The senior pastor shall not cause or allow any practice, activity, decision, or organizational circumstance that is unlawful, imprudent, unethical, or unbiblical.
With regard to the teaching, leadership, and membership of the church, the senior pastor shall not fail to uphold high standards of the Lutheran Confessions, biblical teaching and morality.
Financial planning for any fiscal year or the remaining part of any fiscal year shall not deviate materially from the current budget or risk financial jeopardy.
With respect to the actual, ongoing financial conditions and activities, the senior pastor shall not allow the development of fiscal jeopardy or a material deviation of actual expenditures from the current budget.
The Senior Pastor shall with the guidance of the Interim Board of Directors develop a check writing process that protects the congregation from financial jeopardy and provides a clear accounting of all fund activities.
The Senior Pastor shall provide the Interim Board of Directors with financial reports at least on a quarterly basis.
With respect to interactions with members or potential members, the senior pastor shall not cause or allow conditions, procedures, or decision that are unsafe, undignified, unnecessarily intrusive, or that fail to provide appropriate confidentiality or privacy.
With respect to employment compensation, and benefits to employees, consultants, contract worker, and volunteers, the senior pastor shall not cause or allow jeopardy to fiscal integrity or public image.
With respect to the treatment of paid and volunteer staff, the senior pastor may not cause or allow conditions that are unfair or undignified, or unlawful.
The senior pastor shall not permit the Interim Board of Directors to be uninformed or unsupported in its work.
The responsibility of the Interim Board of Directors before God to see that this congregation, through the leadership of its senior pastor, (1) achieves the fulfillment of its transition plan, and (2) avoids violation of its Boundary Principles.
The Interim Board of Directors shall maintain an active connection the "moral ownership" of the church: Christ and the people he has called his church to serve.
The Interim Board of Directors will invest significant resources each year to enhance its understanding of the needs of people in the community and to enhance the church's reputation of service to the community.
The Interim Board of Directors will collect and/or review input and feedback from members, attenders, and non-returning visitors to better understand their needs.
Under the teaching and guidance of the senior pastor, the Interim Board of Directors will continually seek the wisdom and leading of Christ as the Lord of the church. To this end, significant attention will be given to prayer and study of Scripture as a group.
The Interim Board of Directors shall conduct itself with discipline and integrity with regard to its own process of governance.
The Interim Board of Directors will govern with an emphasis on (1) outward vision rather than internal preoccupation, (2) encouragement of diversity in viewpoints, (3) strategic leadership more than administrative detail, (4) clear distinction of board and staff roles, (5) collective rather than individual decisions, (6) future rather than past or present, and (7) proactively rather than reactivity.
The essential job outputs of the Interim Board of Directors are linkage to the people served, definition of guiding principles, and monitoring of senior pastor performance.
The Interim Board of Directors commits itself and its members to the following code of conduct:
a. Members of the Interim Board of Directors must represent unconflicted loyalty to the interests of Christ regarding those whom he has called his church to serve (Matt. 28: 18¬20). This loyalty supersedes any personal or group interest among or outside consumers of the church's services. A member must disclose any fiduciary conflict of interest and withdraw from any decision-making affected by it.
b. Members of the Interim Board of Directors must honor the principles and decisions of the board acting as a whole. They may not foster dissent or attempt to exercise individual authority over the staff or the organization except as explicitly stated in the guiding principles.
c. Members of the Interim Board of Directors must respect the confidentiality of sensitive board issues and must avoid facilitating gossip or other "triangulation" against the practice of direct, biblical resolution.
The chairperson enforces the integrity and fulfillment of the board's process including the monitoring of senior pastor performance. The chairperson is authorized to use any reasonable interpretation of the Accountability Principles as he or she acts to ensure the integrity of the board's process.
The senior pastor has the responsibility, authority, and accountability to serve as the primary leader of the church at every level: congregation, board, and staff. With respect to the board, the senior pastor will provide communication to the Interim Board of Directors on all actions except for monitoring of SP performance. If a question of process arises with regard to the bylaws or guiding principles of the church, the senior pastor will defer to the judgment of the board chairperson.
The Interim Board of Directors’ sole official connection to the operating organization of the church, its achievement, and conduct shall be through the Senior Pastor.
Only decisions of the Interim Board of Directors acting as a whole are binding on the senior pastor.
The senior pastor is the board's only link to operational achievement and conduct, so that all authority and accountability of staff, as far as the board is concerned, is considered the authority and accountability of the senior pastor.
The Interim Board of Directors will instruct the senior pastor through written principles that define the mission to be achieved and establish the boundaries to be avoided, allowing the SP to use any reasonable interpretation of these principles.
Systematic and rigorous monitoring of senior pastor job performance will be solely against the only expected senior pastor job outputs: the approved transition plan and church operation within the board's Boundary Principles.
At the meetings of the Interim Board of Directors, the Senior Pastor's goals will be discussed and reviewed for performance, modification, and accountability.