To view the full leadership outline, please click here.
For the past few months, we've been discussing the new proposed ministry structure created by our Rightsizing Workgroup and how it can better help us to live into our calling to love and serve others. While there is still some work to be done, the group is ready to begin implementing the new structure by opening up congregational nominations for the new leadership teams. Before doing so, they would like the congregation to first affirm:
the new structure and its implementation process, presented at the three previous Central Conversations and available in a guide available here or in the Welcome Center
for an initial team to begin the discernment work, composed of:
Justin Pierson - staff leader
Adrienne Osborne - staff leader
Elizabeth Sundberg - chair and vision rep.
Bev Whitlock - Church Council rep.
Nickole Kaufman - Leadership Team rep.
Jackie Tucker - Diaconate rep.
We will have a special called business meeting following worship on Sunday, October 25 to affirm the proposals above, by voting on the following motion, brought by the Rightsizing Workgroup.
Proposed motion: We affirm: the new leadership and governance structure created by the Rightsizing Workgroup as well as the proposed slate of individuals to serve as the initial discernment team, for them to pray, discern, and place the congregation’s nominees into the new team structure, and for them to then bring forth their results to the congregation for affirmation.
Due to time constraints during worship, and because of the various opportunities to ask questions before, we hope to keep the discussion minimal before voting on the motion. However, we want to offer any further needed explanations and answer any other questions you may have, so we are creating multiple ways of asking questions.
Fill out a questionnaire, available here or in the Welcome Center
Contact Justin Pierson
by emailing at justinpierson@cbcrichmond.org
by calling or at 804-794-8055
Here are answers to a few questions we've already received.
1. Where on the proposed 9 categories do the trustees and endowment fall?
Needed committees that fall outside of this leadership structure (Trustees, endowment, cemetery committee, preschool committee, etc.) will still operate as usual for the time being. Eventually, the Church Council or appropriate leadership team will determine if those groups fall into the new structure, or if they should remain separate. But for now, due to these teams' unique responsibilities (some financial and legal) outside the scope of "normal ministry," the Rightsizing Workgroup decided to focus on the nine teams which focus more on ministry and its implementation.
2. With this restructuring, will people in current positions lose their roles they've previously had?
Possibly, but not necessarily. Most of our leaders are already serving beyond their initial roles. Last year, because of the upcoming restructuring, leaders extended their terms another year. So many of them, if not most, are scheduled to roll off anyway. For those that aren't scheduled to roll off, the discernment team may find that some leaders need to stay put, while others may be put into new roles that the congregation feels they could better serve in.
3. How do deacons play into this leadership structure?
While Deacons are a part of this new leadership structure, they are a special case in many aspects. This isn't meant to encroach upon the structure of the deacons, but is instead meant to give them a voice within the church leadership, as a member of Church Council will be representing the diaconate.
Beyond this, the diaconate will operate separately from the leadership structure. To maintain a distinction between leadership and deacons, deacon nominations will be separate from leadership nominations. Also, deacons will be selected by a separate nomination process and not the discernment team. Finally, the diaconate will not have size or term limits the same way that the other leadership teams do.
To summarize, the diaconate is a separate entity with different responsibilities and nomination processes. It is really just the diaconate chairs which are a part of the structure, and their inclusion is to ensure their representation in leadership and cohesion with the other teams doing ministry within the church.
Please ask us your questions so we can come prepared to affirm this new structure and begin the process of restructuring our leadership and governance to better reflect who we are and who we are called to be.