Welcome to episode 3 of Council Chat. If you need to catch up, you can check out the first two posts here and here.
If you’ve never been to a council meeting, it is often pretty mundane stuff. Meetings are open to anyone who cares to attend, but we don’t get too many members showing up to observe these days. I’d like to think that’s because people are generally satisfied with the direction we’re headed, but it’s possible that a council meeting may just not be compelling enough for busy people to give up yet another evening. In any case, there is always time allotted for member comments. If you ever have a concern or a comment you want to share with leadership, you may do so at a meeting or any other time by email or by cornering a council member after Sunday services.
Other standard fare for all meetings is approval of minutes from the previous meeting(s), staff reports and committee reports. Approved minutes are available to members upon request. If you would like to be on the mailing list for council meeting minutes, simply let the office know you would like to be added to that email list. Staff reports and other relevant documents are attached as appendices to the minutes.
The October meeting was largely one of setting the stage for the work of the coming year.
- We went over some processes for committees to report to Council and submit recommendations.
- We assigned a Council member to act as a liaison to Finance, Personnel, Missions, Deacons, Building and Grounds and Nominating committees.
- We established a Council Meeting Schedule for the full year, including retreats, town hall meetings, and the next annual business meeting.
- We were delighted to welcome our new Children’s Minister, Susan Hineman, to the team.
Our ice breaker session made it clear that the youth minister position was our next priority, so we agreed it was time to move forward with the search and have faith that God would supply the resources to fund the position through growth in attendance and giving.
Finally, we approved some committee appointments and identified some remaining vacancies that Nominating is busy trying to fill. Serving on a committee is a great way to serve, and a great way to get a look under the hood of how the church operates. Effort Church, as an organization, is a complex operation with lots of moving parts. We are blessed with a high quality staff, but we rely on the work of a small army of volunteers as well.
Tune in next week when we talk about how we are progressing against our six month goals.
In His service,
Molly