Dear Staff and Congregation,
Many of us joined in the discussion with Molly Carlson about church governance after church a few weeks ago. Molly encouraged us to explore some new ideas for church governance. She proposed that we think about how many members we really need at monthly ministry team meetings. She suggested that more people could be called to help with projects, but we may not need so many on each team.
For those of you not currently on a ministry team please, don’t think that this article doesn’t pertain to you and quit reading. Please think about how you could volunteer for special occasions or projects. I know that as chairperson for funeral receptions for the Hospitality Ministry Team, we have a list of people we can call to help with funeral receptions. We find these people so valuable. Not only do we need people to volunteer, but we also need people to call those volunteers when there is a need for help. Maybe you can’t help physically, but you could make phone calls.
As a member of the Nominating Ministry team for several years I am fully aware of the problems trying to recruit enough members for each team. Congratulations to Phil Davidson and the rest of the Nominating Ministry Team for filling almost all the team slots this year.
DVT will be discussing these ideas with teams this year. Ministry team chairpersons, please take some time at a team meeting to discuss some of these ideas. Perhaps you will be able to come up with a list of times when you could use some volunteers.
Ultimately it will be up to each team to decide how many members their team needs. It may also not be necessary for each team to meet monthly. At some point it may also involve some bylaw changes.
As this will be my last article for the newsletter, I’d like to thank all those of you who have helped me this year. I sincerely appreciate the aid from staff, lay leaders, and the congregation.
It’s been an unforgettable year.
Peace,
Katy Paterson