Describe how your congregation is organized for ministry and mission.

Our congregation creates and coordinates ministry and mission programming democratically via Ministries and Teams led by an elected Church Council. The Council is composed of Ministry Chairs, Clergy, Church Moderators, Treasurer, and Clerk and acts on behalf of the congregation between congregational meetings. 

 

Each Ministry is composed of three to four elected members and a chair. Teams are similar in size but are appointed by the Church Council. Ministry and Team members generally commit to serve a rotation of three years with a limit of two terms. Non-elected supporters can assist with projects by volunteering their time and talents without a designated duration of service.

  • We currently have eight Ministries, elected by the Congregation:

    • Ministry of Buildings & Grounds

    • Ministry of Christian Community

    • Ministry of Congregational Care

    • Ministry of Faith Formation

    • Ministry of Mission & Justice

    • Ministry of Outreach & Membership

    • Ministry of Stewardship

    • Ministry of Worship and Arts

  • We also have three Teams, appointed by the Church Council:

    We also have a Pastoral Relations Team for each called clergy composed of members selected by the clergy member and the Council. Additional Teams and Committees are appointed as needed. 


    All Ministries, Teams, and the Church Council meet monthly. Decisions made at the congregational, council, ministry, team, and pastoral level are shared promptly through Sunday morning announcements, weekly eNews, monthly Pilgrim newsletter or via special announcements. We are committed to transparency and make meeting minutes and decisions available to our congregation. 


    Copies of our Constitution and Bylaws, Personnel Handbook, Staff Covenant, and our current Annual Report are available upon request.

Example of Church leadership in response to a crisis

The entire lower level of the church had six inches of standing water in April of 2013. Fellowship Hall, PADS, Two Way Street Coffee House, Scout storage, Mayflower Room, mechanicals, and the kitchen were all affected. 

With outstanding communication, quick thinking, and hard work, we were able to host the previously scheduled Fox Valley Association meeting nine days after the flood.


Leadership on every level responded, starting with the custodian and the pastor. The Stewardship Team, who handled our insurance, jumped in and got the remediation process started. 


Once the areas were emptied and asbestos abatement completed, the Council with the Mission and Justice Ministry recognized that we could offer even better services to our PADS clients with improvements added to the repairs on the lower level. The Stewardship Team jumped in to kick off a capital campaign that raised $80K to supplement the $168K of insurance coverage.


Working with Building and Grounds, areas of improvement were targeted. Countless volunteer hours resulted in an upgraded commercial kitchen with stainless steel surfaces. Two on-demand water heater systems increased water capacity. Laundry facilities were increased. Bathrooms with showers increased to four, three with handicap accessibility. 


In September, the doors were opened and every activity in Fellowship Hall resumed - this crisis was turned into an opportunity.