Leadership Structure
Christ Indy UMC has a hybrid leadership structure, including committees and teams. Committees do the administrative work of the church while teams are responsible for maintaining the programming life of the church. Do you see something here that you’d like to be part of? Reach out to one of the members of the Lay Leadership Development Committee or call the church office to let us know you’re interested.
Committees
Committees do the administrative work of the church. Generally speaking, members serve a three-year term, with roughly a third of the committee cycling off at the end of every year. This practice, which is spelled out in the United Methodist handbook of denominational policies and procedures called the United Methodist Book of Discipline, ensures that church leaders are provided with periods of rest, helps avoid leader burnout, and allows for many voices and ideas to be heard on a committee over time. It also provides an opportunity for committee members who are nearing the end of their three-year term of service to mentor and train the committee members who have recently joined the committee. Occasionally, a committee member will be asked to serve an additional three-year term if there is a specific missional reason to do so. Here are the administrative committees of the church:
-
Finance Committee: is responsible for leading the congregation in faithful financial stewardship, for paying the bills, and for ensuring that the money entrusted to the congregation is handled appropriately.
-
Lay Leadership Development Committee: is responsible for identifying, recruiting, and developing leaders within the congregation, for recruiting the incoming classes for the church committees, and for preparing the church leadership roster.
-
Staff-Parish Relations Committee: is responsible for hiring new staff as well as other staff transitions, and for fostering strong communication between the pastor, staff, and congregation. They are also the committee that communicates with the District Superintendent when there is a pastoral change.
-
Board of Trustees: are responsible for ensuring that the buildings and grounds of the church create a safe and welcoming environment for worship, learning, and fellowship.
Teams
Teams are responsible for maintaining the programming life of the church. They lead us in worship, in mission, in outreach, and in growing disciples of all ages. Generally speaking, they do not have term limits, but operate on a “y’all come” basis. If you are interested, you talk to the chair and start showing up to meetings, and they put you to work. Here are the programming
teams of the church:
-
Education Team: is responsible for ensuring that all people in the church, from youngest to oldest, are receiving high-quality and faithful Christian instruction.
-
Preschool Team: is responsible for working with the Preschool Director to ensure that the preschool maintains the highest standards of excellence in early education.
-
Missions and the Outreach Teams: are responsible for promoting financial connections and service opportunities for acts of Christian mission and outreach, both in our neighborhood and far away.
-
Worship Committee (which is actually a programming team in spite of its name!): is responsible for working with the pastor to organize and carry out inspiring, Spirit-filled faithful worship.
-
Congregational Care Team: is responsible for supporting and organizing all the care-giving ministries in the church, such as homebound ministries, acute care by the parish nurse, Stephen Ministry, prayer ministries, and food ministries.
-
Church Council: is made up of the chairs of the committees and teams of the church; the lay leader of the church; the lay members of Annual Conference; the leaders of a number of programs and ministries of the church; the president of each Sunday school class; and the Church Council chair, vice-chair, and secretary. The Church Council is the chief administrative body of the church and is responsible for working alongside the pastor(s) to administrate and make decisions for the church. Church Council meetings are where decisions are made, consensus is affirmed, and communication between committee leadership takes place.
-
Lay Leader: works alongside the pastor to encourage and inspire the congregation to grow in faith, discipleship, and Christian service. The Lay Leader has a seat and a vote on all the committees of the church.
-
Lay Members: of Annual Conference attend Annual Conference, the once-a-year gathering of United Methodists from throughout the state of Indiana. At Annual Conference, United Methodists from every UM church in Indiana gather for worship, fellowship, mission, learning,and to do the annual business of the Indiana Conference. While the number of CIUMC’s Lay Members is determined by the number of clergy appointed to the church, there are additional opportunities to be an Equalizing Member of Annual Conference representing the Central District, the region of Indiana that includes the south side of Indianapolis. CIUMC has had members take advantage of this opportunity to serve as an Equalizing Member of Annual Conference in past years.