A Call to Humble Service: Joining a Christian School Board

You’ve been called to serve on a Christian School Board. Your first board meeting is in a couple of weeks and you’re wondering how to approach your new role.

Perhaps you have some “good ideas” on ways to improve the school. Maybe you have a particular skill set that other members of the board lack.?

On the surface, it might seem a simple task - share your good ideas, or use your skill set to improve the board’s effectiveness.?

I would suggest that there is a broader perspective to consider when entering the board of a Christian school. (And I’m not talking about faith specifically yet, though that’s a critical perspective which I will touch on later).?

The broader perspective I’m talking about is the mindset or mentality you bring to your newfound board position.?

Your personality might be one of agitator. You naturally ask provocative questions and enjoy “stirring the pot”. Your motto in professional contexts is “success is found just beyond disruption”. Should you bring the mindset of a disruptor to your Christian School Board position??

Or, you might be a fairly passive person, who doesn’t like conflict. In your experience, nothing good is ever gained by rocking the boat. In a group setting, you typically take on the role of mediator and smooth out any conflicts that occur. Should you bring the mindset of a mediator to your Christian School Board position?

I could continue to outline various mindsets, but I hope you get the point. We all have a ‘default mindset’ but is that what we should automatically bring to the Christian School Board table??

A Humble Service Mindset

I would like to propose that regardless of your personality, an effective Christian School Board Member has a service mindset that dominates over and above their ‘default mindset’ for the good of the school.

A new Christian School Board member with a mindset of humble service asks the self-reflective question: How might I serve this Christian school best in my role as board member?

Your answer might be…

• I will agitate for the board to vote in favour of the new building development.
• I will seek to repair broken relationships between the immediate past board members and the present board.
• I will use my accounting skills to improve reporting of the school’s financial position to external stakeholders.
• I will encourage the school’s principal on a regular basis.
• I will review the school’s strategic plan and provide constructive feedback.
• I will guide the school’s finance committee through challenging times.
• I will check that the school’s policies are up to date.

Depending on the task at hand, your approach might appropriately shift to achieve the desired outcome. But what shouldn’t change is your mindset - it should remain firmly fixed on serving the school in humility.?

You see, a Christian School Board Member should be humble in what they know. This humility should show up as a teachable spirit. Someone who is teachable spends more time asking questions than giving advice and through the process of asking questions you will learn more and more about Christian Education.

Serving with Humility and Grace?

This humble service mindset should be accompanied by grace. Here’s how.

A Christian School Board Member should return harsh words with loving words, disdain with respect, lying with honesty, abuse with compliments, and apathy with action. Furthermore, you want to be the board member who responds to frustration, resentment, overwhelm, anger, fear and envy with kindness.?

Now let’s consider how that’s even possible, because responding in these ways is easier said than done! And so the question remains, “How?”

Keeping in step with the Spirit?

The most important thing you bring to a Christian School Board isn’t your ideas, skill set or even your attitude of humble service - it’s your godliness.?

That’s how you can act graciously to your fellow board members and other stakeholders. Because grace can only be meted out by those who have personally experienced, and continue to experience, God’s grace.

But the next question that follows is, “Well, how do I grow in godliness?”

I would suggest that the answer lies in keeping in step with the Spirit through prayer, bible reading, sitting under biblical preaching, communion and fellowship.?

This is the distinguishing element between a Christian School Board Member and a School Board Member. A Christian School Board Member says, “Not my will be done, but yours Father”.

To serve your school effectively on the board, continue to partner with God in your personal sanctification. Allow Him to transform you to be more like Christ in your thoughts and actions.

Always be learning (ABL)

For the sake of the school you serve, always be seeking to learn and grow your own capacities. View yourself as a work-in-progress.?

Whatever skill or attribute you lack (after all, none of us are perfect), humbly seek to develop it over time. Christian Schools need board members who are ‘lifelong learners’ and humble enough to admit when they don’t have the answers.?

In a similar vein, don’t allow your own formative experience in education cloud your strategic decisions and oversight as a board member. Just because you experienced schooling a certain way, doesn’t mean that’s the right way - it is simply one way.

Driving the school’s mission forward from the passenger's seat

As a board member, you must care deeply for the school’s mission. And yet you must not sit in the driver’s seat and push the accelerator - that’s your principal’s job.?

So, how do you drive the school’s mission forward from the passenger’s seat? The most important way is by praying for and supporting the principal.?

Your principal is a fallen creature, just like you. What he or she needs most is your prayer, support, encouragement and occasional correction.?

Part of your role is also to hold your principal accountable, but I would suggest that if you’ve hired the right person for the role, you should spend most of your time encouraging them.

Final questions to consider…

• How can I ensure that the decisions I make as a board member align with Christian principles?
• What steps can our board take to ensure that our school's policies and practices align with Christian principles?
• How can I, as a board member, model Christian service to our school community?

David Garden is a marketer with 25+ years experience across education, finance, and tourism. He has an MBA (Marketing) and a Bachelor of Business. He is also a Certified Practising Marketer and Associate Fellow with the Australian Marketing Institute. David is the Chair of two Christian School Boards. Outside of work, David enjoys going bushwalking and kayaking with his wife Michelle and their two daughters, Meg and Grace.