A Proposed New Governance Structure for Aldersgate
A Letter from the Pastors and Lay Leader
April 28, 2017
Dear Aldersgate Member,
Our lay leaders and church council want you to know about a proposed change to our governance structure that they are considering in consultation with our district superintendent.
We have found, and if you’ve served in leadership here before we expect you will likely agree, that the current structure of committees and councils is not efficient or effective, requiring too many meetings that often achieve too little because other committees and councils need to weigh in before a decision can be made.
We respect our leaders’ limited time, and we think we have found an effective solution to this problem, one that is being put into practice at many other churches. In fact, the consensus of best practice books is that a streamlined, empowered leadership is a driving factor in a church of Aldersgate’s size being able to take the next step.
We are proposing, and, after listening sessions with the congregation on Sunday, May 21, will offer for approval at our next Charge Conference, to create a thirteen-person Church Council that will have responsibility for all aspects of Aldersgate United Methodist Church.
The proposed members of the reconfigured Council will include:
1 Lay Leader
1 SPRC
1 Trustees
1 Finance
1 Spiritual Formation
1 Connections
1 Mission
1 Worship
1 Kingstowne Communion
1 UMW Representative
1 UMM Representative
1 Youth
1 Young Adult
Although individual members of the Council will have lead responsibility for particular areas, the Church Council, rather than the current committees and councils, will deliberate and make the decisions about those areas. The Council as a whole will serve, for example, as the SPRC for issues regarding pastors and staff. Similarly, it will oversee finance and trustee issues, as well as our ministry areas.
For discrete projects, such as the annual commitment campaign, a building project, or a staff hire, the Council will frequently recruit additional lay volunteers to form task forces and ad hoc teams to help achieve their goals.
Additionally, each of these areas represented by lay members may have a number of teams working on the implementation of Aldersgate’s mission and ministry. The finance leader on the council, for example, would be in communication with the work of the Endowment Committee while the Mission leader oversee the work of our local and global mission teams and ministries.
Although it may seem like we are putting a heavy burden on the new Church Council, we will actually be reducing the number of meetings that many of our leaders need to attend in any given month. Decision making will be streamlined, awareness of the overall life of the church will be increased, and, we expect, the quality of Aldersgate’s leadership and ministry will improve because of this wide-angle view given to our leaders. This new council will include UMW, UMM, Youth, and Young Adult representatives selected by the Nominating Committee, as are all the members of the council.
While we will have a smaller Church Council, meetings will be open to the congregation except when confidential Staff Parish matters will be discussed.
We hope that you will help the new Church Council succeed by responding to their requests for help with projects as they arise, and that you would be open at some point to membership on the Council should the nominating committee call on you.
The structure, which has been endorsed by our District Superintendent, Jeff Mickle, is permitted by ¶247.2 of the United Methodist Book of Discipline. It has been implemented at Fairfax UMC and Christ Church UMC, to name just two in the Alexandria area. It originated as a model for governance in the United Methodist Church at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, one of the largest in the country.
Again, we encourage you to participate in the May 21 listening session, and we ask that you send us your questions and feedback by following this link.
On behalf of Dennis, Karla, and Leah Matthews, Lay Leader
Jason Micheli