As we reach the halfway point in our church year, it’s helpful to take stock of what our congregation accomplished so far, and to consider what’s ahead for the rest of the year and beyond.
Looking backward – wow! I’m awed and humbled by the success of our capital fundraising efforts. Thanks to the hard work of so many dedicated volunteers, the process was smooth and successful. As we move into the construction phase, the board is confident that the work is in capable hands, and that our congregation will continue to thrive for years to come.
Looking forward, our other goals for the year (in addition to helping with the campaign), are preparing for board officer succession, improving communication and revising our ends. What are ends, you say? Well, read on for a deeper dive into your board’s work.
In 2017, the board completed a multi-year transition to Policy-Based Governance. The goal of this transition is to shift the board’s energy from managing day-to-day problems and activities, to focusing on the big-picture, long term direction of our congregation.
Policy-Based Governance has a lot of lingo, but a plain English description summary of how it works is:
- We connect to the congregation to gain a deep understanding of our problems, opportunities and dreams.
- We lay out a detailed, prioritized vision of where we want to be.
- We give this vision to Rev. John, our senior minister, who is responsible for getting us to the desired vision by whatever means he chooses, within limits also proscribed by the board.
- We constantly monitor Rev. John’s progress against this vision, so we can make course corrections as we go.
Each of the above steps has specific name in policy-based governance. So Ends are what we call the vision from step 3, to remind us that they lay out only the outcomes we envision, not the means to get there, which are delegated to Rev. John.
All this is written down in policy, hence the name Policy-Based Governance.
Thanks for reading this far! We’ll be posting more updates on our goals and plans going forward. Also remember that updates from your Board of Trustees can be found on the bulletin board to the left of the library door.