On Saturday, July 7, a group of
leaders from the congregation gathered for a day-long retreat to
examine the question, “Should we explore a new governance model for
Manhattan Mennonite Church?” Those who were present for this
retreat included the pastors, all four elders (Melissa Atchison, Dale
Hershberger, Rene Smalldridge & Dawn Wall), the church officers:
moderator (Dean Denner), treasurer (Kirk Hargett) & recorder
(Merv Bitikofer), and chairs of several standing committees: faith
formation (Rhonna Hargett), peace, service & witness (Dave
Redmon) & worship (Karen Franz). The chairs of the social
committee (Resa Price) & facilities committee (Stan Bartel) were
also invited and had originally planned to attend, but were unable to
be present due to scheduling conflicts that came up.
The impetus for
this gathering came out of the experience of the pastors on their
sabbatical last fall. As we met with pastors and some lay leaders
from a number of different congregations, we found that many had
remodeled their governance structures in recent years. Having
experienced some frustrations with our current model ourselves, we
began to wonder about the possibility of embarking on an exploration
of new structures for MMC as well. Our goal for such a restructuring
is to assure that all the ministries of the church have a home with a
clear system of oversight, support, and accountability.
After discussing
this matter with the elders for a few months, they agreed to invite
congregational leaders to spend several hours together examining our
current structure and discerning whether or not to explore a new
model. At the end of that time of discernment on July 7, the group
overwhelmingly agreed that it is worthwhile to begin this process of
exploration. Please note that this does not necessarily mean that
there will be changes to our governance structure, merely that
we are starting to explore that possibility.
Following the leadership retreat, the Elders appointed a "Governance Working Group" to begin the process of exploration. This group consists of Bob Atchison, Aaron Dyck, Rhonna Hargett, Dawn Wall, and Pastor Richard. We expect that they will spend time listening to members of the congregation and
writing drafts of proposals for possible changes in the current
structure. We anticipate that sometime next year some changes in
structure may be implemented on a trial basis. At this point, we
don’t know whether the proposed changes will entail a major
overhaul of our structure or if our goals can be accomplished with
relatively minor tweaks in our current structure. In the end, any
permanent changes in structure would need to be approved by the
congregation.
As the congregation
embarks on this process of exploration, your prayers for wisdom and
discernment are appreciated. If you have questions about what
happened at the recent retreat, feel free to speak with any of the
people who were present. We as pastors are also happy to talk more
about our experience and how we see this process moving forward. May God’s Spirit be with
us as we seek to fulfill the mission with which Manhattan Mennonite
Church has been entrusted.
