  As a prelude to a truly non-perturbative evaluation of the effective
potential in terms of lattice QCD, the one loop effective potential for a
non-Abelian gauge configuration is calculated using the background field
method. Through a non-trivial correlation between the space and color
orientations the new background field avoids the possible coordinate
singularity, ${\rm Det}B_i^a=0$, observed recently by Ken Johnson and his
collaborators in their Schr\"{o}dinger functional study of the SU(2) Yang-Mills
theory. In addition, since our ansatz generates a constant color magnetic field
through the commutator terms rather than derivative terms, many of the
technical drawbacks the Savvidy ansatz suffers on a lattice can be avoided. Our
one loop study yields qualitatively the same result as that of Savvidy's.
