What Is the Difference between Administration and Leadership?

Administration and leadership are different but related. The New Testament spiritual gifts lists include both. Perhaps one way of framing it is this: administration is seeing that the planes take off on time, and leadership is at least in part articulating why the planes need to take off on time and enlisting others in the purposeful endeavor of making the planes take off on time.

So there are clearly many administrative tasks related to church finance, both in the raising of funds and managing and spending them. The size of the church often determines what the role of the pastor is, or at least affects the pastor’s role. The larger the church, the fewer nuts and bolts tasks the pastor will do, and vice versa. But no matter the size, it is easy for the leader to get so caught up in administrative tasks at whatever level that the leadership piece gets left out.

The pastoral leader needs to think through, what are these funds being raised/given for and articulate that to him or herself, and to the congregation. And there need to be conversations with key leaders on “what for” and how do we say to the church “what for.”