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The following are minesterial guidelines for NLCNZ member Churches.
As a movement of like-minded yet diverse churches NLCNZ expects a standard of practice and ethics, so determining our corporate witness.
"If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth who will
trust you with true riches?" Luke 16:10-12.
Annual Accounts
- The annual accounts of the church should be prepared by qualified people and independently audited.
- Annual accounts should be displayed or given out to church members.
- Annual accounts should be user friendly.
Each member church is encouraged to budget for a part of all income to be invested in mission and beyond its own church life.
Assistant Pastors
- It is recommended that in appointing pastors that the Regional Leader be consulted for his input. This will give a more objective assessment.
Senior Ministers
- The incumbent Senior Minister should not resign his church to take up another appointment or retire until a successor has been appointed to allow for smooth transition. Again it is recommended that the Regional Leader be consulted for his advice.
- The successor should usually be a credentialed NLCNZ minister, someone who has like vision and perhaps similar gifting to take the church further and higher. Senior Pastors should be training a successor. There is truth in the saying “success without a successor is failure".
- A church receiving a Senior Minister should enquire if a successor has been appointed at his previous church before appointing him.
- A Senior Minister should not be able to take a church out of NLCNZ Stream without the approval of at least a 75% majority of church members. That Senior Minister would be encouraged to allow discussion with the Regional Leader and the church leadership so establishing that the proposal to leave is accepted by the church.
- Pastors should voluntarily submit to authorities over them. NLCNZ Pastors
should submit to the authority of other leaders eg. Regional Leaders
in council.
- Elders are to support the pastors (cf. Aaron and Hur supporting
the hands of Moses Exodus 17:12) and also complement
pastors (cf. Paul "I planted and Apollos watered" 1 Cor 3:6).
- The New Testament indicates a mix of 3 components in Church government -
1. Pastors (Episcopalian pattern)
2. Elders (Presbyterian pattern) and
3. Congregation (Baptist pattern)
The degree of mix would depend partly on the type of decision to be taken eg. if it is a property purchase all three should be involved in some way. We need to guard against autocracy on one hand and democracy on the other.
NLCNZ churches normally hold property locally (not centrally), under an appropriate trust document.
The appointment of trustees is crucial; this should be in the hands of senior leadership. It is suggested that trustees comprise Senior Minister, elders and other suitable church members.
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