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ANTIOCH MOVEMENT OVERSIGHT

We see the need for additional clarity regarding the structure and oversight of AMI. We are not changing our overall governance framework; rather, we intend to clarify and develop a few important areas.

The structure is based on the following principles:

– The spiritual oversight leads the Antioch Movement, and the organizational oversight is the implementation of that leadership.

– Antioch’s mission is implemented by local churches and international teams; the organizational structures exist to support them.

– The movement oversight follows the same template that we use for local churches: apostolic-led, elder-governed, and with external advisors who provide accountability (as shown in the graph below).

The following flow chart illustrates the oversight of the Antioch Movement:

MOVEMENT CLARITY OF TERMS

Terms  

Antioch Movement:  The informal term for describing Antioch’s shared work around the world.  

Antioch Ministries International (AMI):  The formal name for Antioch’s shared work around the world, inclusive of both U.S. and International. It is also the name of the corresponding legal entity that supports this work.  

Antioch Oversight Team (AOT):  The spiritual eldership of the Antioch Movement. This team is subdivided into U.S. and International leadership.  

US Oversight Team (USOT):  A sub-group (“committee”) of the Antioch Oversight Team that oversees and supports our work in the United States. 

Movement Apostolic Leader (AMI President):  The spiritual leader of Antioch who provides oversight to the Executive Directors and leads the AMI Board.  

Movement Support Office (MSO):  The office that supports and coordinates Antioch’s work in the United States, church-based missions infrastructure, and work in Latin America. It is one of two entities within AMI.  

International Field Office (IFO):  The office that oversees Antioch’s international missions work (excluding Latin America). It is one of two entities within AMI.  

AMI Executive Directors: The director of the MSO and the director of the IFO, who function as co-Executive Directors for AMI.  

AMI Board of Directors:  The official legal oversight of AMI. The Board is a subset of the Antioch Oversight Team for the purpose of overseeing the organizational entity and facilitating the AOT (additional overseers are included for this latter responsibility).  

AOT Meeting:  An annual meeting to seek the Lord regarding the direction, vision, values, and calling of the Antioch Movement.  

AMI Board Meeting:  A bi-annual board meeting and a quarterly board report. The purpose of this meeting is to provide oversight of AMI staffing, strategy, and finances.  

Antioch Oversight Team (AOT) 

The Antioch Oversight Team functions as the spiritual eldership for the Antioch Movement. It is comprised of U.S. and International leaders. 

Responsibilities and Authority:  

  • Stewarding the vision, values, and calling of the Antioch Movement 
  • Clarifying the doctrine and theological positions of the Antioch Movement 
  • Affirming the appointment of key Antioch leadership positions (IFO director, MSO director, Movement leader, AMI board chair) 
  • Discerning the word of the Lord for Antioch 
  • Affirming the long-term strategic alignment of the Movement 
  • Shepherding the Movement through prayer, pastoral care, and relational investment 

 

Antioch Movement External Advisors 

The External Advisors are a team of ministry leaders outside of Antioch who oversee the health of the Antioch Movement’s leadership. They represent a primary place of accountability for the Movement leader and serve as advisors to the leadership team. The External Advisors provide accountability and the final authority for the Movement Leader, and they fulfill a mediating role in the event of substantial disunity within the Antioch Oversight Team (and especially in the AMI Board/Facilitation Team).  

 

Responsibilities and Authority:  

  • Advise the Movement regarding its calling, values, direction, health, and alignment. 
  • Provide oversight, support, and accountability for the Movement leader. 
  • Mediate in the event of substantial disunity within the Antioch Oversight Team (and especially in the AMI Board Facilitation Team). The result of this mediation is the final authority for disputes among the AOT.  

The External Advisors are a team comprised of ministry leaders outside of Antioch: 

  • Bekele Shanko 
  • David Wills 
  • Larry Kreider 

AMI Board / Facilitation Team 

The AMI Board is comprised of members of the Antioch Oversight Team and thus is a subset of the broader eldership. The Board is responsible for the organizational oversight of AMI and includes all duties that generally fall to a Board. 

Additionally, due to the size of the AOT, a smaller group functions as a Facilitation Team. This group includes the AMI Board, plus a few other representatives. The Facilitation Team also functions within the broader authority of the AOT. The existence of this team does not change the scope of the AOT’s responsibilities or authority. 

 

Responsibilities and Authority: 

  • Providing accountability for the Executive Directors of AMI in accordance with established vision, direction, and values 
  • Approving the budget for AMI 
  • Establishing policies for AMI and for missionaries serving with Antioch Missions1 
  • Approving ministerial and director-level staff positions (additional overseers2 included for this responsibility) 
  • Facilitating the AOT (additional overseers included for this responsibility) 
  • Coordinating with the External Advisors (additional overseers included for this responsibility) 

 

AMI Executive Team  

The AMI Executive Team is responsible for managing AMI and the associated ministries and staff. It serves as the implementation arm for the Antioch Movement. The Executive Team is comprised of the AMI President, and the two Executive Directors. 

 

Responsibilities and Authority:  

  • Lead AMI in accordance with the established vision, values, and strategic direction of the Movement 
  • Lead the respective Movement offices (MSO and IFO) 
  • Manage the finances of AMI 
  • Manage the employees of AMI 
  • Enforce the policies and procedures of AMI 

US OVERSIGHT TEAM AND REGIONAL LEADERSHIP

The Antioch Movement is governed by the US Oversight Team, which provides leadership for the Antioch Movement in the United States as well as a few churches in Europe and Latin American. This team functions as elders for the Movement but is not a decision-making body for individual churches.  That is the responsibility of the local eldership and their respective External Advisors. 

Antioch’s U.S. network is organized into distinct regions to better coordinate and support member churches. The primary authority of Regional Teams with individual churches is exercised through the existing model of External Advisors. In other words, our governance model has not changed through the regional structure. What has changed is how external advisors are appointed, and certain responsibilities of the U.S. Oversight Team that have been pushed to the regional level.  

 

Responsibilities of the US Oversight Team: 

  • Approve any stances made on behalf of the Movement (together with the full Antioch Oversight Team), along with the input from Antioch US Pastors. 
  • Oversee the systems, philosophy, and training for new US church plants. 
  • Oversee the Movement-wide support systems to ensure they appropriately represent the vision and values of the Movement. 
  • Determine issues of affiliation or disaffiliation among member churches. 

When making decisions related to movement values, doctrine, and positions, the US Oversight Team will do everything within its power to provide a clear feedback process for each church in order to best represent the Movement. The team will seek to minimize the number of mandates given to churches and instead focus on training and supporting member churches and their respective External Advisors as they make decisions related to ministry practice and direction. 

 

Responsibilities of Regional Leadership Teams: 

  • Approve new church plants in the region. 
  • Stay informed and receive the opportunity to provide input on significant local church transitions (especially pastor transitions, church mergers, or closures). 
  • Appoint External Advisors for churches in the region. A regional leader should serve as the President for each External Advisory team. 
  • Collaborate with member churches to develop a shared apostolic vision for the region. 

US Oversight Team Members: 

  • Each region leadership team appoints a member to serve on the U.S. Oversight Team. In some regions, this is a consistent person, while in other regions there is a rotation.  
  • There are three permanent members of the U.S. Oversight Team based upon their role with Antioch: Movement President (Jimmy Seibert), U.S./MSO Director (Drew Steadman), and Prophetic Leader (Joe Ewen).  
  • In the event of a complaint directed at a Regional Leader (or leadership team) by the other pastors in the region, 3 members of the US Oversight Team will be appointed to resolve the dispute and determine the next steps. 

 

Note regarding International Missions: Antioch’s work overseas is governed by the Field Oversight Team and facilitated by the International Field Office (IFO). This team has the following responsibilities and authority: 

  • Developing International Field Staff Policies and best practices 
  • Approving new locations 
  • Training Field Staff 
  • Setting macro international strategy  
  • Managing Antioch Waco field staff 
  • Providing managerial and pastoral support for field staff from other Antioch US churches 

The “Antioch Missions” document describes the roles and responsibilities of our international partnership.   

ANTIOCH LOCAL CHURCH OVERSIGHT

 

  1. Local churches are elder-governed because we believe that no one person is ever provided with complete revelation and that we need one another to discern God’s will. We seek to establish mature (1 Tim 1:1-7) and diversely gifted elder teams (Eph 4:7-16) who will be responsible for overseeing the church as it follows the leadership of the Spirit (Acts 14:23).  
  1. Local churches are senior pastor-led3 because we believe God calls certain people to provide leadership to help guide the church into its apostolic calling (e.g., Acts 19:1-10, Titus 1:5). Church leadership should resemble the leadership of Jesus (Phil 2:1-11, John 13:1-20). The Senior Pastor is a fellow elder, and chairman of the Elder Team (see below for how this works).  
  1. Local churches seek to empower the whole congregation in the various spiritual gifts for the work of the ministry because we believe that God imparts His gifts to each person and that each person has a part to play in God’s purposes (Acts 2:17-18, 1 Cor 14:26, Eph 4:7-16, 1 Peter 4:10).  
  1. Local elders are accountable to an external advisory team for both counsel and to preserve the unity of the church’s leadership because we recognize that sometimes elders get bogged down in conflict, sin, or a dispute regarding direction (Acts 15:1-2). The External Advisors are comprised of leaders within the Antioch Movement who regularly pray for and speak into the life of the church. They are empowered to resolve disputes among the elders when it becomes apparent that the church is at an impasse. External Advisors are appointed in accordance with the Antioch Movement’s regional structure in the United States.  

A few practical implications:  

  • Elders are responsible for guiding, guarding, and governing the church as it fulfils its calling. This includes the responsibility and authority for doctrine, values, vision & direction, staff, church discipline, unity, and budget for the church. They are an example to the church through the integrity of their life, they shepherd the church through pastoral care, and they lead the church by seeking the Holy Spirit in prayer regarding their responsibilities.  
  • Elders carry their authority in unity together as a team. We encourage elders to strive for “consent decision-making.” This is not consensus—our model encourages healthy discussion and even debate, but ultimately asks the group to mutually submit to one another. In other words, one elder may have a different perspective or preference, but they will submit to the other elders and represent a unified leadership to the church. If the elders are unable to lead in unity, then the External Advisors will facilitate a process to bring the team back into unity.  
  • A Lead Pastor serves as the lead elder, which means they are a “leader among equals.” They cannot unilaterally overrule the other elders, but they do set the agenda and facilitate the elder team.  
  • The Lead Pastor is responsible for the day-to-day ministries and operations of the church, including leadership of the staff, the implementation of the vision, and the overall health of the church’s ministries.  
  • Church members do not have a formal “vote,” and this is done intentionally to avoid politicking within the church, but elder teams are encouraged to seek input from members in significant decision-making situations and to recognize that the purpose of ministry is to empower the whole church and that the Holy Spirit speaks through the whole church.  
  • External Advisor teams have a primary responsibility to provide godly counsel and to provide pastoral care for the Lead Pastor couple. In the event of an ongoing elder dispute or impasse, the External Advisors hold final decision-making authority to mediate a process by which to restore the church to unity.  
  • Antioch is a church-planting organization, and we take seriously Paul’s charge to “not be hasty in the laying on of hands” when appointing elders. This creates tension in new churches that require leadership but may not be ready to establish elders. Each church is different, but we navigate this challenge by encouraging the formation of a pastoral leadership team to generally oversee the church, while also increasing the responsibility of External Advisors until elders can be appointed.

General AOT Decision-Making Process 

The AOT is intentionally large and diverse and, as a result, decision-making will move slowly. On certain issues, we believe this is important in order to seek the full wisdom of God. Due to the size, the team will follow a clear decision-making process when deciding an issue. We anticipate this process will take a year.  

  1. The full AOT will be informed of an issue via video, conference calls, and/or written documentation. The full team can initiate a topic when it gathers to meet or one of the department leaders can present a topic to be decided.  
  1. The team will utilize an annual, face-to-face meeting for lengthy discussion after being oriented to the discussion (see 1) and each team member has spent time in research and prayer. Generally, the AOT will only be able to tackle 1—2 topics at a time.  
  1. The full AOT will commission a smaller group to draft a document based on its preliminary decisions. This smaller group will be responsible for editing the document and tracking progress.  
  1. The small team will finalize a draft and send it back to the full team. At this point, they will schedule a follow-up conference call for discussion.  
  1. The Movement External Advisors will be invited to participate at this stage.  
  1. Following edits from (4 & 5), a second draft will be presented to a larger group of Antioch leaders for input. Generally, this would include all senior pastors and other Movement leaders. This might occur in stages (pastors first, etc.).  
  1. The small team will compile all feedback and draft a final document. This will then be reviewed by the full AOT and, upon the affirmation of the team (see below for more), will be considered final. 

 

Decision-Making Criteria 

Our heart is to pursue unified decisions with the full consent of the team. By this, we recognize that there will always be varied thoughts on a large team, but we commit to working diligently to arrive at a unified final decision.  

The goal of consent-based decision-making is that the whole group commits to seek the leadership of the Spirit together and with a willingness to mutually submit. We recognize that every decision will have a range of opinions, but through a spirit of mutual submission, we agree to set aside our preferences and focus on what is best for the whole.