Welcome
This Governance Course is a collaborative effort by Alphacrucis College, the Australian Christian Churches, and ACS Financial, and it is being offered to leaders because we know that good governance provides the solid foundation for effective leadership and fruitful ministry. It provides the means to make better decisions and gives people more confidence in the integrity of your organisation.
The costs of getting it wrong in our complex and fast-changing regulatory environment are high. Consequences can include:
- Your organisation and its leaders being distracted from their mission
- Incurring heavy legal costs and penalties
- Losing taxation status and being able to pay staff in a tax-effective manner, or
- Losing your property through governance failures.
Worst of all, governance failures destroy trust in your organisation, and undermine your ministry and the ministry of others in our movement.
Please take full advantage of the learning opportunities provided in each topic of this course so you can both fulfil God’s call on your life and be a wise builder of Christ’s church on mission for the Kingdom.
Topic 1: Leadership and Governance
Understand what tools are used for fostering strong, collaborative leadership in the church and explore the key roles of senior pastors and church boards in creating a healthy church environment. Uncover the distinct roles of Pastoral Leadership and Governance, with insights from Jesus’ leadership and identify what makes an effective board by exploring Paul’s teachings on ministry leadership.
Topic 2: Good governance
This topic is designed to help church leaders and boards uncover ways to build a culture of effective, transparent leadership that drives growth and impact. You will explore strategies such as, constructive partnership, mission-driven boards and strategic planning.
Topic 3: Legal Framework of Churches
In this topic, you will explore the intracity and nuances of legal frameworks that church boards will need to operate from within Australia.
Topic 4: Financial Accountability
In this topic, you will hear from Philip Lee, Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance. He will cover topics such as financial accountability, stewardship and explore the importance of financial decision making for you and your church.
Topic 5: Workplace Health & Safety
In this topic, Helen Muller will uncover tools that are helpful to maintain work health and safety management. Helen has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the development of procedures and policies within organisations, she explores why these practices are beneficial to the growth and longevity of churches.
Topic 6: Risk Management
Investing into a church building is important, but the safety and longevity of that building is even more important. In this topic, Rosie will address both structural, and professional risks associated with church governance, such as defamation, copyright, property risks and people risks when working with contractors and volunteers.
Topic 7: People management
In this topic Peter will unpack ways navigate people management, contracts of employment, including termination and how to develop systems to improve compliance. He has over 30 years of experience as a Human Resources Executive in a range of organisations and advising organisations on workplace issues.
Topic 8: Volunteer Management
Motivating leaders can be a part of the success to any organisation, in this topic, Dr Fogarty will unpack key insights that his research has uncovered, from studying 30 Australian churches and interviewing over 800 volunteers. This topic will equip you with what behaviours to exhibit and look out for in these scenarios.
Topic 9: Child Protection
Child Protection is one of the highest risk areas for churches and associated organisations. These videos outline the legal requirements that will help you within your ministry, outlining the importance of creating a healthy church environment.
