Like other organisations, churches experience crises. Crises can be initiated either from external or internal forces. External forces include natural disasters, government regulation or changing social expectations. Internal forces include incidents occurring from dysfunctional leadership, fraudulent activity, or serious issues that have developed over time that can create a crisis for a church. The lifecycle of a crisis can be divided into three phases – pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis recovery. Each phase requires different activities from the church’s lead pastor and their governing board. This thesis is an investigation into the way Pentecostal Churches respond to crises and how they manage their legal and community obligations whilst ensuring that the Church can continue to meet its long-term objectives in its local community.

Interviews were conducted with lead pastors, supporting pastors, State Executive members of the Australian Christian Churches denomination and Principals of Crisis Management Companies. Through interviews and questionnaires, research was undertaken to assess how crises have been managed in the past, how pastors and members of governing boards believe they should manage a crisis in the future and what is the current best practice to manage crises moving forward. The Crisis Chain Theory was developed after analysis was conducted from the data received from interviews with the participants. The Crisis Chain Theory provides a framework to assist churches in preventing, mitigating, and managing crises as they occur in a church organisation. This theory was developed into a model called the Crisis Chain Model. Gaps were identified between current practice and best practice and recommendations were developed for churches, the Australian Christian Churches denomination and the State and Federal Government to ensure that the impact of crises are prevented and mitigated moving forward.

Keywords

Boards, Church, Conflicts of Interest, Crisis Management, Duty of Care, Governance, Governing Bodies, Moral Failure, Risk Management, Strategy