Restructuring Ministries
“Striving to be a well of hope in Hopewell, Hopewell Presbyterian’s mission is to love like Jesus, building up our relationships with God, each other, and the community.”
In the last year, not only has Session led the congregation in considering the mission God has called us to, but Session has been thinking carefully about “how” we go about achieving that mission. Part of that is determining a “focus” action for each program year (the 2021-22 focus is coming soon!) and part of that is analyzing the ways our church is set up to help us achieve the mission.
As Session did this analysis we also took into account some feedback received from our ministries. Feedback like…
‘Training new leaders and transitioning leadership with ministry committees can be difficult.’
‘Sometimes we leave ministry work feeling burnt out.’
‘We aren’t always sure what’s going on; communication could be better.’
On top of that, in this last year we have learned that there are a few areas where we want to dedicate more focus. These include:
Stewardship
Investment
Congregational/Community/Pastoral Care
Justice & Service
To respond to the feedback we received and to provide for the areas listed above, Session worked with Pastor Melissa to make two changes: 1) to provide resources for ministries to help them plan and communicate; 2) to change the ministries and their responsibilities to cover all the responsibilities listed above. The following is a “quick sheet” listing each of the ministries, their responsibilities, and a contact person (click the image for a downloadable PDF). For a summary of major changes, see below.
Changes include:
Splitting “Finances” from “Facilities,” making Financial Stewardship and Buildings & Grounds.
Putting Finance with Investments and Stewardship to make Financial Stewardship. Going forward this will be a ministry of people called by Session to serve 3 year terms.
Creating Generosity to oversee (1) mission giving and (2) dispersement of income from the investment made as a result of the Sharipen Bequest. Going forward this will be a ministry of people called by Session to serve 3 year terms.
Supporting the Deacons as they lead us in congregational and individual community care through more 1-on-1 care (much like Stephen Ministers) and through Benevolence/Special Needs Financial Support, etc.
Continuing the work of “Engaging in Justice & Service” as Justice & Service, to communicate and provide opportunities to share the love of God with our community.
As we move to this structure, everyone is encouraged to prayerfully consider if God is calling them to serve on one of the programming ministries. As we make these changes for the 2021-22 program year, the church leadership looks forward to your support in giving this new thing a try and your feedback.