Overview of proposed New Song Church organizational structure changes

February 6, 2009

        CHANGED LIVES!!!   That’s always what New Song Church has been about.  Always will be.

        About eighteen months ago New Song embarked on evaluating ourselves in an effort to become even more effective God using us to change lives.  The summer of 2006 about 30 people participated in the Natural Church Development church health survey.  A church health team was formed and, after meeting for about six months and being coached by Rev. Ken Wiedrick, determined that one of the key elements to be addressed is our church structure.  Those serving on the church health team were Jeff Scott, Herb Shaffer, Russ Evans, Shannon Farley, RB Lane, Jennifer Laurin, Dale Pitulski, and Cyndi Sarrick.

 For the past eight months several smaller teams have addressed the issues involved in reorganizing how we function in an effort to become more effective with the people and resources that God has given us.  Those serving on these three teams were Leadership Development Team:  Russ Evans, Shannon Farley, Wendy Scott; Reorganization Team: Jeff Scott, Ralph Liberatore, Cyndi Sarrick; Planning Process Development Team: Steve Sarrick, Jen Laurin, Denise Stiffler. 

 Our appreciation goes to all those who gave time and energy to this effort.  THANKS!

 Beyond the Bible and prayer, one of the resources that God led us to is the book “Winning on Purpose” by Ralph Kaiser.  That book is also available if you would like to read it.  In that book, Kaiser identifies:

       b that Jesus owns the church - the church is people, those who are following Christ as Lord, thus we belong to Him. 

       b that Jesus gives us His purpose as existing for the world first (to bring lost people to Jesus) and for the people within the church second (helping them become like Jesus, discipleship).  We exist for both of those purposes and are responsible to Jesus to do both of them well, but by having an external focus first, we will not become ingrown (see Matthew 28:18-20).

       b that within an effective local congregational structure there are four groups of people: congregation, pastor, governing board, and “staff”.  Kaiser uses the analogy of a soccer game to picture how each is to function. 

             The congregation plays ministry.  That means it is the congregation members that are on the field playing the game of reaching the world and helping one another grow.

             The pastor plays leadership.  That means the pastor is the player-coach teaching the congregation to play the game, directing the leadership/management team, and inspiring the governing board.

             The board plays governance.  That means being “one part commissioner, one part umpire, one part scorekeeper and one part cheerleader” by representing Jesus as the owner of His Church and using the Bible as the guide, setting the standards, monitoring progress and supporting the pastor.  So in the game they are the ones who determine the rules of the game, call the fouls, reward the points and hand out trophies. 

             The “staff” (Leadership Team in our case) plays management.  That means leadership team members are captains on the field of play to direct groups to accomplish their specific roles.  As team captains, they lead by example and are servant leaders to their groups.

 With that sketchy picture in mind, here is a summary of the changes we believe will help us do so.  They are addressed in further detail in the revised by-laws and the New Song Guiding Principles, both available on the church website.

1. Nothing really changes in the pastor’s role of being the leader.  New Song Church has always been a pastor led church.  What does change is how that role fits in more comprehensively with the other roles.  This reorganization has more clearly defined the pastor’s role and provided much needed support.

2. In the old structure there was one leadership team, called the Pastoral Advisory Team, that had the responsibilities of both governance and leadership/management.  That never really worked well because it was too much for one group of volunteers and we did not understand clearly enough what was needed in both roles.  In the new structure there are two teams, each responsible for one of those functions.  The Governance Board will provide governance and the Leadership Team will provide leadership and management of the ongoing ministries.

3. The Governance Board (GB) will be legal representatives of the congregation and will be ratified by the congregation at the annual church meeting as detailed in the by-laws, replacing the Pastoral Advisory Team.

4. The Leadership Team (LT) will be chosen by the pastor and can be an ever changing, fluid group according to the needs of ministry at any particular time.  They are accountable to the pastor.  Together they work to figure out the most effective ways to accomplish God’s assignment by developing goals and strategies. 

5. The pastor will be a member of the Governance Board, working with the other members of the board to monitor progress, inspire the board and keep the congregation on track.  The pastor presents goals and strategies to the board which makes sure they align with the church’s guiding principles, and then he is held accountable to the board for accomplishing them.  The pastor is also accountable to the Governance Board to follow agreed upon standards and boundaries found in the Guiding Principles. 

6. Going back to the soccer game picture:  the pastor (coach) and GB (officials) agree on the rules (coin toss), then the GB lets the congregation, staff and pastor (who together make up the team) play the game.  They do not tell the pastor how to accomplish the ministry (play the game) but will call fouls and award points.  The pastor is in the game as a player-coach, directing the team captains (LT).  The LT works with the congregation (players) to play offense, defense, water boy, snack servers, medical staff and whatever roles are necessary to win the game (win the lost and disciple the Christians).  The GB then cheers and awards game balls and trophies when lost people find Christ and Christians grow and blossom (win games).

7. What does that mean for you? 

       A.  On the surface it may not look much different, but hopefully you will notice that we are more focused and effective in our relationships and work for Christ. 

       B. Also, it is my prayer that it will cause you to take more ownership and realize your importance as a player on the team (there are no spectators or casual players in this model).  Every person matters.  The team and Jesus suffer when one is missing.

       C. This requires that we change our by-laws, which requires a congregational vote at the annual meeting on Saturday, Feb. 21.  The revisions are attached and the original by-laws are on the website.  The revisions are primarily to change the structure of the congregation as described above and more clearly identify Jesus’ purposes for us. In addition minor changes have been made to allow members to vote by proxy to more clearly define the process for calling a senior pastor when an absence occurs.  We’re asking you to approve the changes and we’ll try them this year, then tweak anything that needs to be changed next year.

What do you need to do? 

       In preparation for the vote of ratification of the by-laws changes, please read over the by-laws and ask any questions you have of the people below PRIOR TO THE MEETING.  We have many other important items to present at the meeting and we won’t have a great deal of time for discussion of details so please get the answers you need to vote as soon as possible. 

For Christ and His Church,

Pastor Herb Shaffer

You may ask any of the people below for clarification or to express concerns about the revisions.