Honor To The Great Head of the Church
A Transformational Model for Church Leadership, Administration, and Management
by
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I absolutely love ministry leadership. If there was only one profession in life to live, for me it would be that of growing and guiding God’s people to reaching their fullest potential in kingdom living. It is my calling to help others make choices leading to righteous living for eternal life. A business entrepreneurial model was God’s design in ministry for my family and my life.
Thirty-six years of service in leadership management in the church and community brings with it some amazing and eye-opening experiences. Obviously, there are equal numbers, if not more, of challenges associated with designing and constructing a life in ministry.
Far too many ministry obligations can become overwhelming, even downright distracting from God’s grand purpose. There are times when the missional message of the cross is circumvented by far too many nonrelated causes and circumstances, most of them having very little value to God’s message for His church. The purpose for our charge to labor can become secondary to daily obligations and adjustments to rigorous scheduling. Depending on the stressors and how we relate to them, we may even forget why we committed to working in the vineyard in the first place.
Ministry leaders from multiple service models are called upon, as a result of this reading, to encourage themselves daily. The desire to stay on Christ’s message of redemption must rise out of a focused commitment to remain grounded and faithful to His purpose.
I invite you to engage the message of this practical, yet inspiring guide book, HONOR To The Great Head of the Church: A Transformational Model for Church Leadership, Administration, and Management. The expectations from this volume are that it will give renewed perspectives to hold fast to our Lord’s devotion in every matter of church organization. This steadfast devotion must come from ministry leaders, congregational members and even in personal stewardship to the church.
HONOR to the Great Head of the Church has at its core one central message. That message is that Christ is God’s mission. Christ is His only mission for the Church. As our Lord delivered Christ to the church, we, His Ambassadors, join Him to carry Christ to the world. New converts in turn share in His glorious acts of redemption and discipleship. Our commission is that we strive daily to grow as one body in Christ.
Beginning in February, 1985, accepting God’s will to serve others with the gospel message through Christian bookstore operations has been part of the journey God tailored for my life. Since that time, I have served as a teacher, a director, and a dean in Christian Education. This included many years as a director of church ministries, education director and as a dean for numerous Christian leadership schools and congresses. For utmost growth, teaching, training, and mentoring have regularly been part of the works of service assigned to me as a director and leader in ministry.
There have been so many moving parts associated with this voyage, far too numerous to place in this introduction. But if I were to choose one of the numerous times I knew God was perfecting a new pathway for my life, it was the day I read Christopher J. H. Wright’s The Mission of God. Perusing Wright’s book changed my life. It enlightened my spirit and my understanding of church and mission. Actually, I have not been the same since.
Why I was led to study that exhaustive work is not as relevant to today’s point as the message God delivered to me on the day of the first read. Wright’s insight of scripture and of God’s mission for mankind was of profound significance to my personal journey. I was convinced that there needed to exist an urgency to seek and to genuinely serve Him in a more passionate way.
The message totally transformed my thinking. My conceptualization of who I was in Christ was awakened in a way I had not previously discovered. The fact that God was revealing Himself in this manner was a tremendous renewal. Because of His grace, He has continued to share more mysteries of His love for me over and over again. I call these “new mercies” I receive day by day. For this cause, I am more than determined to give ear to hear His voice for the church and its impact in the kingdom.
Participating in the Act of Christ
Christopher Wright wrote in The Mission of God that “God does not have a mission for the church but rather, He desires a church for His mission.” He proceeded to shed light on the difference between God’s mission and the mission of His people. Mission is the meaning and message of the church. Christians must know that the church exists only as it is in mission. The church exists as it participates in the “Act of Christ.” Who is Christ? Christ is the Great Head of the church; God’s mission and His mandate for the church.
Jesus Christ is the mission of the Church! The mission of God was that He sent His Son into the world to die as a ransom for our sin and redeem us to Him. Without Christ, we are utterly lost. We are lost in all things spiritual.
There can be no church without the redeemer as its mission. We only exist as we carry Christ to the world. Thus, we become connected to God’s mission as we are sent from Him, by Him. We become partakers in God’s mission to reconcile the world to Him. With Christ, we are the church on behalf of the King for others. Everyone and all things for our Lord, Christ!
It is my desire that this book communicates the necessity to combine God’s mission from biblical theology with principles of organizational leadership and management for an application leading to transformational administration in ministry. Parts of the literature research were gathered from the works of authors and experts in the fields of leadership, management and administration. Many of whom are also researchers and authors in religion, education, industry and business management.
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About the Book
Honor to the Great Head of the Church
A Transformational Model for Church Leadership, Administration, and Management
This Volume One of the Transformational Church Administration Series is support for the organized church to stay on Christ’s message of redemption He has set for the church. Its purpose is to share passion for a committed focus on God’s ordained purpose and mission for His church. Church leaders are encouraged throughout the volume to adhere to theological principles for continued devotion to God’s one true mission. That message is that Christ is God’s mission. Christ is God’s only mission for the church, the people of God. The church exists only as it participates in the “act of Christ.”
Chapter by chapter, the book communicates the necessity to intentionally combine God’s divine mission as presented from biblical theology with practical applications of organizational leadership and management. The critical shift with this book apart for other resources highlighting the works of church administration is the acknowledgements that for the church to remain under the Lordship of Christ; the church must be in a continued pursuit to seek Jesus the Chris in all engagements of worship, administration, management and service.
The Lord’s purpose of redemption from sin and death has to remain front and central in every ministry, in all programmatic formats, and every service project represented by the church. God’s call to redeem lost man unto salvation and discipleship is highlighted as functions to be grounded through participation in service models and organization. Learners come to view leadership and administration from a scriptural context. As a result, leadership theories and principles of management accurately operate with results that brings edification to the glory of God in all matters of church leadership for administration.
About the Author
Dr. Margarette Williams is a wife, mother, business woman, and a Christian educator. She is married to Lewis Williams, and is the mother of two daughters, Marceinia (Gregory) & Lyska (Terrance) two sons-in-law, and five grandchildren (Malcolm, Jordan, Jayden, Maya, & Johnathan). Dr. Margarette Williams is President & CEO of LEAPS Initiatives, LLC; operating with a 36 year history in the primary businesses, Ephesus Christian Bookstore & Heritage Fashions Boutique. Her Sharper Image Barber and Styling Salon presently contracts with independent barbers and stylists.
Dr. Williams earned the Doctor of Education in Higher Education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is a 2013 graduate of Trinity Theological Seminary, receiving the PhD in Ministry Leadership.
Dr. Williams serves as Director of Ministries and Christian Education at New St. Hurricane MBC. She serves as President of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Regular St. Marion District Association of Pine Bluff.
As a writer for Sunday School Lessons at the Sunday School Publishing Board, the National Women’s Auxiliary Mission Lessons, and The Informer, Dr. Williams has written numerous articles and her lessons are featured in Christian publications across the National Baptist Convention. She served fourteen years as assessor and evaluator for the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education, National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
Her newest business venture, Transformational Consultants Institute, located at 901 West 6th Avenue, Pine Bluff, AR is a 501 c3 Internal Revenue Service nonprofit organization from which Dr. Williams serves congregations, businesses, educators, and the community as an organizational systems management consultant. In 2018, Dr. Williams launched the Behind the Veil Expository Teaching & Writing Ministry Lunch & Learn Class. She coins it Chit Chat & Chew with Dr. Margarette. Her expert skills in biblical exposition have garnered widespread support for the school from the community.
Dr. Williams is a teacher, an author, a motivational speaker, and a Speech Language Pathologist. She is completing the writing of her first book, HONOR To The Great Head of the Church: A Transformational Model for Church Leadership, Administration, and Management. This first book is Volume One of The Transformational Church Administration Series designed to implement transformational advancements for church growth.