to start is to define some terms. Governance, policy, and procedures are three different things. They should work well with the others, but they refer to different things. Here are some definitions I like to use in the world of church leadership.

Governance is typically found in the church’s bylaws. (Some churches have “constitutions,” but the more common practice today is to have one document called “bylaws.”) A church’s bylaws are a legal document – they must be followed. It is a legal document between the state and the church as well as between the church and its members that define the overall organizational structure of the church. It defines duties, grants authorities, imposes responsibilities and constrains the church’s top-level leadership, defines how the church’s business will be conducted and identifies the members and their responsibilities and authorities. Additionally, they usually define how the organization will comply with state and federal mandates for corporations. This is important because states often require non-profit boards to do things in a certain way unless their bylaws specify otherwise. This “exception to the rules” is typically advantageous to churches seeking to manage their own affairs. [1]

Policy generally details high-level rules for managing operations of various church ministries and organizations and includes things like missions/outreach support, conflicts of interest, child safety, use of church property and equipment, financial protocols, benevolence and many more.

Procedures are typically the “how to dos” of policy and ministry. For instance, a child safety policy is likely not complete without establishing common procedures for accomplishing its provisions and a fiscal policy is likely not complete without establishing common procedures for receiving, handling, disbursing and reporting monies of the church.

It is generally easy to modify church policies and procedures. Among EFCA churches, it is more difficult to modify governance documents as approval of the membership is generally required to do so. It is important for leaders to understand the differences between governance documents, policies and procedures and to not put policies and procedures into their governance documents.

Now that we’ve explored the meaning of the words, let’s get to the main point – why church policies don’t work. Here are some of my ideas on the matter and some ideas for talking about them with your leadership team and church staff.

Church policies don’t work when you have too many or too few of them for the size and complexity of your church. Smaller churches typically need fewer policies than larger churches. I often cringe when a small church tries to use a large church’s policies as their own. Every church is unique, and size and complexity changes things.

• What policies do you have in your church? Do they address issues that need to be addressed? Are there areas of ministry or operations for which we do not have a policy that we should have one? Some of the key areas that churches get into trouble are employment policies, fiscal policies, conflict of interest policies, ministerial housing allowance policies, and child safety policies – does your church have these?

Church policies don’t work when you don’t know which of several versions of policy are current. Over the years many churches have sent me various versions of a policy without much of a clue as to which one is the most recent version because none of them are dated. I suggest that every policy has a header on every page that identifies the date originally written and/or the date of the revision and who adopted it (e.g. “Adopted by the elders on January 15, 2025”). Every draft of a proposed policy should bear a “draft” watermark as well (this is easy to do in our digital age). Clarity is our friend.

• How do you mark such documents in your church? Are your existing policies appropriately dated?

Church policies don’t work when we don’t periodically remind ourselves of them. Typically, when a church approves a new policy, people are made aware of it. Then it goes into a policy manual or file never to see the light of day again. New people who join a ministry or team to which a policy applies seldom receive supervised training in the policy itself. Posting policy is typically seen as a potential legal defense for negligence in training. But posting and training and determining whether the policy is understood is what is needed. 

• How often does our church train people and refresh their training in key policy areas? Do we document that we did that training? How do we know our employees and volunteers are trained in these important areas?

Church policies don’t work when we decide not to follow them. I have several times worked with churches in which their pastor’s performance has soured over several years in the eyes of board and church members. When I work with them, I ask if they have a policy of doing any kind of evaluation and, if so, how often. Typically, they have a policy of evaluating the board’s and the pastor’s performance yearly, but they haven’t done so for at least two or three years. This can cause what could have been fairly easily resolved when it originally occurred to become a crisis after the passage of years.

• Review your church’s policies – which ones have we not been following? Which ones need to be revised or rescinded? Which ones address a situation or ministry that we no longer have?

Church policies don’t work when no one is responsible to check whether it’s being followed. This is a fundamental responsibility of the church board. Board members often cannot do this alone and may need to appoint someone to do so and to report results to the board. Spot-checking can also be done to ensure policy compliance and may be an effective oversight tool for many policy areas.

• How does our church ensure compliance with its policies? How often do we do financial policy compliance audits? Are such audits done by people qualified to do so? Who is responsible for ensuring compliance with policies?

• Not enough policies will create insufficient guidance for people in your church. Too many policies will suffocate innovation and the people in your church – no one likes excessive policy. Create the policies you need based upon law and the size and complexity of the church.
• Provide initial policy training and periodic reviews (I suggest yearly) for staff and volunteer leaders and workers. People forget.  
• Board members should review policies yearly to ensure they are up-to-date and suggest needed revisions.
• Basic policies every church needs include anything required by federal, state, or local laws, financial policy (and procedures), conflict of interest policy, basic personnel policy handbook, employee review policy, child safety policy, and harassment policy. What policies would you add to this list?