WHAT IS THE CHURCH COUNCIL?

This month our lay leadership series reveals the purpose, history, and the officers serving on the ZUM church council.  All United Methodist churches are required to have a church council which is the governing body of the entire church and all other committees.  Major decisions regarding expenditures and long term commitments are presented and passed at the church council level.

“The purpose of the church council is to plan a program of nurture, outreach, and witness; implement the plan; provide an administrative infrastructure; align the plan with the mission of the church; evaluate the effectiveness of the plan; act as the administrative agency of the charge conference,” (Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation, Church Council, Page 6.)

Leadership is derived from the early Christian movement where decisions are made and supported by groups instead of individuals.  Paul’s letters talk about the gifts of leadership within the church and how these individuals come together through the body of Christ and the Holy Spirit.  “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others,” Romans 12:4-5.   

The church council is based on leadership, not management.  True leaders are visionaries of future needs.  They assess the here and now and determine how and where God wants us to be in the future.  Essential day to day detailed work is considered management and resides in the groups that report to the council.  At ZUM these include the strategy team, committee on staff-parish relations, committee on finance, pre-school board, board of trustees, committee on lay leadership, endowment committee, and all ministry teams.  Leaders of these committees report to the church council.

The list below shows the current church council members at ZUM and their title.  Officers serve based on their leadership roles from their original committee and at-large members are nominated to serve based on their spiritual gifts and leadership abilities.  Consider how you know each individual and how their personal gifts contribute to the church body as a whole.  We must actively support them with our prayers and by contributing our own spiritual gifts as needed.  Next month the series will examine the ministry teams, their responsibilities, and the members serving within each team.