Teams and Organisation

Being a church with the use of a modern up-to-date building, along with the potential a new facility brings, means we had to look at our roles and responsibilities afresh. There were already teams meeting and working, but we needed first to consider, how the work was done and by whom? Then, being aware that, in moving forward, extending our mission and ministry in the community, we couldn’t leave all the work to a small group of people as this would be unsustainable and could lead to burn out!

We explored proposals for the Organization and Management of the Church, the setting up of teams to take our work forward in the way we feel God is nudging us, setting our priorities as part of Gods mission and working towards them. We considered

1. The way in which the church will operate as a Christian community in accordance with its Mission Statement and CPD
2. How the building will be managed so that the facilities are able to be used efficiently and effectively.

It was determined each team would have a lay leader. All church members must associate to a group as a working member or a praying member, adherents are encouraged to do likewise – thus each group should have good working and prayer support. Prayer days for each group could be organised. Each team regularly report back to church through communication networks (website, email, magazines etc) and annually in conversation at the AGM.

The lay leader is then part of leadership team which consists of team leaders and Minister. They encourage and support each other, work through any issues for Church council and arrange to take the lead there if appropriate. This group could also consist of someone with responsibility for communications networks – to facilitate reporting and solve any communication issues.

In its official role as management team, the church council oversees the teams; enables them in their decision making but is there to re-enforce and make any necessary recommendations / decisions. It could take reports from the St Thomas’ liaison group; and also be the place where discussions are first held re: new initiatives and fresh expressions.