Leadership Board
Servant Leaders in Action.Meet The Leadership Board
We are grateful for the dedicated individuals who serve on our Leadership Board, guiding our church with wisdom, faith, and a commitment to our mission. Each member brings unique gifts and perspectives as we seek to fulfill God’s call in our community.
Our board operates on a rotating schedule, with members serving in designated “classes.” This structure ensures continuity while allowing new voices to join in leadership. Click the link below to learn more about our current board members:
Guiding Principles
The Leadership Board for Chelsea First has unanimously approved the “guiding principles” that will broadly guide how the church will operate as it moves closer to full implementation of the simplified accountable structure adopted in in 2024.
The guiding principles say, in part that Chelsea First is a “vibrant, intentionally inclusive, justice-seeking faith congregation.”
The guiding principles are the permission-giving policies, procedures and practices that protect and allow the ministry of the church to function on a day-to-day basis within healthy boundaries. They outline areas of responsibility for the Leadership Board as well as key areas of local church operations.
Adopting the guiding principles by May was one of the initial, first year goals established by the Leadership Board under the streamlined simplified accountable structure for church operations.
The document, approved at the board’s May 13 meeting, can be read in full by clicking the link below.
If you are interested in serving, have a question or comment, we’d love to hear from you!
If you are unsure of how or where you would like to serve, you are invited to fill out the “Gifts Inventory”. The Gifts Invetory can reveal skills and talents you’d like to share or explore with the church family. It will also let leaders know the ways that you want to engage and volunteer.
Leadership Board Information
The next regular meeting of the Leadership Board will be September 9 @ 6:30-8 pm in Room 207. Meetings are open to the public.
Goals for coming year outlined during August Town Hall
More than 50 people participated in an Aug. 17 town hall meeting where members of Chelsea First’s Leadership Board outlined key goals for the coming year.
The goals, said Leadership Board Chair Mike Vanderspool, were developed largely during the Leadership Board’s all-day planning retreat, following a review of the current year’s goals. The town hall was designed to allow small-group discussion of the goals and generate feedback to the leadership group before the goals are finalized.
“It was great to see so many people engaged with helping outline our path forward in these critical areas,” Vanderspool said.
The three overarching goals shared are these:
- Hospitality and connections. In order to help each person feel welcomed and connected, we will equip and empower all our people to create and embrace a culture of hospitality, including during worship. Identify and create processes to establish meaningful connections for all our people, including newcomers. Mary Hoey outlined this goal as well as the work that is already under way by a hospitality leadership team.
- Lifelong faith formation. In order to help individuals grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ, we will explain and continue to develop Lifelong Faith Formation pathways, equipping people to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. Ray Stankiewicz said this goal is an extension of the hiring of the church’s director of lifelong faith formation, Susan Adam-Rita, who started her new role June 1.
- Understand congregation and community demographics, gifts and interests. In order to better serve our current congregation in their lifelong faith formation and to bring new people into the life of the church, we will use the resources and tools available to us to understand our congregation and community demographics, gifts and interests. This focus also will provide Nominations and Leadership Development Team with action items and resources. Kasie Cousino said gathering this type of information about the congregation and the surrounding Chelsea community will be critical to decision-making for the church.
Most of the time during the town hall was spent at tables of eight discussing the three overarching goals and generating feedback and suggestions for how best to implement these goals into the life of the church. Here is a sampling of those comments and suggestions:
Hospitality and connections
- Name tags are essential.
- Empower everyone in the church with hospitality skills. Coming to a new church can be scary.
- Passing of the peace during worship is important and it may be the only time a new person gets greeted right now.
- Small groups are essential to getting to know each other. We need more of them.
- Personal invitations are most effective. Can we make it easier for people to make connections by filling out the directory with information and photos and also link to it from the church website?
Lifelong faith formation
- Could we create time between worship services for adult learning?
- Intergenerational events are vital. Messy Church is appreciated.
- The new role on the church staff will be very helpful.
- A focus on elder topics would be helpful.
- Should we revisit the need for a nursery during worship time?
Understand congregation and community demographics, gifts and interests
- Understanding who we are will help us determine what to do.
- We need fresh information each year to keep up to date.
- Community events can help us bridge the church-community gap.
Vanderspool said the Leadership Board will now review all the feedback before finalizing the goals.
Vanderspool also reported that the church remains on solid financial footing. He said income through July was $464,783 and expenses came in at $454,289.
The Leadership Board is planning a third town hall in October as it continues to share information with the congregation.
Chelsea First
Our church culture
Chelsea First United Methodist Church (Chelsea First) is a Christ-centered congregation with a positive, open, and engaging spirit. We are a church for everyone, at all seasons of life, and bring a grounded, engaged, and supportive approach to Christian worship while working passionately toward making a positive impact in our community.
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Chelsea First UMC
128 Park St., Chelsea, MI 48118
📞 (734) 475-8119
✉️ info@chelseaumc.org
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