Equip New Board Members

Three Keys to Prepare and Equip Your New Church Board Members

January 14, 20253 min read

Due to term limits mandated in church polity, church leadership boards typically have one-third of their board turn over each year. While polity dictates this practice, changing over leadership is also a solid best practice. This rotation keeps leadership fresh, doesn’t burn people out, and allows diverse perspectives and ideas to come forward.

Too often, a church culture exists which assumes new church board members (aka church council or administrative council) come into their position already knowing the responsibilities and expectations of the new role. In my experience, this is often not the case. This type of culture also perpetuates unhealthy behaviors, habits, and practices.

Each new year, the church has the opportunity, responsibility, and obligation to train and equip leadership board members. Here are three key ways to prepare and equip these leaders for their role and provide the best possible opportunity for the greatest Kingdom impact:

  1. Ensure each new board member receives fresh, comprehensive training. It is also a good idea for existing board members to sit in on the training. I find that existing board members pick up new things from training each year. There is often too much for a new board member to absorb in their first year’s training. When new and existing board members learn together, there is often opportunity for great conversation resulting in new insights and understanding for all. For those in simplified, accountable structure, check out this comprehensive on-demand training as well as other helpful resources.

  2. Create a new leadership covenant each year. A leadership covenant is a written document indicating the expectations of board members (i.e. meeting attendance, preparation, behavior, etc.), behaviors (appropriate and inappropriate conversations with congregants, parking lot conversations, cell phone usage at meetings, advocate for mission and vision, etc.), how the board will do their work together (i.e. confidentiality, passionate conversation and discernment, unified voice, accountability, etc.). Samples of leadership covenants can be found in Mission Possible 3+.

  3. Use a comprehensive approach to onboard new board members. Have them shadow existing leaders before they are officially seated in January. Review financial reports ensuring each member knows how to read and interpret the provided information so they are an informed leader knowing how to monitor and steward the finances of the church. Review pending projects and issues so they are fully informed and can participate in discussions and decisions from day one. Review the organizational chart so they fully grasp the chain of command, supervision, and communication. Ensure they have access to the appropriate (digital) files for the past year to review and understand the current reality and business of the church. Review basic general church polity (i.e. apportionments, appointment system, role of bishops and DS, etc.). Make sure their calendar is marked with all important dates such as board meeting dates and the strategic ministry planning retreat.

Using these simple (yet effective) approaches for leadership board members will provide clarity, understanding, and initial training resulting in more prepared and confident leaders who are ready to hit the ground running. 


equipping leadership boardnew leadership boardnew year
blog author image

Kay Kotan

Kay’s purpose is to Equip and Empower Leaders of Faith Communities How to Engage in More Effective Ministry. Kay Kotan is the founder of You Unlimited (coaching, consulting and training company) and The Greatest Expedition – a collaboration of more than twenty thought leaders providing resources and insights for a congregational journey to develop new MAPS (ministry action plans) to reach new people in your community.  Kay also launched Multipliers’ Movement – a gathering of kingdom multipliers for sharing, equipping, and encouraging. She is a CoachU and Advanced CoachU Graduate, an accredited coach (PCC: Professional Certified Coach) with the ICF, International Coaching Federation, a Certified Path 1 Coach, and once served on the faculty at Coaching4Clergy. As a passionate lay person, she has a banking background and has been a business owner for more than 25 years. Kotan has served as a church developer for conferences and worked with churches, pastors, conferences, and judicatory leaders across the country for more than a decade. She is most proud to be the wife of Bob for over 30 years and the mother of their adult son, Cameron. Kay is the author of multiple books, workbooks, and resources including Gear Up: Nine Essential Processes for the Optimized Church, Cry From the Pew, Full Schedules, Barren Souls, Being the Church in the Post Pandemic World, and Journey Preparation: Surveying Your Church’s Landscape, as well as the co-author of the books titled: IMPACT!: Reclaiming the Call of Lay Ministry, Small Church Check-Up, Insights on Productivity, Renovate or Die – Ten Ways to Focus Your Church on Mission, Ministry 3.0 and Get Their Name , Ten Prescriptions for a Healthy Church, Necessary Nine – Nine Things Effective Pastors Do Differently, Launching Leaders: Taking Leadership Development to New Heights, Strategy Matters: Your Roadmap to Planning a Strategic Ministry Planning Retreat, Voices of Christmas: A Daily Devotional for Advent and Expanding the Expedition Reach Through Marketplace Multipliers. Mission Possible for the Small Church. Inside Out: Everting Ministry Models for the Postmodern Church, and more. Kotan and her co-author Bradford published their third version of the best-seller, Mission Possible: Simple Structure for Missional Effectiveness. Mrs. Kotan spends her time investing in pastors, laity leaders, congregations, and judicatory leaders through equipping, coaching, and creating resources to help them discover and live into their fullest missional potential of effectiveness and fruitfulness to reach people for Jesus Christ. Through her enthusiasm, truth-telling, and passion, she challenges those who encounter her in both their thinking and their doing.

Back to Blog