DiscipleTown Charter — Version A (Elders-only, proposed)
MAYFLOWER CHURCH
DiscipleTown Charter
Version A — Elders-only oversight (proposed for Servants Council, July 11, 2026)
Streamline System 06 — Team Charters
DRAFT for consideration by the Servants Council at its meeting on July 11, 2026. Not yet ratified. Upon ratification this becomes a standing charter, reviewed at each August Leadership Summit and re-ratified on material change.
Governing Principle
We teach the children the truth, and we keep them safe while we do it.
The church's children are owed two things at once: the sound Word taught in a way they can hold, and a safe place to receive it. This team carries both. The aim is children who know the gospel and parents who can trust the room.
1. Oversight (the home)
Overseeing board: Elders. Day-to-day point person: Senior Pastor. Every team has a home; this team works first with the elders. The Elders hold program oversight for the whole of the ministry: content, curriculum, theological direction, and the conduct of the program. The team follows the church-wide Child Safety Policy in every gathering. Three distinct roles meet here, and they do not compete. Program oversight belongs to the Elders. The Child Safety Policy itself is owned and overseen by the Servants Council, which holds the church's policies. The Deacons are responsible for ensuring that the Child Safety Policy is managed and applied properly across all children's ministry, DiscipleTown included. Because these are three different roles, moving DiscipleTown's program oversight to the Elders does not weaken child protection: the policy stays with the Servants Council, the Deacons keep ensuring it is applied, and only program oversight moves to the Elders.
2. Purpose
This team exists to disciple the church's children with sound, age-appropriate Bible teaching in a safe environment. It carries the church's children's Christian education: teaching the truth in a way children can receive, and keeping them safe while it does. Its concern is not the running of a children's program for its own sake but the forming of young disciples within a room parents can trust.
3. Priority-ministry link
This team serves Disciple-Making Pathways (System 01), specifically the children's Christian education by which the church forms its youngest in the faith.
4. The Commission
The Elders commission this team to disciple the church's children with sound, age-appropriate Bible teaching in a safe environment. The work runs on a steady weekly scale and carries two charges that must stay joined. First, teach: deliver sound, age-appropriate Bible instruction to the church's children on the Lord's Day and at appointed children's occasions through the year, under curriculum and theological direction the Elders own. Second, protect: keep children safe in every gathering, under the church-wide Child Safety Policy, so that every worker is screened and trained before serving. Both charges sit under elder program oversight. The Child Safety Policy is owned by the Servants Council and its proper application is ensured by the Deacons; this team follows it in full within elder program oversight. The measure is children learning the gospel within a room that is demonstrably safe, not a headcount in the classroom.
5. In scope / Out of scope
In scope:
- Teaching sound, age-appropriate Bible content to the church's children on the Lord's Day and at appointed children's occasions.
- Owning the children's curriculum and lessons under the Elders' theological direction.
- Recruiting, training, and scheduling children's ministry workers.
- Keeping children safe under the Child Safety Policy: screening and training every worker, and following the safety protocols in every gathering.
- Communicating with parents about their children's growth in the faith.
Out of scope:
- The care of infants and toddlers. That is the Nursery Team's charge (see Coordination); this team receives children handed up from the Nursery at the appointed age.
- Setting the Child Safety Policy itself. The Servants Council owns and oversees the policy; this team follows it and keeps children safe within it.
- Setting the church's theological direction. The Elders own the doctrine and the curriculum direction; this team teaches faithfully within it.
- The recruitment process and worker screening mechanics as a standalone system. Those follow the Volunteer Chapter and Child Safety Policy; this team applies them rather than redefining them.
- Treating attendance as the measure. The measure is children formed in sound truth within a safe room.
6. Scale
Shape: a permanent core of teaching leaders and a roster of trained, screened children's workers scheduled across the Lord's Days, expanding for special children's occasions such as Vacation Bible School and the Christmas program. Commitment categories are drawn from the Volunteer Chapter (System 06). The team recruits and trains workers rather than leaning on a few. Leadership is one appointed DiscipleTown Leader (System 07).
7. Key responsibilities
- Teach sound, age-appropriate Bible content to children weekly and at appointed occasions.
- Maintain the children's curriculum and lessons under the Elders' theological direction.
- Recruit, train, and schedule children's workers.
- Keep children safe under the church-wide Child Safety Policy in every gathering.
- Communicate with parents about their children's growth in the faith.
- Communicate plans, encouragements, and needs to the Elders.
8. Coordination
- Elders: program oversight for the whole ministry, content and conduct alike. The children's leaders work with the Elders on curriculum, content, theological direction, and the conduct of the program, and keep children safe under the church-wide Child Safety Policy within that oversight.
- Servants Council: owns and oversees the Child Safety Policy as one of the church's policies. This team follows the policy in full.
- Deacons: responsible for ensuring the Child Safety Policy is managed and applied properly across all children's ministry, DiscipleTown included. The team works with the Deacons on the proper application of the policy, screening, and protocols, while program oversight stays with the Elders and the policy itself stays with the Servants Council.
- Nursery Team: handoff. The Nursery cares for infants and toddlers; this team receives children handed up at the appointed age and folds them into children's teaching.
- Parents: this team works with parents, communicating their children's growth and partnering with the home in the children's discipleship.
9. Resources
Budget line: "DiscipleTown Curriculum," administered by the Elder Chair (Purchasing Policy). Facilities needs for classrooms and children's occasions are coordinated with the Trustees. Scheduling, rosters, and worker screening records run through Planning Center. Workers must hold a current CORI check and complete child-safety training before serving, per the Volunteer Chapter and Child Safety Policy; this is a standing requirement of the role.
10. Health indicators
Faithfulness-shaped signs the team is alive, not an attendance scoreboard. The year's specific targets live in the System 11 annual goals, set with the Elders each August.
- Children are receiving sound, age-appropriate Bible teaching on a steady rhythm.
- Every serving worker is screened and trained before serving, with no gaps in coverage.
- The Child Safety Policy is followed in every gathering, and parents can trust the room.
- A widening roster of trained workers is carrying the load, not a few.
- Parents are hearing how their children are growing, and the home and the church are partnered in it.
11. Review and approval
Standing charter, reviewed annually at the August Leadership Summit. Re-ratified by the Servants Council on material change. Escalation beyond the team's or the elders' authority follows the Decision-Making Framework (System 09). Leadership succession follows the Leadership Handoff Guidelines (System 12). Review note for Anton: this is Version A, the Elders-only program-oversight version, proposed to the Servants Council on July 11, 2026. It rests on the three-role division this charter names: program oversight with the Elders, the Child Safety Policy owned and overseen by the Servants Council, and the Deacons ensuring the policy is properly applied across children's ministry. On that division, moving program oversight to the Elders does not weaken child protection, so the earlier reconciliation blocker no longer applies. A Version B exists as the dual program-oversight alternative, kept on file at discipletown-charter-dual-oversight-alternative.md, retained as a fallback if the Council specifically wishes the Deacons to share DiscipleTown's program oversight. The choice between the two versions is the July 11 proposal.
Commissioned by: Elder Chair ____________________________ Date __________
Ratified into the operations documentation by: Servants Council ____________________________ Date __________
Sources
- Mayflower Church Constitution and Bylaws, Art. II §B 1.c.2 (board oversight of ministry); Art. II §B 4.c.7 (Servants Council receives and approves Ministry Team charters).
- Child Safety Policy, Bylaws Policy Page viii (CORI and child-safety training required of workers). The policy is owned and overseen by the Servants Council; the Deacons ensure it is managed and applied properly across all children's ministry. The bylaw line naming the Deacons in connection with child protection refers to this operational application role and should be read consistent with this division of roles.
- Streamline System 01 — The Five Priority Ministries We Guard (Disciple-Making Pathways; children's Christian education).
- Streamline System 06 — Team-to-Board Oversight Map; Volunteer Chapter (worker recruitment, CORI, child-safety training).
- Streamline System 07 — Role Clarity, "24 — DiscipleTown Leader."
- Streamline System 09 — Decision-Making Framework; System 11 — Annual Goals; System 12 — Leadership Handoff Guidelines.
- Purchasing Policy (DiscipleTown Curriculum, Elder Chair).
- Nursery Team Charter (sibling form and handoff partner); Team Charter Standard, this folder.