Board of Trustees Sets Parameters for Structure Review

The Board of Trustees of the Christian Reformed Church today defined the parameters of the review it is undertaking of the denomination’s governance and management structure and culture.

It announced a review task force of eight to 10 people,made up of four BOT members, the CRC’s interim executive director, two denominational leaders appointed in consultation with the agency directors, and one leader from either Calvin College or Calvin Theological Seminary.

Part of the task force’s mandate will be to determine what the CRC can do to improve its governance structure, including clarifying or modifying the roles and responsibilities of the ministry agencies, and how best to plan for collaboration, cost-effective management, and accountability.

The report states, “There are expressed desires to make immediate improvements in the implementation of past structural changes and . . . to consider more far-reaching modifications within the organization.”

The mandate for the task force notes that changes that have a high degree of consensus and fall within the BOT’s mandate could be implemented even while the committee does its work.

Other changes, such as major structural changes, require deliberation and decision by synod. The mandate suggests the review will look at relevant principles of Reformed polity for organizational structure and culture.

The task force will also be asked to recommend ways to strengthen morale, collaboration, and work satisfaction, and to determine what kind of leadership style the CRC needs in senior positions to accomplish that.

The structure review task force is expected to report its progress to the September 2011 meeting of the BOT and to have recommendations ready by February 2012, “in time to make decisions that will influence [the] search and job description for a new [executive director].”

The board announced this review a few weeks ago after receiving an organizational assessment (see previous Banner article) from an outside consultant, and in the wake of the resignations of both the executive director and the director of denominational ministries.