Church Council
Over the past few years, First Baptist Church has been in the process of evolving in many ways, and evolutions in the church’s organizational structure have been a part of that process. The Church Council was one of the bodies that was up for reorganization, revival, and revitalization, and so some changes were made to that body as of January 2009. This newly revived Church Council has continued to meet, typically bi-monthly, since that time, with great success and with renewed energy.
The Church Council serves as a place and a forum for representatives from all of the church’s Working Groups and Boards to come together along with staff and the Moderator and Church Clerk to do long-term planning, focus on ideas about church growth, to do some work with the budget process, and to help implement ideas that come from the church at large, as well as to send ideas along for the consideration of the wider congregational body at the Mid-Year and Annual Meetings.
Generally speaking, it is the Chair of each Working Group or Board that serves as that group’s representative to the Church Council, although in some cases, a Working Group or Board may have elected to send a member (but not its Chair) as its representative to the Council. In addition, the Board of Deacons is to have 2 representatives on the Council, which is reflective of its larger membership. Members to the Church Council change as Chairs /Representatives from each Working Group or Board change.