The leaders and workers of this congregation of the United Methodist Church will soon be meeting to re-organize the basic structure of the congregation. Focus will be on re-defining the role and functions of standing committees and work groups. The goal will be: to develop an organization and structure that will enable the congregation to minister more effectively in the name of Christ; to become better in our current ministries; and to become more responsive to the mind of Christ and more sensitive to His leading in the future; and, perhaps, developing new, or different ministries.

Before jumping into the re-organization and changing things out of hand, it seems important to prayerfully and thoughtfully consider the question:

"What, in the name of Christ, are we doing?"

This is not as simple a question as it may first appear to be. The question, easily, encompasses what the church has done in the past, what the church is doing in the present, and what the church will do in the future. Our answers to the that question, "What, in the name of Christ, are we doing?" will greatly influence how we decide to re-organize the church; and, the re-organization itself will become an answer to that question.

To get ready for the re-organization meeting, you are asked to spend some time in prayer, in thought, in memory, and in vision ... and with a pencil and paper ... to tackle the question: What, in the name of Christ, are we doing?

There is no single, right answer to this question. There are many answers to it.

The materials that follow are intended to help us look at what we do in a number of different ways so that we can develop the most complete picture of who we are and what we are doing for Christ as a church. Then, when we convene our re-organization meeting, our effort will be to develop a structure that supports and enables what we have discovered about ourselves and what we are doing for Christ.

Please ... expect that we will disagree (hopefully, in a loving way) in what we, individually, think that we are doing as a church. Let us be prayerful that we will be able to work together, with Christian love, to create a new structure.

The most recent General Conference of the United Methodist Church liberated the local church from the burden of a great deal of required organizational structure. Some required structure (mostly on the administrative side) seems to remain ... an Administrative Board or Administrative Council ... a Board of Trustees ... a Pastor-Parish Relations Committee ... a Finance Committee. The traditional "program" committees seem to be left to the discretion of the local congregation.

There are three program committees ... Nurture ... Outreach ... Witness. There are three administrative committees ... Trustees ... Pastor-Parish Relations ... Finance.