PRESIDENT’S COLUMN – DECEMBER 2016

Ah, change. Sometimes it’s welcome, but often it’s stressful, even painful. I have been reminded in recent weeks just how grateful I am for our little community. And through it all, the work of Chalice congregation goes on.

So what does the Board do, anyway? Before I served on Chalice’s Board of Trustees, I was not entirely clear about this. Under policy-style governance, which Chalice adopted in 2011, the five primary roles of the Board are:

• Holders of the mission – the Board is expected to measure its actions against the mission of the congregation
• Financial oversight – decision-making on the budget
• Sets policies –making it clear to the various ministries, committees and staff how they are to function
• Long-range planning oversight – where we are headed and how we get there
• Assessment – how we are doing in meeting the needs of the congregation

In anticipation of meeting the fourth of these goals, your Board has established a Long Range Planning Task Force, because our existing “Goals and Outcomes Statements” for 2014-2017 ends with this congregational year. A congregation of our size benefits from a regular cycle of longer term thinking that involves many people. The Task Force is holding regular meetings, with Board Vice President Nancy Bowen as chair along with members Deb Coon, Dennis Brown, Kathleen Swift, Phil Comer, Ralph Peters, Susan Spoto and Reverend Sharon Wylie. The Task Force has discussed the current Mission, our existing Goals and Outcome Statements, components of long range plans and the approaches to developing them. The Task Force sees this as an opportunity for the congregation, the Board and our staff to have conversations about where we are in the present and where we want to be in the future. As we work through these conversations and processes, we will analyze the gap between our present status and future aspirations, and then develop options and recommendations for moving forward. The Task Force is currently exploring where we stand using a SWOT frame work: Strengths and Weaknesses (inside Chalice) and Opportunities and Threats (outside of Chalice).

If you have ideas about these topics, please share them with any member of the Task Force. We are blessed with talented, creative congregants with a wealth of professional and personal experience. We value your input and creativity about the challenges Chalice faces in meeting our mission statement: “Open hearts, open minds, open doors, nurturing spirits, and seeking justice in the wider world.”