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Task Force on Leadership Restructuring - March 27, 2009

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The June 8, 2008 Charge Conference created a Task Force on Leadership Restructuring. The charge of this Task Force is to:

Recommend modifications in FUMC's leadership structure to promote program and administration integration, commitment and communication
Recommend structural changes so as to increase the quality and shared commitments of FUMC ministries
Complete the assignment with a recommendation to the current Leadership Council by March, 2009 with implementation to begin with the 2009-2010 elected leadership

The Task Force recommends the following:

We propose the current Leadership Council be dissolved and that it be replaced with two working bodies, functioning to govern the operations and programs of the church as designated by the Church Conference, the ultimate governing body of any local United Methodist church. One body will be called the Parish Conference and the second body will be called the Ministry Conference. Specifically, the recommendations to modify the leadership structure, include:

Establish an interim Parish Conference in July, 2009 composed of thirteen voting members [one representative each from Trustees, Staff Parish Relations, Finance, Church Treasurer, Annual Conference Delegate; three Lay Leaders; five At-Large members] and the clergy appointed by the Bishop. The At-Large members will be made up of a balance inclusive of age, gender, tenure at FUMC, and a sense of the larger vision of the needs and mission of FUMC; the At-Large members will not hold other elective office during their term. The At-Large members will be elected for three year terms, with one-two rotating off each year, depending on when they were appointed; they shall not serve in any other elective office during their term as an At-Large member.

The Parish Conference will meet ten times per year (excluding July and August). Some of the meetings may be electronic via conference call as is appropriate. The meetings in September, January, March and June will be conducted jointly with the Ministry Conference, with the Parish Conference joining them for the last hour of their meeting so as to encourage communication between these bodies.

The Parish Conference will guide policy and resource commitment (both fiscal and human) for the greater church. It shall communicate all policy decisions regularly to the congregation through written and verbal mechanisms.

The Parish Conference will guide and articulate mission and vision goal setting through a discernment process to be completed every three to five years. The goal of this discernment would be to assist in identifying key areas of the Church's mission to be strengthened. The Task Force on Leadership Restructuring has a draft process it could offer as a format for such a process. Our review indicated that it would be very helpful to complete such a process to ensure quality-driven shared ministries, vision and goals. Resource development is more successful when leaders of an organization work together on shared ministries, vision and goals. It is recommended that the discernment process be convened at the conclusion of the Interim Parish Council in the Spring of 2010, if evaluation deems it worthwhile to establish it as a permanent governing body.
Establish a Ministry Conference in July, 2009 composed of the leaders of FUMC ministries inclusive of Outreach, Congregational Life, Education, Music; Stewardship and other ministries as they are created and nourished.

This conference will meet in September, January, March and June with the Parish Conference joining them for the last hour in order to encourage communication, planning and data/evaluation review together. It is suggested these meetings be conducted on Sunday afternoon after worship. They will use this time to develop focus and energy around shared ministry development, the coordination of activities and resource development. Standing agenda will include: Resource availability (both fiscal and human), Shared Mission Progress, Data and Trend review.
The Chair of the Parish Conference will be the immediate Past Lay Leader. The Co-Chairs of the Ministry Conference will be the current Lay Leader and the Lay Leader-elect. This will provide continuity and stability of leadership in addition with a familiarity of the Ministries of FUMC as one moves into the leadership of the operations and administrative body.
Church Conferences generally occur at least two times each year. It is recommended that this function could have more of a 'retreat' and/or discernment and visioning component than currently occurs, with leadership coming from the Parish and Ministries Conference and engagement from across the congregation.
The following Values & Principles will be adopted as the foundation for operation guidelines of all who participate in these leadership roles. These Values & Principles will be attached to all job descriptions for those in leadership; each Council will evaluate their effectiveness annually as to carrying out these principles.
The interim Parish Conference and Ministry Conference will be evaluated for effectiveness in the Spring of 2010. The Task Force would be pleased to assist in that evaluation process. At that time the Council will become a permanent structural change if deemed effective. If not, the Council may re-institute the Task Force on Leadership Restructuring to recommend modifications.

A structural replica of this recommendations follows.

Respectfully,
Cheryl Bittle, Barbara Delaney, Janice Gratton (Chair), Lowell Greathouse, Arvin Luchs, Dick Sagara — Task Force on Leadership Restructuring Members

VALUES & PRINCIPLES
PARISH CONFERENCE/MINISTRY CONFERENCE

Leadership Restructuring Chart (click to enlarge)

click to enlarge image

Characteristics of Parish Conference & Ministry Conference Members*

People who love God's people and can walk with them
People who feel the community's pain and share the community's joy
People who dream dreams and strive to accompany the community's dreams to a common goal
People to are emboldened and commissioned to transform FUMC to serve God's people and bring real glory to God's name

Principles of Decision-making**

Nurture and Mission of the Church: we emphasize the nurturing and serving function of Christian fellowship in the Church. The personal experience of faith is nourished by the worshiping community. The communal forms of faith in the Wesleyan tradition not only promote personal growth; they also equip and mobilize us for mission and service to the world. The outreach of the church springs from the working of the Spirit. As United Methodists, we respond to that working through a connectional polity based upon mutual responsiveness and accountability. Connectional ties bind us together in faith and service in our witness, enabling faith to become active in love and intensifying our desire for peace and justice in the world.
There is but one ministry in Christ, but there are diverse gifts and evidences of God's grace in the body of Christ. The ministry of all Christians is complementary. No ministry is subservient to another. All United Methodists are summoned and sent by Christ to live and work together in mutual interdependence and to be guided by the Spirit into the truth that frees and the love that reconciles.
Connectionalism in the United Methodist tradition is multi-leveled, global in scope, and local in thrust. Our connectionalism is not merely a linking of one local charge to another. It is rather a vital web of interactive relationships. We are connected by sharing a common tradition of faith… and by sharing a common mission, which we seek to carry out by working together.

*adapted from the Book of Worship: prayer for Leaders
**adapted from 2004 Book of Discipline

Download a fully printable version of this report here (730 KB)