Leadership Board
Servant Leaders in Action.A New Partnership for Welcome and Compassion
May 27, 2026
Dear Chelsea First Family and Friends,
Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Leadership Board has affirmed our commitment to the dignity and humanity of immigrants in our community and across the nation. As part of this commitment, we have approved the recommendation of our Social Justice Action Team that Chelsea First United Methodist Church become a member of the Washtenaw Congregational Sanctuary (WCS).
The Washtenaw Congregational Sanctuary organization grew out of local interfaith efforts in January 2017 in response to intensified immigration enforcement activities affecting vulnerable families in our community.
WCS unites diverse faith communities in supporting immigrants and their families through learning, advocacy, and tangible assistance. Congregations are encouraged to participate in ways that align with their own calling, discernment, and capacity.
By joining WCS, we are putting our faith into action — living out Christ’s call to welcome the stranger and stand alongside vulnerable neighbors. In doing so, we affirm our identity as a vibrant, intentionally inclusive, justice-seeking faith community.
Our commitment is also grounded in the Social Principles and witness of The United Methodist Church, which affirms the dignity and rights of all individuals, including migrants, immigrants, and refugees.
In making this decision, we are guided by Bishop Bard’s strong affirmation in a recent letter:
“We affirm the dignity, worth and rights of migrants, immigrants and refugees… recognize that displaced people are particularly vulnerable…[and] oppose all laws and policies that attempt to criminalize, dehumanize or punish displaced individuals and families based on their status as migrants, immigrants or refugees. Additionally, we decry attempts to detain displaced people and hold them in inhumane and unsanitary conditions. We challenge policies that call for the separation of families, especially parents and minor children, and we oppose the existence of for-profit detention centers for such purposes.”
Becoming a member of the WCS is an opportunity to take a stand that is aligned with our values, grounded in Christ’s commandment to love our neighbors and in the example of Jesus, who himself experienced displacement and migration. We do so prayerfully, humbly, and with hope for a community where every person is treated with dignity, compassion, and love.
Our Social Justice Action Team has been deeply engaged and has been a driving force behind CFUMC taking this step. The team will lead our engagement with WCS, represent CFUMC at monthly meetings, and keep the congregation informed about current needs and opportunities to support vulnerable people in our communities.
In God’s love for all,
Mike Vanderspool
Chair, CFUMC Leadership Board
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 Inventory 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 Leadership Board meets on the second Tuesday of each month, typically 6:30-8 p.m. in Room 207, and meetings are open to the public.
The next meeting is June 9, 2026. Click HERE for the meeting agenda.
Chelsea First joins immigrant sanctuary effort
Chelsea First will become a member of the Washtenaw Congregational Sanctuary, a faith-based organization started in 2017 in response to intensified immigration enforcement activities affecting vulnerable families in our community.
The Chelsea First Leadership board voted unanimously May 12 on a recommendation by the congregation’s Social Justice Action Team to join more than a dozen other faith communities in the organization. Read additional details in this letter to the congregation.
Among other items addressed during the May 12 meeting were these:
- The Leadership Board has scheduled a congregational town hall meeting for June 24, which will help church leaders prepare for their annual planning retreat on Aug. 4. The town hall session, scheduled for 6:30-8 p.m. in the church social hall, will seek to generate feedback from congregation members on emerging church trends. That insight will help the Leadership Board focus on goals for the coming year and better articulate procedures and processes under the still-being-adopted Simplified Accountable Structure of church governance.
- Todd Hubbard shared a summary of the “Confirmand World Tour” from his perspective as one of the mentors for the five youth who went through the confirmation process this year. He said one weekend in particular – when the groups visited three different faith communities – was especially meaningful for the youth and adult mentors alike. The confirmands had the opportunity to visit a Jewish synagogue (Temple Beth Emeth), the Muslim Unity Center and an African Methodist Episcopal church (Bethel AME) and experience those different worship traditions. He emphasized that the Chelsea First group was warmly receive at each stop.
- Nolan Peterson led a discussion about how to better understand different forms of privilege and how it may contribute to how we see the world around us. Privilege is typically defined as a special advantage, right, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by a person or group, often not available to others. It frequently represents unearned societal benefits linked to social identity – such as race, gender, class, or ability – that create often invisible advantages. Understanding privilege can build empathy and understanding for those who do not have those privileges.
- Pastor Joy Barrett shared that 10 potential new members of the church attended a recent “getting to know Chelsea First” session. She also discussed how best to implement the suggestion of posing monthly questions to collect better information on all the ways church members are engagement in the broader community. Andrea Alford, Todd Hubbard and David Shaw volunteered to create a process for implementing the data-collection questions.
- Joy encouraged the Leadership Board to think about how we hold ourselves accountable for progress on goals through deeper engagement with the staff and ministry team leaders. That engagement could include including staff and team leaders in the development of the details and timing of the broader goals established by the Leadership Board.
- Monthly consent agenda items were approved unanimously. These items include the minutes of the April meeting and the March consolidated financial report, which provided a look at church finances for the first quarter of the year. According to Finance Manager Bill Ruddock, income for the first quarter was less than planned, but so were expenses. He also reported that all ministries are working withing their budgets for the month of March and an audit of 2025 finances is under way.
2026 Approved Board Meeting Minutes
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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128 Park Street, Chelsea, MI 48118
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