Common Responsibilities of Committee Chairs
All committees share in a number of common duties, as follows. They are not listed in any particular order, but should provide an adequate idea of how to manage committees.
One overarching Chair responsibility is to LEAD. By definition, Chairs are church leaders and leadership requires the person to create a committee environment in which everyone shares the work and all members have a voice in the function of the committee. Chairs must lead their committees to accomplish their goals each year.
Mission and Vision - Ensure committee activities are consistent with the mission and vision of the GUMC.
Committee operation - Coordinate, manage, and administer the operation of the committee
Initiative & responsibility - Thanks for serving as a chairperson. Your time and effort is appreciated, so please ensure you take full responsibility for energizing and operating your committee. Chairpersons should exercise their own initiatives for their committee operations. Do not wait for someone to tell you to hold a meeting or plan a project. That is why the committees exist in the first place. Be on top of things and be a self starter.
Meet - Conduct committee meetings as needed throughout the year
Member contact - contact committee members for meetings and information coordination
Committee Training - train committee members on committee mission and responsibilities
Create budget requests - annually determine projected budget needed for the committee and request that budget from Chair, Finance Committee.
Follow approved budget - Execute (spend) the actual budget allocated for the year's committee operations ensuring that no additional monies are spent without approval of the Chair, Finance Committee.
Plan - Plan for conducting the mission of the committee each year, ensuring all aspects are conducted and properly announced and coordinated.
Reports - Prepare reports at the end of each summer to summarize accomplishments for the year (reports feed into the church's annual report to the District). Also, chairs are responsible for attending Church Council meetings and reporting on their committee activities and plans.
Member maintenance - Each year some of the members will end their time on the committee. Coordinate with the Chair, Nominations and Lay Leadership Committee each July/August regarding nominations for new committee members for the following year.
Coordination - Ensure all committee operations are conducted in coordination with the Church Council and other committees as appropriate. Ensure the Pastor always knows what is planned by or happening in your committee. The Pastor is a member of many of the committees.
Web presence - coordinate with the webmaster anytime content or announcements need to be placed on the web site. Use the web site as a tool to communicate with committee members and the church at large.
Member involvement - chairpersons should never do all the work themselves as this defeats the purpose of having members and disenfranchises those members from actions they can take or input them may have. If more manpower is needed, then your committee should seek volunteers from the church as a whole. Ensure committee members do not simply attend meetings to vote on issues, but share the work of the committee.
Open Meetings - all committee meetings, except Staff Parish Relations Committee meetings, are open to the church membership to attend as desired.
Communicate - This cannot be emphasized enough. Communicate with the congregation – bulletins, bulletin inserts, handouts, web site, email. Communicate and coordinate with other committee chairpersons. Committee meetings should be announced in advance to the entire church so interested parties can attend if they desire {except for the Staff Parish Relations Committee}.
Minutes - Appoint a recording secretary and ensure meeting minutes are promptly prepared after every meeting – keep a copy and send one to webmaster for publication band one to the Church Secretary for filing. This does not apply to Staff Parish Relations Committee. Meeting minutes are permanent church records.
Thanks again for all you do and for making GUMC a better place to worship.
One overarching Chair responsibility is to LEAD. By definition, Chairs are church leaders and leadership requires the person to create a committee environment in which everyone shares the work and all members have a voice in the function of the committee. Chairs must lead their committees to accomplish their goals each year.
Mission and Vision - Ensure committee activities are consistent with the mission and vision of the GUMC.
Committee operation - Coordinate, manage, and administer the operation of the committee
Initiative & responsibility - Thanks for serving as a chairperson. Your time and effort is appreciated, so please ensure you take full responsibility for energizing and operating your committee. Chairpersons should exercise their own initiatives for their committee operations. Do not wait for someone to tell you to hold a meeting or plan a project. That is why the committees exist in the first place. Be on top of things and be a self starter.
Meet - Conduct committee meetings as needed throughout the year
Member contact - contact committee members for meetings and information coordination
Committee Training - train committee members on committee mission and responsibilities
Create budget requests - annually determine projected budget needed for the committee and request that budget from Chair, Finance Committee.
Follow approved budget - Execute (spend) the actual budget allocated for the year's committee operations ensuring that no additional monies are spent without approval of the Chair, Finance Committee.
Plan - Plan for conducting the mission of the committee each year, ensuring all aspects are conducted and properly announced and coordinated.
Reports - Prepare reports at the end of each summer to summarize accomplishments for the year (reports feed into the church's annual report to the District). Also, chairs are responsible for attending Church Council meetings and reporting on their committee activities and plans.
Member maintenance - Each year some of the members will end their time on the committee. Coordinate with the Chair, Nominations and Lay Leadership Committee each July/August regarding nominations for new committee members for the following year.
Coordination - Ensure all committee operations are conducted in coordination with the Church Council and other committees as appropriate. Ensure the Pastor always knows what is planned by or happening in your committee. The Pastor is a member of many of the committees.
Web presence - coordinate with the webmaster anytime content or announcements need to be placed on the web site. Use the web site as a tool to communicate with committee members and the church at large.
Member involvement - chairpersons should never do all the work themselves as this defeats the purpose of having members and disenfranchises those members from actions they can take or input them may have. If more manpower is needed, then your committee should seek volunteers from the church as a whole. Ensure committee members do not simply attend meetings to vote on issues, but share the work of the committee.
Open Meetings - all committee meetings, except Staff Parish Relations Committee meetings, are open to the church membership to attend as desired.
Communicate - This cannot be emphasized enough. Communicate with the congregation – bulletins, bulletin inserts, handouts, web site, email. Communicate and coordinate with other committee chairpersons. Committee meetings should be announced in advance to the entire church so interested parties can attend if they desire {except for the Staff Parish Relations Committee}.
Minutes - Appoint a recording secretary and ensure meeting minutes are promptly prepared after every meeting – keep a copy and send one to webmaster for publication band one to the Church Secretary for filing. This does not apply to Staff Parish Relations Committee. Meeting minutes are permanent church records.
Thanks again for all you do and for making GUMC a better place to worship.