Choosing Your Church Governance Structure Reference Guide

This is the complete reference edition of Choosing Your Church Governance Structure. It is designed for lead pastors, elder boards, trustee boards, and church governance committees working to establish, review, or reform their church’s governing framework. It includes role definitions, six governance model profiles, a comparison matrix, guidance on matching structure to the church's size and stage of growth, and guidance on what governing documents must address.

This guide is intentionally model-neutral on matters of polity. The six models presented reflect a range of legitimate governance configurations. The guide presents each with equal care and does not recommend one tradition over another.