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Planning for the End of the Organizational Transition
We continue to move forward living into the final stages of the transition period of the new church structure approved by the congregation in 2015. From that congregational meeting at the start of the transition period:
…for a three-year trial period, the existing church governance structure be replaced by a new governance structure that will consist of a Leadership Team, a Purpose Forum, Ministries (Sustaining and Living), and a Ministry Team as described in the recommendations report of the Transition Team dated January 2015, with the expectation that it will evolve over the proposed three year trial period as experience dictates.
The Leadership Team believes, based on the feedback received from many in the congregation and on our own experience, that the new structure is generally working well. As anticipated, there has been evolution in what it means to be part of an effective team, forum and ministry. There will be continued tweaking, based on feedback from the congregation and participants in the Leadership Team, Purpose Forum and Ministries. The new structure is designed to support continued evolution based on the needs of the church.
Based on the timeline set out in the initial transition plan, it is appropriate to have the congregation vote to approve the new structure at the Annual Meeting in 2018.
Look for upcoming communications about the updated Bylaws as they are evaluated and refreshed to accommodate the new structure. The goal is to simplify the Bylaws and to make them more flexible so that they stay relevant for the long term. An interesting spin-off will be the creation of an Operations Manual to be paired with the Bylaws. The Leadership Team has begun creating this to go alongside the updated Bylaws.
The Leadership Team always welcomes your comments or feedback on this (and any) issue.
—Judy Arnold, Will Burhans, Jane Ring Frank, Deirdre Giblin, Margaret McIndoe, Patricia Brady, Dina Pradel, Ben Pulaski, Dick Sayre, Penny Sparrow, Taylor Tresselt, Peter Woolford, Kathleen Zagata
