In times of change and complexity, one of the greatest gifts a board can give its organization is clarity of focus. What is the simplest way to gain that focus? Committees and task forces—not just the usual suspects like finance and governance, but flexible, purpose-built groups that address emerging priorities.
For many nonprofit, faith-based organizations, boards are navigating issues that weren’t even on the radar a decade ago: CEO transitions, strategic affiliations, innovation partnerships, and industry-wide workforce disruption. These are weighty topics, and they rarely fit neatly into the agenda of a quarterly board meeting.
So, what do you do when the board’s time is limited, and the challenges are growing more complex?
You expand the board table.
Creating short-term task forces or expanding committee structures allows boards to steward their responsibilities wisely while honoring the Anabaptist values of mutual discernment and shared responsibility. It’s not about bureaucracy, it’s about bandwidth. It’s about making space for wisdom to gather, slowly and thoroughly, without overloading the full board.
Committees vs. Task Forces: What’s the Difference?
While traditional committees are ongoing and aligned with core governance functions (finance, governance, development), task forces are short-term, goal-focused, and sunset when the task is complete.
Think of committees as your perennial plants – structured, dependable, and tended regularly. Task forces? More like seasonal crops – timely, strategic, and cultivated for a particular harvest.
Both structures can serve your board well, especially when matched to the moment.
When to Consider Forming a New Group
Ask yourselves:
- Are we facing a decision or issue that requires deeper exploration than the board has time for?
- Does this work require specialized knowledge or cross-sector insight?
- Could a small group help us move faster or think more creatively?
If the answer is yes, it may be time to form a focused group to steward the work.
Strategic Committee/Task Force Ideas
Here are a few purposeful ways boards can expand their capacity without diluting their authority:
- CEO Transition Committee – Oversees planning, search, onboarding, and continuity for executive leadership. A strong expression of the board’s stewardship.
- Innovation Task Force – Explores emerging service models, new technologies, and partnerships that align with the organization’s mission and market realities.
- Strategic Affiliation Committee – Evaluates merger, acquisition, or partnership opportunities with other ministries or nonprofit entities.
- Workforce Strategy Task Force – Responds to staffing shortages with creative approaches to recruitment, retention, and culture-building.
- Missional Partnerships Group – Considers how faith-based identity can be expressed through community engagement, spiritual care, and inter-organizational collaboration.
Each of these groups can be structured with clear charters, timelines, and deliverables, honoring both governance discipline and spiritual discernment.
A Faith-Grounded Approach
Anabaptist organizations often practice decision-making as a community – not hastily, not hierarchically, but in humble listening. Expanding your board’s structure to include focused groups reflects that same spirit. It says: “We value reflection. We make space for the Spirit to move through many voices. We don’t rush wisdom.”
It’s also a deeply hopeful move. Forming a new group says, “This is worth tending. We believe the future deserves our full attention.”
Board service isn’t about knowing everything – it’s about creating the conditions for thoughtful decisions, shared leadership, and missional clarity.
So next time your board feels stretched thin or stuck on a complex issue, consider forming a new committee or task force. Not to create more work—but to create more space for the work that really matters.