How We’re Led

Many people wonder, “Who’s in charge around here?” At Southridge, the way we answer that question is by describing our church’s leadership as, “Staff driven and Elder protected.”

That means two things. First, that the day-to-day operation of our ministry is both envisioned and managed through various teams of full-time paid staff. The scope and pace of our ministry just couldn’t grow without this kind of full-time attention provided by our staff leaders. Rather than simply doing all the work themselves though, our staff seek to multiply the ministry capacity of our church by playing an equipping role, primarily to involve, train and empower the gifts and passions of our people as volunteers. So through our volunteer ‘workforce’, our church is led by its paid staff.

At the same time, our paid staff are accountable to a Board of Elders. This group serves in more of a governance capacity, providing strengths of wisdom and discernment to oversee the operation of our ministry and ensure that it is constantly maintaining its integrity, that it remains clear on its mission, that it’s biblically orthodox, that it’s financially viable, and that it’s done in relationally-unifying ways. On behalf of the members of our church, our Board of Elders are our church’s final authority under God. So ultimately, our church is led by its Elders.

That’s why we describe our leadership model as “Staff driven and Elder protected”, because healthy, effective leadership demands both full-time energy and attention as well as full accountability and oversight. And as these two teams of leaders work together, our church is well-led for the future!

That brings up another critical point about leadership here at Southridge: it’’s done in teams. To protect our church from the dominance of any individual personality, as well as to maximize the effect of collaboration and optimize individuals’ contributions, every leadership group in our church functions as a team, whether it’s at the governance, management or ministry operational level. The acronym’s kind of cliché, but we believe the Bible affirms the idea that in a team: Together Everyone Accomplishes More!