So, I haven’t been in a blogging mood lately – something about the post-vacation difficulty of getting back into the routine, I guess. I have a few things that I want to write about eventually: Transparency, ‘religious views’ on facebook, reviews of Church on the Otherside and Eden’s Outcasts. But for now, I’ll pose a series of questions for your help/input and comment.
First question:
How are the committees/teams structured at your church? What are the strengths/weaknesses of your structure?
For those of you who are United Methodists, are any of you familiar with the Nurture-Outreach-Witness model (NOW)? Have you had success with using this model in your congregation?
I appreciate your thoughts and comments!
6 comments:
I hope the sea legs have worn off.
I was surprised when I joined my current church to discover it had only a bare bones committee structure (trustees, finance, PPR, lay leadership).
My former church had a whole bunch of them - church and society, evangelism, discipleship, and some others.
I liked the committees at the old church because it gave folks ways to connect and lead in areas that interested them without having to invent a whole new structure every time.
I've tried to talk about the NOW framework at my current church, but I have not done a good job of persuading people that it would help us understand ourselves better.
I'll be interested to see if anyone has had success with it.
can i quote my pastor?
"i pray none of you are on committees."
and i understand. why do we need a committee for evangelism? THE WHOLE church should be doing it.
why have an outreach committee? THE WHOLE church should be doing.
i understand the barebones ones...
at our church, the "lack of committees" i think truely helps us grow quicker. word of mouth is better than hurry up and think.
how many committees are at annual conference or through our conference in general that come up with great ideas and there they sit. if the committees could actually get ANYTHING accomplished then they might be a good idea. too many great ideas around our conference that just dont go anywhere because of committee.
(no, i really dont care about this issue...lol)
My church uses the NOW system. We've been doing it for at least 10 years or more.
I was writing a comment to leave for you about this when I realized that it was growing longer and longer.
So I deleted it, and will write a post about it on my blog (rather than clog up your comments section).
Short answer -- I like this system, and would recommend it.
Sorry, Beth -- my blog is http://www.sandpipersthoughts.blogspot.com
We use the NOW system. We have about 1500 members on the books and anywhere from 850 to 1000 on any given Sunday. (5 services). Yes, in many ways we are committied to death, but most committee chairs are pretty good about getting to the point, and then getting out of the way. I chair the Health & Wellness committee (Mostly Parish Nurse activities and programs). We have 1 associate pastor in charge of each section. It seems to work well for us.
Hi Beth,
We have one meeting night a month in Boonville, all teams meet at 6:30 and then gather at 7:30 for a council style meeting to report and perfect decisions. We use a task sheet in the larger group to kep everyone accountable - it lists to do items, who is responsible and who will follow up and when.
In the new church plant in Trenton we have started out using the NOW model and they love it.
Bill
Post a Comment