On Sunday, October 20th, after worship, we’ll have our annual Charge Conference meeting, the church’s official business meeting and annual report to the Smoky Mountain District and Western North Carolina Conference about Whittier UMC’s activities over the past year. All members of the church are invited to attend and to vote on the matters before the Charge Conference. This year’s Charge Conference will be presided over by District Superintendent Linda Kelly.
Even if you’re not particularly interested in the business side of the church, this year’s Charge Conference is something you’ll want to attend if you can as we’ll be voting on a restructuring of the leadership of the church. Basically, we’ll be voting whether or not to move from our large, committee-based model to a smaller council-based model. The current model and the proposed model are below, along with some pros and cons of the change. If you’d like to download a Word document of this information, click here.
Current Structure
Church Council (15)
Chairperson
Recording secretary
Lay leader
Lay member to annual conference
Treasurer
Assistant treasurer
Finance chairperson
Financial secretary
Trustee
Staff-Parish Relations Committee chairperson
Outreach coordinator
Ministry coordinator
Director of Music
Director of Communications
Pastor
Stewards
Trustees (6)
Finance (13)
Chairperson
Pastor
Lay member to annual conference
Church council chairperson
Treasurer
Assistant treasurer
Financial secretary
Lay leader
Trustee chairperson
SPRC chairperson
Outreach coordinator
Food pantry coordinator
Member-at-large
Investment management (4)
Lay Leadership (5)
Staff-Parish Relations Committee (8)
Food Pantry Board of Directors
Ministry Team (7)
Outreach Team (7)
Congregation Care Shepherds (5)
Proposed Structure: Church Council
Required by the Book of Discipline:
Church Council chairperson
Lay member to Annual Conference
Lay leader
Recording secretary
Treasurer
Finance secretary
Trustee
Staff-Parish Relations Committee chairperson
Specific to our congregation
Outreach coordinator (food pantry)
Congregational care coordinator (managing shepherds and laity participation)
Worship coordinator
Director of Music (no vote unless a member)
Director of Communications (no vote unless a member)
Stewards (have a vote)
Continuing non-council leadership structures: Stewards, Food Pantry Board of Directors, and Shepherding Program
While each member of the council has a specialty and thus will be assigned specific tasks throughout the year, the entire council will discuss and vote on the matters before it. For example, the entire council will function as a board of trustees when it comes to making decisions about the physical plant of the church, just as it will function as the Staff-Parish Relations Committee when the need arises, and as the Finance Committee where financial matters are concerned. The council can bring in experts both within and outside of the church to consult with to aid in decision making and each member of the council can recruit other lay members to help them with their tasks.
Members of the Council will serve three-year terms. The council will meet monthly. In its inaugural iteration, those who are already in leadership will continue their roles for another year as they pull together training resources and consider who might be a good candidate to step into their role after they rotate off the council.
The motivation behind creating a congregational care coordinator and a worship coordinator is to increase lay participation in the church by dedicating an individual to work alongside the pastor to reinvigorate lay participation in worship and congregational care ministries.
The proposed model puts a large amount of power in the hands of a few people in leadership. In order to provide a check on the power of the council, church council meetings, including the meeting’s agenda, will be announced in worship and open to the entire church unless a closed meeting is requested. If a member of the church council engages in misconduct, a charge conference can be called to vote on the removal of the church council member.
If you have questions or thoughts about this change, feel free to email Pastor Jo at aschonewolf@wnccumc.net, call her at 828.226.5981, or stop by the church during office hours this week.