TYPICAL QUESTIONS ASKED BY CHURCH MEMBERS ON THE SIMPLIFIED ACCOUNTABLE STRUCTURE
1. How does the nomination process work?
· Transitioning to the SAS model does not change the nomination and election process. The Nominations and Leadership Development Committee (formerly Lay Leadership) continues to be accountable for nominating qualified leaders representing the congregation and for their own committee for presentation at a Charge or Church Conference for a vote.
2. How does the Nomination Committee know you’re interested in being on the board?
· Any member can nominate themselves or someone else by filling out a nominations sheet provided by the Nominations Committee.
3. How often will the Leadership Board meet?
· Quarterly meetings are the required minimum, but the board will most likely meet more frequently, especially in the first year. 6-10 meetings a year is the anticipated frequency. Meetings are intended to last 90 minutes in most cases. This is similar to what our current time commitments are for more active committees like the Trustees.
4. Does this get rid of the 4 committees?
· It merges them into one. All the responsibilities of the 4 committees required by the Book of Discipline still must be fulfilled. However, the SAS model enables the church to combine the 4 committees, with each member of the Leadership Board wearing four “hats” and voting on any matter related to any of the four committees. So, the 4 committees still exist, just in a combined form.
5. How does this impact the other committees? (Preschool, Spring Valley Foundation, etc.)
· This has no impact on any other committee. They will continue to function as they do now.
6. Where does the expertise come from for the Leadership Board?
· The Committee on Nominations will still be responsible for ensuring that the Leadership Board has members with relevant skills and experience. The Board can also enlist the help of church members with special skills/experience for a Work Team to help with a specific project, which is what we do already in our current model.
7. What is the role of the Lay Leader and Lay Member to Annual Conference?
· Just as it is the case for our current Church Council, the following roles will be filled by members of the Leadership Board: Board Chair, Lay Leader, Lay Member to Annual Conference, Trustee Chair, SPRC Chair, and Finance Chair.
· This is done to ensure that we are in compliance with all the requirements in the Book of Discipline for our committees and church leadership roles.
8. Is there a chair? How are they elected?
· There will be no changes to this process from what we currently do.
· The Board Chair will be elected at a Charge or Church Conference just as our current Church Council Chair is. The Trustee Chair will be elected by the Leadership Board at the first meeting in January, just like we do currently in our Trustee Committee, because that is the process required by the Book of Discipline.
9. Do all 9 members have to attend every meeting? What is the quorum requirement?
· Decisions, approvals, or votes by the Board will be by majority of Board members present at the meeting except for Trustee matters which require five votes for a majority vote.
10. How will communication be handled?
· The SAS Discernment Team has drafted the guiding principles, leadership covenant, and communication plan and will submit them to the Leadership Board in May 2025. These documents will be provided to the congregation.
· While you will get the full plan later this year, we already know that the following communication and transparency practices will be adopted:
· Anyone can attend Board meetings to observe.
· The Board will give regular updates to the church through the bulletin, newsletter, town hall meetings, and presentations during worship.
11. Centralizing power can be dangerous when you have manipulative members. How will we safeguard against this and any conflict of interest?
· The SAS model has a strong emphasis on transparency and accountability. Here are some of the new safeguards it provides that we don’t currently have or use:
· Meetings will be open to anyone who wants to attend.
· Information from these meetings will be intentionally and regularly communicated to the church.
· The Board will have guiding principles and a leadership covenant that they will all sign and commit to uphold.
· In addition to those new guardrails, we will still have all of the safeguards we currently have:
· The Board cannot self-nominate its members. The Committee on Nominations exists to create a safeguard against this.
· A member may only serve on the board for three years before rolling off.
· Quorum requirements and voting thresholds prohibit members of the Board from doing anything on their own.
12. Is it too ‘burdensome’ for just 9 people to be responsible for ‘running the church’?
· The reports we’ve heard from other churches is that this work is less burdensome and more fulfilling than the current four committee structure we have.
· The Leadership Board in the SAS model focuses on governance, vision, and mission, rather than on management. Management is the responsibility of ministry teams and staff (paid and unpaid), thus giving more people the opportunity to serve, particularly in areas in line with their passion and calling.
13. Committees are a great place for new members to get involved. How will we do that in this new model?
· New members may still serve on the Leadership Board or any of our other committees that are unaffected by this change. We will also have several work teams that do a lot of the work of the church that anyone can join.
· There is also an implicit hope that more members will serve in vital ministries such as children, youth, music, greeters, ushers, etc., which we feel are more fulfilling places for members to serve anyway. Freeing up members to serve in these ministries is a key advantage of the SAS model.
14. Who are these 9 people accountable to?
· God, the Charge Conference, and the entire church. This is why the SAS model focuses on transparency, accountability, mission and vision.
15. How would someone be on the leadership board or one of the work teams?
· To express an interest in joining the Board, you can nominate yourself or speak to someone on nominations. To join a work team, you just need to talk to the Pastor or any member of the Leadership Board, and we will get you on that team!
16. Role of the Pastor and District Superintendent?
· Changing to the SAS model does not change the relationship between the church and the District Superintendent, the Bishop, or the Conference.
· This model does not change the Pastor’s role in serving the congregation. The tone, or mission and vision, of the church is developed and adopted by the Leadership Board in conjunction with the Pastor. The Pastor leads the staff and congregation in achieving the established mission and vision.
· The Pastor is a member of the Leadership board with voice but no vote. This is the same the Pastor’s current role.
17. Will there still be a charge conference annually? Or more often?
· Transitioning to the SAS model does not change the charge conference schedule.
18. How are staff/sensitive issues (hiring/firing) handled?
· No change from the past. One person on the Leadership Board will be the SPRC Chair and can form a work team when needed to address specific issues and develop a recommended course of action for presentation to the full Board.
· When discussing sensitive issues, the Board will go into an Executive Session and all non-Board members will be asked to step out.
19. If we decide to make the change, when will it take place?
· _______________, 2025 following adoption at Charge Conference on _________________, 2025
20. Can we transition back to the 4 traditional committees if this doesn’t work?
· Sure! Changing the structure back would have the same requirements as this proposed change, District Superintendent approval and a Church Conference vote.
Everyone is welcome to the Church Council meeting April 8, where there will be a discussion to call a Church Conference to move forward. The Church Conference will most likely be called in May. All church members are encouraged to attend and vote. Please let a member of the Discernment Team know if they have any questions or concerns.
Florence Campbell florencecampbell55@gmail.com
Cynthia Pharr Lee cynthiapharrlee@gmail.com
Barbara Persefield jhpersefield@att.net
Pam Reese gandpreese@gmail.com
David Smith dmsmithiv@aol.com
David Willis david.willis.phd@gmail.com
Jim Wright jim-wright@att.net
