In my work as a non-profit consultant, I help organizations like yours see their vision and purpose fulfilled and the Lord use them mightily. That is what we all want when we go to work in the morning, right? For the Lord to use us, for His glory to be seen throughout our work, and for others to be brought closer to Him not only by our work but also by our own testimony of His faithfulness?
To do that, we have many “tools” we use. How do you rightly assess your organization’s success? SWOT? KPI Metrics? Other defined deliverables?
All of those are good, but there is a question that they each either assume or miss completely.
In order to be gut level honest in their answers, they must be ground level accurate in their basis. You must have your success delineated to be rightly assessing your deliverables.
This is where many organizations and leaders miss getting the full impact of such assessments and truly seeing their value in strengthening their effectiveness.
What do I mean by this?
When doing a SWOT analysis for instance… what is the basis for your assessments?
Successes? Weaknesses? Opportunities? Threats? Based on what baseline? Our event’s successes based solely on money raised or people attending would stop short on our mission.
If you have not DELINEATED YOUR SUCCESS, how do you know you were successful?
If you have not DELINEATED YOUR STRUCTURE, how do you know what you are doing is successfully carrying out your purpose and promoting the cause you spend your life championing?
This is where we will focus today.
In asking these questions, training others to answer them as well, the Lord gave me a model. The Kingdom Business Model is a way of looking at our organizations considering our very foundational structure, which brings clarity and focus to the core of how we operate in comparison to a very basic, easy, Biblical model. That becomes the basis for all our other measures… that movement of our structure closer and closer to the Kingdom Model. That is how we DELINEATE OUR STRUCTURE!
THE MODEL ITSELF is amazingly easy. It is simply the Trinity. Yes, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Things it causes us to understand…
Our organization is a living thing. Just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three different beings, alive, present, and at work in and through our lives, we must also see our organizations that way. They are far more than an Org Chart on page 3 of our Bylaws filed away somewhere. This organization the Lord has entrusted to our stewardship is alive.
Our organization is based on relationship. Yes, it must be nurtured, and is only structurally sound when it all operates in healthy relationship between the individual parts. God was a relationship God, and through His design of a Trinitarian headship, He has revealed to us the need and blessing of our structure modeling His, and the difference in how we interact when we have relationship at the forefront of our hearts and minds.
Our organization is not going to thrive accidentally. There are guidelines, roles, boundaries, and understandings between the distinct functions of each individual part. The Father could do what He needed to because He trusted the Son would fulfill His responsibilities. Likewise, the Son could finish His ministry on earth knowing that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, would carry out his mission going forward.
It took all three, acting independently, making up one living, relational and well-defined whole.
THE KINGDOM BUSINESS MODEL
This model is a very simple one. Its structure is a simple triangle…it is based on the Trinity.
As we begin to look at this, first thing, do not picture it standing up. This is not a hierarchy. This is a foundation to be built on. Foundational idealistic structure from which to build our own operational structure. So, as you look at it, you look at it from above, and these are the three intersection points of our foundation.
At the top would be the Father, the Son to the left, and the Holy Spirit on the right.
We then look to the scriptures for identifying characteristics and titles for each one and begin filling in our structure.
Look at our copyrighted Kingdom Business Model Summary.
Establishing. In scripture, it is the Father who establishes and sets in motion. The “in the beginning, God created…” (Genesis 1:1). In any healthy organization, you have the part that establishes it as well. The Board of Directors, the founders, those whose job it is to set in place the structure, the shell of the organization, and the vision and purpose. In this Father role is carried the authority. In this Father role, is the head, the protector, and the creator of the ministry.
Equipping. In scripture, it is the Son who equips. The Rabbi. The Word made flesh. In your organization you have the ones who are Jesus with skin on as well. Those who carry out the purpose of the ministry to serve others. Those who train others. Those who teach. The staff and volunteers, who are called and anointed with purpose to be the light and bring the content to life. In this Son role is carried the wisdom. In this Son role is the Word, the content, the training and serving.
Empowering. In scripture, it is the Holy Spirit who empowers. Now, CEOs and Executive Directors get a little uncomfortable with comparing their role to that of the Holy Spirit, and truly each person involved should approach their role with humility and great reverence. For this role, because it is mostly one person focused, it may help digest if you think of it as the C-suite verses just the CEO. However you look at it, this role empowers others to do their jobs, it multiplies efforts, it makes or breaks the unity of the spirit between all the different jobs and the Board, and guides and discerns the workings of the organization. In this Holy Spirit role, the vision of the organization is carried and brought to life.
The parts distinct, but uniquely make a whole that must be the very foundation of the whole.
APPLICATION
This model can be applied to any business. I have used it in corporate settings where they have no idea that I am referring to Biblical structure or role definitions. If it is true, and it is, then it supersedes the type or business of the organization.
So how does it “roll out” in real life?
When you begin assessing your structure according to these roles, you begin to see where one has been over involved or another has been over prioritized, where balance has become skewed. As you make the determination to move your organization closer and closer to this structure, you are in fact DELINEATING YOUR STRUCTURE.
There is strength in purposing a strong structure.
It prevents overreach.
It requires all parts to function well independently but also interdependently.
Each step purposes to bring you closer and closer to this model, thereby strengthening the whole.
Each part has clear definition and responsibilities, and the success of each is only as good as the others.
It is all about relationship, so it feeds good recruiting and hiring at all levels.
My prayer in sharing this introduction to this Model is that it would help to highlight something positive in your organization, to bring clarity to some area of confusion, or structure to any disorder. Unity is always the goal because relationship is always the desire.
If you would like more information on the use or implementation of this model, I would love to hear from you.https://conniewcoleman.life/
Connie has extensive experience in training and involvement in pro-life work and apologetics and for-profit and non-profit business. She served as a Board Member and also CEO of a pregnancy resource center giving her a unique perspective and insight into the movement to share!
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