Old Document From 2008

Was browsing through my old files and saw this. One of my proposals back in 2008 to cater for church's growth. Unfortunately, it was never approved or implemented. 

Still interesting to see if my ideology or principle has changed or not throughout the years.

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Proposed LCEC Structure 2009

Purpose/objective: Current church administrative system is failing and hard coping on the effectiveness of our ministries. The present system is designed for 1 service church, we have 2 and it’s hardly working as we would want. When we had the opportunity to experience 3 services, “disaster” happened. We see a lot of disappointments, setbacks, confusions, and tiredness. In other words, we couldn’t cope and keep the church growing. So, we try to refine what we have to cope with the workloads that are involved. It’s nothing new, just re-arranging the positions & ministries structure to improve effectiveness & efficiency. In other words, separating administration and ministry related issues.

 

LCEC

1. Chairperson
2. Vice Chairperson
3. Lay Leader
4. Stewardship & Finance
5. Treasurer
6. Secretary
7. Pastor Parish Relations (consist of Lay Leader, Chairperson, Pastor Representative, Service 1 Rep, Service N Rep)
8. Property Management
9. Service 1 (Task Group 1)
10. Service 2 (Task Group 2)
11. Service N (Task Group n)

Brief explanations

-          The LCEC will be responsible mainly for the church as a “whole” rather than individual services

-          Task groups may be set up to manage issues involving only individual services or special groups

-          Under LCEC, there can be a maximum of 35 committees in total. Special exemptions apply. As above example, only 10 committees are used but we can look after at least 2-3 services efficiently.

Typical Task group for Services

1. Task group leader (aka chairperson)
2. Secretary

3. Italics = subgroups

   Treasurer
4. Mission & Evangelism
5. Social Concerns
6. Christian Education
7. Small group
8. Activity
9. Worship & Music

-          This is the typical task group to manage a service

-          This group will be responsible for their own service only

-          Any issue related to the whole church will be brought to the LCEC via  the Task Group Leader

-          Any purchase of properties/inventories will need to go via LCEC Property Management Committee and all assets belong to the church, not service or task group.

-          Each Task Group can have more or less subgroups depending on needs

-          The subgroups do not need to held separate meetings; their meetings are done in the Task group meetings. They however, can have subgroup meetings if they wish to.

General

-          Meetings to be held once in 2 months, the task group meetings should be done at least 2 weeks prior to an LCEC meeting

-          Pastor, Chairperson, and Lay leader are to attend task group meetings.

-          Task groups should consist of members of one service only. 

-          This structure allows more focus on issues and more appropriate discussion during the LCEC meetings. 

-          The task groups can have more detailed discussion regarding their specific issues and needs.

FAQ

1. Are you having 2 or 3 LCEC in the church?
   - No, just one.
   
   
2. Does it mean we now have 2 or 3 LCEC Chairperson?
   - No, only 1 LCEC chairperson. The other is task group leader acting as a representative for a particular service.
   
   
3. We only have 2 or 3 services max? Why the introduction of this structure? Is it really necessary if we have more than one pastor?
   - Short answer yes. In the coming 3-5 years, we can only see probably 3 services max, further down the track it could be 4-5 services in total.  As we see from the current situation (5 months trial), we are crying to go back to 2 because it’s almost impossible to keep up. IF we had more than one pastor, yes we still need a structure change. Having an extra one or two pastors does not mean that the current structure will work even smoother. It just means the pastor do not have to look over so many services. The workload of a pastor is reduced, that doesn’t mean the workload of the LCEC is reduced. We’ll still face with the same problem of human resource and ineffectiveness in dealing with 3 or more services. The new system will simplify a lot of issues.
   
   
4. Won’t committee members have twice as many meetings?
   - Not really.  LCEC meetings occur as usual to discuss church issues.  Task group / subgroup meetings take the place of the previous subcommittee meetings. 

5. Will we have problem of disunity among task groups if there are people from different services?
   - There’re many ways to show unity. Not necessary physical unity. We can be united in terms of visions, goals, policies, etc. We can show unity by providing assistance when required, able to compromise on matters that affects the church, etc.
   
   
6. Will it create more trouble for matters to be brought forward?
   - There’ll be an extra layer or so to go through before it reaches the LCEC. However, Chairperson & Lay leader is always in the meeting to handle any issues.
   
   
7. Are we in compliance with the Laws & Constitution of the Methodist church?
   - Definitely yes. It’s just a matter how it’s organized.
   
   
8. Can a member of the LCEC be a member of a Task Group or Vice Versa?
   - Yes, except for the position of Lay leader and Chairperson. They would have to be from that “service” to be in that particular Task Group.
   
   
9. Can any members of the church attend the meetings?
   - LCEC meetings, no as general rule of thumb. Task Group meetings; yes but are not eligible to vote.
   
   
10. Previous year’s structure has always benefited the Chinese side more due to the majority of the LCEC members are from Chinese side. How will this one be different?
    - English side will have their own task group, which will be run totally by people from English side. This gives them the flexibility to plan at their own pace & style. If there’re matters regarding the whole church, they can always bring it up during the LCEC meetings.
    
    
11. How about combined activities or services? Evangelistic events? Training seminars?
    - We try our very best to avoid combined services as it’s not good and doesn’t serve much point except for our own enjoyment or fellowships. There’ll probably be just one or two for the whole year. This will be set in the LCEC and delegate to a special task group or existing task group to organize. As for evangelistic events or seminars (should it be approved by LCEC), normally the party that proposed it will be given the priority to organize it. If they are unable to, then a special task group is to be formed or other existing task group to organize.
    
    
12. I’ve always wanted to see a big church rather than “churches” within a church. It just doesn’t seem right! Why don’t we look for a place big enough for all of us and stay on the current structure & system?
    - In an ideal world, anything’s possible. In reality, it’s near to impossible to find a church or worship space big enough for it. We can look and look, and each time your results will be another disappointment. It can be very stimulating to say let’s go to the Town Hall, MCG or Telstra Dome, but we all know in reality, it’s not going to happen, at least we don’t have any glimpse of the possibility now! So, instead of dreaming & hoping to that way, we need to workout what’s best and a solution to welcome growth & manage it in our church. The world has changed; churches mentality needs to change too.