Dawn
was appointed as chair and Rhonna as secretary.
Richard
gave some background for why the group was called. When the pastors
were on sabbatical, they discovered that many churches were changing
to a board model.There is not a large conflict in the church so this
might be a good time to discuss if we need to change our governance
model.
Holy
Indifference - caring about the results but being able to accept
whatever the results may be - holding things lightly
Some
issues that have come up:
- Occasional inability for council to meet quorum.
- Lack of clarity in the roles of elders and council
- Need for job descriptions
- Planning for succession
Primary
source - Governance & Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership by
Dan Hotchkiss - Our current structure is exactly what the book
recommends against.
The
mission should be the focus of all decision-making in the church
Dawn
proposed that we
- Create a vision statement
- Create a timeline
- Clarify our goals
- Plan communication and feedback with the rest of the congregation.
The
idea of having something to present at the annual meeting was
proposed. After discussion we decided that we would spend some time
doing further research and discuss at the next meeting if this is a
possible goal.
Research
assignments for next meeting:
- Read Hotchkiss book
- Look at other churches governing models
- Carefully read Richard’s attachments from original email
Communication
tools:
- Trello - organization - Dawn will set up
- Slack - communication between committee members
- Blog - communication with congregation - Rhonna will set up
