Enhancing Trust Through Leader Care.

Introducing ECFA's Leader Care accreditation standard. Based on biblical principals, this standard will support healthy leadership, renewed trust, and a brighter future for ministries and the communities they serve.

Healthy leadership is crucial to trust.

Burnout. Flameout. Dropout. This is not what God intends when he calls people to lead, but this is the result far too many times. These circumstances directly impact the public's trust in all ministries and churches.

Leaders cannot overcome challenges alone.

Boards praying for their leader should be a central element of any care plan. However, when it moves from prayer to conversation, boards learn how to support their leader from the "flaming arrows of the evil one." (Eph. 6:16)

Healthy leadership has a lasting impact on the next generation.

Enhanced trust stirs hope for the next generation of leaders and Christ-followers as the baton is passed from generation to generation. This new leader care standard is about blessing leaders and boards with a framework and resources so they can be transformed. Our desire is that we see more leaders not just survive but thrive in their faith and service in reaching the world for Christ.

Resources to Get Started with Leader Care

We are committed to regularly providing resources, sample plans, and other educational opportunities to help organizations with the standard at ECFA.org/Resources.

Here are some examples of Leader Care focused resources.

We’re still listening.

Your feedback is critical as we seek to finalize the new Leadership Standard.
Provide feedback below by May 31, 2024.

Provide Your Feedback

Here’s What Leaders Are Saying

The Salvation Army - USA
Compassion International
Christian Leadership Alliance
Exponential
Transforming Center
Transforming Center
The Navigators
Best Christian Workplaces
National Association of Evangelicals
National Christian Foundation
Dallas Theological Seminary
Youth For Christ USA
Urban Ministries, Inc.
Global Trust Partners
Generous Giving
Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE)
Grace Church
Soul Shepherding
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
Ligonier Ministries
The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc.
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC)
Calvary Chapel Ft Lauderdale
Church of God Ministries for the United States and Canada
Buckner International
Practicing the Way
Wycliffe Bible Translators, USA
University of Northwestern
OneHope
Southeast Christian Church
Converge
The Church Network
Moody Bible Institute
Be Broken Ministries
Leadership Transformations
The Church of Eleven22
Christian Alliance for Orphans
The Christian and Missionary Alliance
Biola University
East-West Ministries International
Global Leadership Network
Northwest University
Women Doing Well
Stadia Church Planting
Every Home for Christ
Convoy of Hope
Focus on the Family
Proverbs 31 Ministries
First Baptist Church of Orlando
Beulah Heights University
Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Joyce Meyer Ministries
Shepherd’s Grove | Hour of Power
CRISTA Ministries
Evangelical Free Church of America
Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission
Connexus Church
Citygate Network
Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
Woodmen Valley Chapel
Bible League
World Vision
intervarsity
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FAQs

General Questions

Recent ECFA surveys show 94 percent of our members reporting leader integrity failures as having a negative impact on community and giver trust. Indeed, we know that the fall of a leader is one of the most significant financial and reputational risks for a church or ministry. Burnout, dropout, and tragic breaches of trust cause many harms that are difficult to quantify, but among tangible consequences are often major unbudgeted expenses, reduced giving, program cuts, and sometimes even the complete termination of a ministry's operations.

Church and ministry leaders experience unique challenges in their roles in carrying out their organizations’ Kingdom mission. Those pressures can lead to exhaustion or a feeling of isolation. In a weakened or injured state, a leader may be more susceptible to abusing authority, creating unreasonable expectations of self or others, sidestepping appropriate accountability, or engaging in other unbiblical conduct.

God-honoring boards can come alongside and lift the arms (Ex. 17:8-16) of their senior leader to be a catalyst for the daily and long-term flourishing of the entire organization.

Trust takes years to build, but it can be lost overnight. As a society, our confidence in institutional leaders, including faith leaders, is declining. Recent Gallup data shows that only one out of every three Americans signal high trust for religious leaders. In that context, the actions of a senior leader play a significant role in whether or not a particular organization will be trusted by its constituents and community. With the combination of leaders sharing record levels of burnout and the public’s continued decline of trust in religious leaders, something has to change.

ECFA believes that healthy leaders lead to healthy organizations. Trust can be protected or restored when a board comes alongside a leader and establishes proactive plans and practices to support the leader’s well-being and integrity. Entire organizations and the communities they serve can benefit when leaders step up and take holistic care seriously.

Absolutely! However, the tone starts at the top of the organization. Even as ECFA requires specific care for the senior leader, we hope that the principles of holistic care will spread throughout the entire organization. We have heard from organizations that have adopted this type of care for the entire staff; the impact on both staff and the ministry was significant!

ECFA will be walking closely with members as they adopt this standard. We are committed to providing resources, sample plans, and other educational opportunities to help organizations comply with the standard and educate leaders and boards around the country on why leader care is essential.

The standard requires the board (or a board-approved committee) and the senior leader to partner together to create a plan and that the board review, approve, and document the plan’s approval in the organization’s board or committee minutes.

ECFA’s approach is purposefully not prescriptive regarding the elements of such an annual care plan. The plan may be a formal document, a board resolution, or directives incorporated into the organization’s policies.

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ECFA is grateful to our friends at Lilly Endowment for their generous financial support of this initiative.