If you’re a pastor who feels more comfortable preaching a sermon on Leviticus than crafting a budget, you may have found yourself thinking, “No one ever taught me how to run a church.”

If you’re a lay leader trying to translate your management experience into faithful ministry leadership, you may have said something similar: “No one ever taught me how to run a church.”

Duke Divinity School’s new Church Administration Course Series was created precisely for leaders like you.

Designed as a self-paced, online learning experience, this four-course series offers both practical training and theological grounding, equipping clergy and lay leaders to steward their churches wisely while remaining deeply rooted in the church’s mission of discipleship, worship, and witness.

Practical Skills + Theological Depth

Budgets, hiring, time management, strategic planning, and financial policies all shape the health and faithfulness of a congregation. This course series will help you:

• Engage leading management theorists and business insights
• Apply strategic management principles within a theological framework
• Develop effective HR and financial practices
• Steward your time and leadership responsibilities more faithfully

Most importantly, you’ll learn how to draw on management excellence without turning the church into a secular enterprise. Instead, you’ll explore how administration can serve the church’s theological vision and mission.

And if you complete the series alongside other leaders from your congregation, you’ll build shared convictions and operational clarity that can strengthen your church’s collaboration for years to come.

What You’ll Be Able to Do

By the end of the Church Administration Course Series, you will be able to:

• Explain what is (or ought to be) distinctive about church leadership and administration
• Draw upon management best practices in a theologically appropriate way
• Develop a plan to steward your time more effectively
• Implement key practices of strategic management in your church
• Execute foundational staff stewardship practices, including hiring and performance reviews
• Establish financial policies and procedures that promote wise resource use
• (If completing as a team) Develop shared understandings around core operational issues facing your church

Courses in the Series

Each course is self-paced and delivered online through Duke University’s Canvas platform.

Theology and Time Management

15 hours | 1.5 CEUs
Learn how management tools can serve theological goals. This course helps you make your church more faithful—not more corporate—by using management principles wisely and theologically.

Strategic Management for Churches

15 hours | 1.5 CEUs
Approach strategic management as strategic stewardship. Explore vision, core values, culture, goals, objectives, and metrics—all framed within the mission of the church.

Human Resources Stewardship for Churches

5 hours | 0.5 CEUs
Develop healthy frameworks and practices for staffing, hiring, and performance reviews in congregational and church-related settings.

Financial Management for Churches

5 hours | 0.5 CEUs
Gain a high-level overview of church financial administration. Learn to ask the right questions and avoid common financial pitfalls that can undermine ministry.

Registration & Pricing

• $59 per course or $189 for the full four-course series (a $47 savings) 
• Registration Deadline: 11:59 pm ET on Friday, April 17, 2026
• Courses Open: April 22, 2026
• Completion Deadline: October 20, 2026

The courses are self-paced, allowing you to move through the material according to your schedule within the completion window.

To receive the discounted price, all four courses must be purchased in the same transaction.

Register Now

Not Sure Yet? Preview the Experience

Curious about what the series will be like? Enroll in Church Administration Foundations on Coursera, a free preview module introducing the core ideas behind integrating church administration into faithful church practice.

Faithful Leadership for the Whole Church

Church administration isn’t separate from ministry: it’s part of how ministry is sustained and strengthened. Whether you are ordained clergy or a lay leader stepping into greater responsibility, the Church Administration Course Series from Duke Divinity School offers the tools, theological grounding, and practical skills to lead well.

Join us this April and learn how to run a church in a way that honors both sound management and sacred mission.