DanSpeak*

Glossary of Governance Terms (Draft 4 – 2009-10-11)

Unless otherwise mentioned, all terms are as defined as they are used in Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership (http://www.alban.org/bookdetails.aspx?id=6612) by Dan Hotchkiss.

Affirmation (of a policy by the Board)

The Governance Task Force deveops policies for the Board to consider. At each step, the GTF reports back to the Board and senior staff and asks for affirmation (not adoption) of its work to date. Affirmation is a yellow light, permission to share the partial proposal with a wider group of leaders, then with all interested congregation members.  At each iteration, the GTF makes changes in the policy drafts in response to widely held concerns and shares a revised draft with the Board.

Board (of Trustees)

The Board is elected by the congregation to govern the church.  The central tenet of the book is that strong Boards do not manage; they govern.  The Board is responsible for understanding and articulating the church’s mission, planning for the church’s future, developing strategies and goals to achieve its vision, and evaluating the degree to which past efforts achieved the desired results.  To focus on these key responsibilities, the book encourages the Board to delegate the day to day management of the church to the Ministry Team.

Board Governance Policy

The Board’s focus shall be on the long-term mission and well-being of the Congregation, not on administrative detail. It shall respect the distinction between board governance and ministry, and shall avoid when possible making decisions that address only a single situation.  The Board intends to govern primarily by:

• Discerning and articulating the Congregation’s mission and vision of ministry,
• Setting goals and making strategic choices,
• Executing financial oversight to meet its fiduciary responsibility to the Congregation,  
• Creating written policies to guide the Congregation’s ministry, and
• Monitoring and evaluating the Congregation’s leadership, including itself.

Committee

The book thinks of a committee as a group to which a deliberative body has referred, or “committed,” a piece of business. A committee gathers information, drafts a policy, or prepares in some other way to report back to the body that appointed it.  The book uses the term committee to describe groups that report to the Board.  In practice, there is no hierarchy associated with work group terminology and the terms “committee” and “team” are simply ways to conveniently identify whether a given group does its work primarily for the Board or primarily for the Ministry Team.

Congregation

Our current congregation received the church from its predecessors and holds it in trust for future generations.  Congregation members wear many hats and serve in all of the roles (both governance and ministry) described in the book. Congregation members make the church's most important decisions directly (e.g. calling a minister or electing the Board of Trustees and church officers). Although the votes of congregation members control the church, the book argues that the church is actually “owned” by its mission. 

Discernment

Discernment and strategy comprise one of the four leadership roles described in the book.  Discernment aims to discover the congregation’s mission (what good the congregation truly exists to do) and its vision (what the future will look like if we make good progress).  Strategy is the process of setting goals and making high level decisions to move the organization from its current state toward its desired vision.  The process of discernment and strategy is a shared responsibility of the Board and Ministry Team.

Governance

In Dan's book, the terms governance and ministry are used to differentiate between two spheres of leadership in congregations.  Governance means “owning” the congregation, exercising ul­timate control of its human and material resources and ensuring that it serves its mission. Governance is holding the whole institution and its work in trust, voicing its intentions, making its biggest decisions, and taking responsibility for its performance.  Governance produces minutes, policies, mission statements, goals, and strategic-planning documents.  Governance is the job of the Board.

Governance Task Force

This temporary working group consists of Beth Conover, Kate Rohde, Bill Ross, John Wagner, and Ben Wallace. The responsibilities of the GTF are set forth in the Board of Trustee’s charge to the group.

Management

Management is one of the leadership roles described in the book and is primarily the responsibility of the staff Ministry Team.  The Board delegates its management responsibility to the Ministry Team by adopting written policies.  These policies will authorize the Ministry Team to make the necessary day to day decisions to implement the goals and objectives articulated periodically by the Board.  These policies will also set forth any limitations or other requirements.

Ministry

In this book, governance and ministry are used to differentiate between two spheres of leadership in congregations.  Ministry doesn’t mean just giving sermons or making pastoral visits. Rather, ministry is used in the broader sense meaning all of the work that is done by the congregation to serve the church’s mission and make it an important aspect in the lives of both the congregation and the community. When the GTF uses the word "ministry" we include the work that you, your fellow congregants, and all staff members do...not just the work that Rev. Kate does. Ministry means making daily choices about money, time, and space.  Ministry brings into being worship services, study groups, mission trips, service projects, mowed lawns, happy children, and renewed hope.  Ministry is where the rubber meets the road and you are part of the “Ministry Team”. 

Ministry Team

The Ministry Team is the entire staff group (both paid and volunteer) that will manage the church on a day to day basis.  The team will include the vast majority of the members of current committees and all paid staff.  The minister is the leader of the Ministry Team.

Mission

The church’s mission is the good that the congregation means to do, whom it hopes to benefit and how, and what it claims as its central principles or values. Articulating mission is a central role of governance.  The book argues that the mission is the actual “owner” of the church.

Open Questions

Open questions are questions that are significant to the Church’s strategic planning but do not, as yet, have answers. Open questions call for a wider, longer conversation than an annual goal-setting process can accommodate and invite congregational conversation before a decision is made.

Oversight

Oversight is one of the leadership roles described in the book and is primarily the responsibility of the Board.  Oversight refers to the Board’s responsibility to ensure that the church’s human and material resources are used for the benefit of its mission.  Oversight policies set standards for the church’s life and work to assure that that its resources are safeguarded, its leaders are accountable, and the congregation learns from its experience.

Policy

A policy is an authoritative written statement designed to control many individual decisions over time. Developing effective policies is the responsibility of the Board.  Policies provide the framework for on-going decision making.  Ministry Team management decisions are made within the context of the appropriate policies. The book recommends policies covering discernment, strategy, management, and oversight. 

Policy Development

The GTF’s task is to develop policies for the Board and the congregation to consider.

Staff

Staff includes everyone who is part of the chain of practical activities that constitute a congregation’s work.  For the purpose of the GTF’s work, we do not distinguish between ordained and lay, paid and unpaid, or “program” and “administrative” staff.  All of the staff members constitute the Ministry Team.

Strategy

Discernment and strategy comprise one of the four leadership roles described in the book.  Discernment aims to discover the congregation’s mission (what good the congregation truly exists to do) and its vision (what the future will look like if we make good progress).  Strategy is the process of setting goals and making high level decisions to move the organization from its current state toward its desired vision.  At least annually, the Board will describe its strategy in its Annual Vision of Ministry. The Ministry Team will then develop the action plans to implement the strategy. The process of discernment and strategy is a shared responsibility of the Board and staff.

Team

Teams are action oriented and produce practical results. Some teams directly fulfill pieces of the congregation’s mission, producing the primary results the mission calls for. Worship teams, educational ministries; outreach, service, and social-action teams; hospitality and caring teams; and choirs—depending how the congregation sees its mission—fall into the primary-results category. Other teams produce supportive, secondary results: a clean building, a fund-drive mailing, a readable newsletter, an attractive garden.  The book uses the term team to describe the groups that report to the Ministry Team leadership.  In practice, there is no hierarchy associated with work group terminology and the terms “committee” and “team” are simply ways to conveniently identify whether a given group does its work primarily for the Board or primarily for the Ministry Team.

Trial Run

Once enough policies have been developed by the GTF and affirmed by the Board to provide a reasonable safety net, the GTF asks the Board (and the Board plans to ask the congregation) to approve a year’s trial run of the new structure. The Board's goal is to start our trial run on June 1, 2010.

Vision

A vision is a star to guide by.  It is an imagined future state of the church as it becomes a better vehicle to serve our mission.  Strategies, goals, and objectives describe the plan for crossing the gap between our current state and the vision over time. The Board expresses its strategy to move toward the vision in its Annual Vision of Ministry.

Annual Vision of Ministry:  The annual Vision of Ministry is the Board’s short list of priorities to be accomplished in the forthcoming one to three years.  It is the short-term product of the Board’s strategic planning process.  The Ministry Team then translates the board’s vision of ministry into goals and objectives for the coming year.

* DanSpeak is the language of effective church leadership.  It’s easier than Esperanto, more fun than Pig Latin. 

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Updated Jan 21, 2010 wfr