Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Does your church have competitive elections for lay leadership roles? If so, are they generally beneficial for the church? Or does your church have lay leadership roles selected by an internal committee?
In my church (Presbyterian), there are several boards of church officers. The congregation has an annual election for those boards. The "election" is just a congregational vote to approve a slate of candidates picked by a nominating committee of church members, so it's really not true democracy. The pastors probably push for certain people to be approved by the nominating committee--and as the "elections" are always unanimous or near-unanimous, I view this method as too insular, in that "insiders" can get like-minded people put on the boards. While the congregation can add people to the slate when the election is held, it doesn't.
How does your church handle elections, and what do you see as the pros and cons of its system?
Does your church have competitive elections for lay leadership roles? If so, are they generally beneficial for the church? Or does your church have lay leadership roles selected by an internal committee?
In my church (Presbyterian), there are several boards of church officers. The congregation has an annual election for those boards. The "election" is just a congregational vote to approve a slate of candidates picked by a nominating committee of church members, so it's really not true democracy. The pastors probably push for certain people to be approved by the nominating committee--and as the "elections" are always unanimous or near-unanimous, I view this method as too insular, in that "insiders" can get like-minded people put on the boards. While the congregation can add people to the slate when the election is held, it doesn't.
How does your church handle elections, and what do you see as the pros and cons of its system?
Thanks.
I no longer attend but hopefully, it's better than full-on/any nepotism.
In my experience, having served on past selection committees, the question (sadly) often becomes one of who (that is considered qualified), will actually be willing to commit themselves to the job. In many cases, there aren't enough of these to actually hold an election.
I've likewise held enough of these church leadership positions, to avoid them. (God has not given me the "gift of committees!) - Instead, I've often served in more direct roles outside the brick and mortar church (ie; prisons, halfway houses, missions, etc).
Episcopal churches have a Vestry, which serves as the parish board. The terms are three years. There is an annual parish meeting at which time people are elected to open positions, among other business.
Anybody who shows an interest can run for the Vestry. Most years it's hard to get anyone to run, other years there's been a competition. We're a small parish.
Episcopal churches have a Vestry, which serves as the parish board. The terms are three years. There is an annual parish meeting at which time people are elected to open positions, among other business.
Anybody who shows an interest can run for the Vestry. Most years it's hard to get anyone to run, other years there's been a competition. We're a small parish.
This. In our own church, typically ten candidates are put on the slate by a nominating committee and five are chosen by vote in the annual parish meeting. Traditionally, one of the unelected nominees is chosen as Clerk of Parish. The vestry has fifteen members, with five cycling off every year.
The having served both as Clerk of Parish and on the Vestry, it is quite a job. Managing a church is a complex job and, in the Episcopal Church, the Vestry runs the parish with the Senior Warden acting as the Chairman of the Board, and the Junior Warden acting as the Chair in training. The rector, the parish priest, is more of the managing director, and is responsible to the Vestry and defers to their wishes. It's a system of checks and balances that works well. The vestry meetings are practically a crash course on parliamentary procedure.
The other thing is that the parish operates with full transparency. Any member can stroll in at any time and ask to see the books.
My wife now serves as the Treasurer as we begin our capital campaign for renovating our parish annex, a century-old building with lots of structural issues. it's about a $14 million project. And since our church is filled to the rafters with lawyers, executives, and accountants, you better believe she stressing out to make sure there's not a hair out of place on the books.
This. In our own church, typically ten candidates are put on the slate by a nominating committee and five are chosen by vote in the annual parish meeting. Traditionally, one of the unelected nominees is chosen as Clerk of Parish. The vestry has fifteen members, with five cycling off every year.
The having served both as Clerk of Parish and on the Vestry, it is quite a job. Managing a church is a complex job and, in the Episcopal Church, the Vestry runs the parish with the Senior Warden acting as the Chairman of the Board, and the Junior Warden acting as the Chair in training. The rector, the parish priest, is more of the managing director, and is responsible to the Vestry and defers to their wishes. It's a system of checks and balances that works well. The vestry meetings are practically a crash course on parliamentary procedure.
The other thing is that the parish operates with full transparency. Any member can stroll in at any time and ask to see the books.
My wife now serves as the Treasurer as we begin our capital campaign for renovating our parish annex, a century-old building with lots of structural issues. it's about a $14 million project. And since our church is filled to the rafters with lawyers, executives, and accountants, you better believe she stressing out to make sure there's not a hair out of place on the books.
I'm sure she'll do fine. As I said, we are a small parish, but we have a couple of lawyers also, one of whom is on the Vestry. Our Treasurer is a retired math teacher. We just got a new priest-in-charge a year after our former priest retired, and the Vestry did a good job of keeping the parish together during the period of using supply clergy and sometimes not having any.
Last Christmas Eve there was no supply available so we ran a service with the kids doing a pageant with no clergy and no organist/pianist, but we did have dogs dressed up as sheep and cows. No Eucharist, of course. It went really well, going to show that the church is the people, not the clergy. Happy to have someone at the helm again this year, though.
I'm sure she'll do fine. As I said, we are a small parish, but we have a couple of lawyers also, one of whom is on the Vestry. Our Treasurer is a retired math teacher. We just got a new priest-in-charge a year after our former priest retired, and the Vestry did a good job of keeping the parish together during the period of using supply clergy and sometimes not having any.
Last Christmas Eve there was no supply available so we ran a service with the kids doing a pageant with no clergy and no organist/pianist, but we did have dogs dressed up as sheep and cows. No Eucharist, of course. It went really well, going to show that the church is the people, not the clergy. Happy to have someone at the helm again this year, though.
I didn't realize that there was any different way to do it until a recovering Baptist was elected to the Vestry (It was a joke, my Baptist brethren in faith, so settle down). In his former church, it was run quite autocratically by the pastor in charge. He was a deacon--or whatever they are called--and he still wasn't permitted to see a lot of the books. And my in-laws are ardent Catholic. They were shocked at how democratically run our parish is.
I didn't realize that there was any different way to do it until a recovering Baptist was elected to the Vestry (It was a joke, my Baptist brethren in faith, so settle down). In his former church, it was run quite autocratically by the pastor in charge. He was a deacon--or whatever they are called--and he still wasn't permitted to see a lot of the books. And my in-laws are ardent Catholic. They were shocked at how democratically run our parish is.
Same here. Our budget and expenses are not a secret. The only thing that is a secret is how much each parishioner pledges and donates. The Treasurer keeps that close and not even Vestry members know. As it should be.
Same here. Our budget and expenses are not a secret. The only thing that is a secret is how much each parishioner pledges and donates. The Treasurer keeps that close and not even Vestry members know. As it should be.
Is ten percent tithing encouraged?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
