Southridge is led in a “staff-driven, Elder-protected” manner.

This means that the day-to-day operational leadership of the church (including its vision, strategy, ministry model, staffing, culture, etc.) is the responsibility of the full-time staff leadership and their ministry departments.

At the same time, our staff is supported and held accountable (spiritually, doctrinally, relationally, financially, legally, etc.) by a volunteer Board of Elders whose purpose it is to provide the oversight function of governance.

Southridge is a volunteer-intensive organization.

We believe the work of the church is intended to be done by the people of the church.

The ministry of Southridge is the ultimate ‘pot-luck’ experience, where the best of what everyone brings can be shared to benefit us all. Through helping people discover and deploy their gifts, each of us can invest the best of the rest of our lives into the most significant cause on planet earth — and even cooler, we can do it together!

Southridge is equipped by a staff leadership.

We believe that certain spiritual gifts serve to “equip” the rest of us, to enable the people of God to do the work of God in the power of God.

In some cases, the equipping gifts of some of our leaders have had such a multiplying impact that we’ve sought to invest financially in order to free up their time, so they can invest themselves into this equipping function in a fuller-time way. This forms the basis for why we have paid employees — not to replace all of us doing the work of the church together, but rather to equip all of us for that adventure.

Southridge is run by a pastoral Leadership Team.

Our staff is organized into departments, according to the primary ministry functions of our church (the other main tabs on our website).

The leaders of each of these departments, along with our Teaching Pastor, form the members of our church’s Leadership Team of pastors. Our Lead Pastor quarterbacks this team, ensuring all the ministries in all the departments are working together in an organized and harmonious way.

Our Leadership Team, representing the staff and ministries of all of our departments, drives our ministry forward, making strategic decisions for future growth and impact.

Southridge is governed by a Board of Elders.

As a multi-site missional church across Niagara, leading Southridge can be complicated and challenging at times.

To ensure our staff and Leadership Team — and particularly our Lead Pastor — are accountable, a membership-appointed volunteer Board of Elders serves to provide governance to our ministry.

This oversight is often referred to as the ‘guardrails’, setting priorities and evaluating effectiveness along a number of key aspects of church life, including theological orthodoxy, mission effectiveness and alignment, workplace culture and staff health, financial integrity, legal compliance and relational unity. Ultimately approved by the church membership, Elders serve 3-year terms of office, after each of which they are eligible to be reaffirmed for subsequent terms.