ALIGNED FOR MINISTRY AND MISSION: A NEW STRUCTURE FOR NEW TIMES IN THE LIFE OF ACTON CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Realignment Goal Set At our leadership meeting last February, Church Council identified its major goal for the coming year: the realignment of church committees to focus on the ministries and missions of the church. It had become increasingly clear that our old model of maintaining many large committees with three-year terms no longer met the needs of our congregation. In order to better unders tand the scope of the congregation’s needs, Church Council convened the Realignment Task Force this spring. Chaired by Char Floyd, the task force also included Linda Brown, Dave Clough, Judy Hawkins, Mac Reid, and Tim Werner. We asked the task force to consider the following factors in making recommendations: Balancing efficiency and accountability Maintaining collective memory and the importance of fellowship Ensuring that service on committees is meaningful to the volunteer and to the congregation Considering the impact on the staff Task Force Recommendations The task force worked throughout the spring and summer. They met with committee chairs and asked the congregation to complete a survey about committee service. Their key findings and recommendations to the Church Council were: We can’t sustain the level of volunteerism in the current format. People prefer to volunteer for short-term tasks when feasible. Our By-laws unnecessarily restrict the flexibility of our committees to change as the mission and work of each committee evolves. Our Committee should be realigned according to a new model based on our core ministries of worship, teaching, caring, and fellowship. The Task Force report is attached. Review Process After the Church Council received the report in September, we began the process of realignment. Because of the uncertainty of how individual committees would be impacted by the changes, we asked the Nominating Committee to suspend its recruiting efforts until January. Nominating agreed that it would begin recruitment after the Annual Meeting. The Church Council spent the next several months meeting with committees and staff members to discuss realignment possibilities around our core ministries. We decided to proceed with a phased approach. First, we agreed that we would maintain the Church Council, Deacons and Trustees in their current configurations.
Next, we examined those committees that fell directly under the four pillars of faith- based service, as well as Missions and Outreach. Subcommittees of the Trustees, including Personnel, Stewardship, Buildings and Grounds, Safe Church, Memorials and Special Gifts will be under consideration in Phase 2. Realignment — Phase 1 We are recommending the following changes to our committee structure: Teaching Our ministers and the Director of Christian Education will coordinate the education of children, youth, and adults. This replaces our three-committee format of Children’s Christian Education, Youth Committee, and Adult Christian Education Committee. They will move to a support team approach and will recruit volunteers to perform tasks as needed. This will eliminate 18 committee slots and free those on the committees to volunteer on a short-term basis for specific tasks. Worship The staff regularly meets to plan worship services, including music. There is no longer a need for a formal music committee, although the Music Director may ask for volunteers for short-term projects. The Usher Committee believes it can fulfill its function with a coordinator and co-coordinator to communicate with usher teams and will no longer meet as a committee on a regular basis. The Sanctuary Guild has already been operating on a team-based approach and meets quarterly; they will continue to operate with a full slate of members. In total, the changes to worship committees will eliminate 11 committee slots. Caring The Visitation Committee will be eliminated as a committee and moved to the Caring Ministries to reflect its function as a ministry. Fellowship The Deacons’ goal this year is to focus on fellowship and welcoming and they plan to reassess this function. The Welcoming Committee in its current configuration will be disbanded, eliminating six positions. The Nominating Committee will remain at its current configuration for now. Missions and Outreach Missions and Outreach believes that it can reduce its committee by three members, so instead of three three-member teams, it will work with three two-member teams. It will also ask for additional support from the congregation on short-term projects. Phase 2 Church Council will continue the work this year with an examination of the Trustee subcommittees (Personnel, Stewardship, Safe Church, Buildings and Grounds, and Memorials and Special Gifts).
Trial Period When Council began the realignment discussion almost a year ago, we envisioned that we would potentially propose by-law changes at this year’s Annual Meeting. However, we’ve decided that the congregation would best be served by a trial period, as we adjust to the changes we’ve announced today and t hose to come in the following year. We would like the opportunity for input from volunteers and the congregation as the changes are implemented and believe that we will be in a better position to formalize the changes by the end of the year. What Can You Do? Your participation has never been more vital. We still need to staff some key committees, so if a member of the Nominating Committee calls you to serve, we appreciate your prayerful consideration. If short-term tasks are more conducive to your schedule, please consider helping to serve in that way. Lisa Vingerhoet, who embodies the volunteer spirit we are encouraging, came up with an idea to match volunteers to tasks: she has created a volunteer board called “Serving With Love,” which will reside in the Narthex. Please check the board regularly for tasks that you can do to serve the church. In addition, you can join us in thanking the members of the staff, the Realignment Task Force, and committee members for their many hours of dedicated and faithful service in this effort, and in offering prayers of support as the Church Council continues the realignment effort this coming year. Respectfully submitted by The Church Council, Barbara Skaggs, Moderator, Ken Sghia-Hughes, Vice-Moderator, Jane Puffer, Trustee Chair, Paul Liguori, Deacon Chair, Paul Mathisen, Personnel Chair, Todd Fenniman, Griff Resor, and Franki Bennett, at-large members, Rev. Andy Armstrong, and Rev. Holgie Choi.
Report of the ACC Committee Realignment Task Force September 2, 2014 In 1990, Acton Congregational Church had 742 members, 16 committees and 106 committee volunteers. Today, we have 800 members, 25 standing committees and 160 volunteers serving on those committees. After the Leadership Meeting in February, the Church Council formed the following goal for this year. "We seek to realign the committee structure to focus on our core ministries of worship, teaching, caring and fellowship." But in doing this, we need to balance efficiency and accountability. It is important that we maintain our collective memory and our sense of fellowship. We must also consider how realignment will impact the staff. To those ends, our task force met over the summer to provide recommendations to the Council on how to make this a reality. We have interviewed current committee chairs, past committee chairs, and staff in order to gain insight on how committees function in the current model. We also made available to the general membership a Survey Monkey questionnaire focusing on committee participation. What follows is a combination of ideas put forth by the task force or presented by committee chairs and staff members that seem to be worth pursuing. Findings: 1. ACC cannot sustain the current level of volunteerism on its many committees. There must be consolidation or this system will fail. As hard as it works, the Nominating Committee has been unable to fill all committee positions in the past few years, and several key positions remain unfilled today. When the average attendance at Sunday worship is considered, it appears that an overwhelming majority of the people attending services are actively involved in committee work. 2. The ACC by-laws restrict the ability of committees to change as the mission and work of each committee changes. Most committees are required by the by-laws to carry a minimum number of members – most of which are higher than today’s committee work needs . We recommend changing the by-laws to allow for a smaller minimum number and wording that allows for flexibility as needed. Today’s lifestyles limit the amount of time people have to volunteer, and the church needs to adjust its model in order to compensate for this. People are still willing to volunteer, but many are unable to make a three-year commitment that committee membership currently requires. This does not mean that we no longer need three-year commitments from anyone. Most committees will still need some members who are willing to serve for three years in order to keep the historical perspective of that committee’s work going. One model popular at many churches calls for a smaller committee with additional volunteers being called upon for short-term projects.
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