Offices: 1111 N. Wells St. Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60610 - 312.573.8800
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Covenant for Effective Governance &
Leadership at LaSalle Street Church
Everyone involved and especially leaders, must be thoroughly committed to doing what God wants, even at the expense of personal convenience and ideals.
In effective governance, we have to be willing to hear the “hard things” : the information that seems discouraging, the opinion that seems contradictory, the language that seems offensive, the alternative that seems disappointing. We have to consider that we might be wrong, or at least that our ideas are capable of improvement by others – and by God through others.
And we need to be willing to revisit decisions, inconvenient as that may be, whenever a fresh reason is brought to the table to do so. Perhaps what we decided first is, in fact, wrong; perhaps it can be improved upon; perhaps it was right for then, but not for now.
We seek to convey the rich and varied fabric of our world by reflecting the multiplicity of backgrounds – ethnicity, theology, culture and economic – found in our surrounding community. In that diversity, some topics may be controversial in nature and create genuine disagreement between faithful, committed Christians, and we will not hold others hostage to their belief on these issues. Thus, if an issue is decided in a manner different from our own belief, we will agree to work harmoniously with the existing leadership o graciously step down from leadership. We will not allow our disagreement to become a tool of division in the leadership or the church body.
We agree that all leaders must demonstrate self-control, monogamy, faithfulness and mutual respect in their personal relationships. We also agree to clarify facts, seek a shared understanding and not allow fear, anger or suspicion to fester within our church body.
We will structure governance so that no one has too much power, since we take sin seriously. We need to make sure that all leaders are answerable to another who can truly call him or her to account, or at least inform adequately others who can.
Every process must be transparent to others who are not personally invested, and every decision is properly taken according to openly defined procedures.
We need to beware secretiveness of any sort. Privacy and discretion are essential at times, but too easily become a cloak for the mere convenience of decision-makers, let alone outright arrogance and even deceit.
Spiritual gifts and other abilities with which God has blessed people need to be recognized and used in the church. Some people know more than others about this ot that. Some people are better than others at this or that. We need simultaneously to validate each member as equally important to the church and to God, and also to call upon members’ particular gifts for the common good.
Care must be taken, and taken regularly, to be sure that the voices of everyone importantly involved in a decision can be heard – even if only indirectly – in the place of decision. This will entail, among other things, proactively informing all stakeholders of the issues in question and providing adequate channels for their communication back to the decision-makers.
Prayer should permeate the governance of a church. Each meeting should start and end with prayer. Some meetings would be improved by pausing for prayer at key junctures of the discussion. And each individual involved must submit to God joyfully and expectantly in prayer.
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