# Ministry Oversight Proposals — Servants Council, July 11, 2026 **MAYFLOWER CHURCH** ## Ministry Oversight Proposals For consideration by the Servants Council — Meeting of July 11, 2026 DRAFT From the Senior Pastor to the Servants Council ### Purpose This packet brings three ministry oversight matters to the Council for decision. Each one clarifies and simplifies which board oversees a ministry, and each one is brought alongside the new Ministry Team charters now being adopted. The aim is plain: a team leader should know, without asking, which board they go to first, and our governing documents should say the same thing in every place a reader looks. Today three ministries do not yet read consistently across the bylaws, the Team-to-Board Oversight Map, and the System 07 position descriptions. These proposals reconcile them. The Council holds the standing responsibility to receive and approve Ministry Team charters (Bylaws Art. II §B 4.c.7). Two of these proposals would also amend the Team-to-Board Oversight Map and a System 07 position description if adopted, and the third would update the Oversight Map and note a deacon-named responsibility in the bylaws. None of these proposals changes the bylaws by themselves; where a bylaw question is touched, it is named so the Council can decide what rises to the congregation. The three proposals are separable. The Council can adopt, defer, or decline each one on its own. Each carries a recommended motion the Council may adopt as written. A word on what these proposals are not. None of them is driven by program size, headcount, or growth. Each is a question of faithful order: placing each ministry with the board the bylaws and the nature of the work point to, so the church is governed clearly and children are kept demonstrably safe. Where simplification could weaken child protection, that risk is named head-on and guarded against, not assumed away. The three proposals: ### 1. Shoebox Ministry oversight: move from the Deacons to the Elders. ### 2. DiscipleTown program oversight: place under the Elders, with the Child Safety Policy remaining under the Servants Council and the Deacons continuing to ensure its proper application. ### 3. Sanctuary Preparation: fold into the First Impressions Team under Elder oversight, retiring the standalone Sanctuary Team. --- ### Proposal 1 — Shoebox Ministry oversight: Deacons to Elders ### Background / Current state Mayflower's participation in Operation Christmas Child is led by the Shoebox Ministry. Today our documents disagree on its home. The System 07 position description ("30 — Shoebox Ministry Leader") names the Board of Deacons as the accountable board. The Team-to-Board Oversight Map (Draft April 2026) recommends the Elders, noting that the case for deacons could equally be argued because the hands-on logistics make the work feel service-shaped. The Shoebox charter has been drafted under the Elders and flags this conflict openly, holding the signature block for the Council's decision. The two documents need to be reconciled, and the Council should settle the home. ### Proposed change Place the Shoebox Ministry under the Board of Elders. ### Rationale Shoebox is outreach and missions in form, not service ministry in the diaconal sense. The bylaws place the church's missions and outreach ministries under the Elders (Art. II §B 1.c.2). Missions, Evangelism, and Shoebox all share that outward calling, and the other two already sit with the Elders. The Outreach Fund, which carries Shoebox's costs, is administered by the Elder Chair. Placing Shoebox under the Elders keeps the bylaws' clear missions-under-elders pattern intact and puts the ministry with the same board and the same fund as the rest of the church's outward work. The day-to-day point person remains the Senior Pastor, as with the other outreach ministries. The work being hands-on at collection time does not make it diaconal. Much elder-overseen ministry is hands-on. What sets the board home is the nature of the calling the ministry serves, and Shoebox serves the outward calling the bylaws assign to the Elders. ### Impact - Oversight home: Board of Elders. - Budget administrator: Outreach Fund, administered by the Elder Chair (Purchasing Policy). No change to the fund. - Charter signature block: Elder Chair commissions; Servants Council ratifies. Two signatures. - Documents to update if adopted: System 07 position description "30 — Shoebox Ministry Leader" changes Accountable To and Selection Process from Board of Deacons to Board of Elders; the Team-to-Board Oversight Map moves Shoebox from a flagged recommendation to a ratified Elder placement; the Shoebox charter signature block is completed under the Elders. - Child safety: not applicable. Shoebox is a congregation-wide seasonal effort, not a children's ministry. ### Recommended motion That the Servants Council place the Shoebox Ministry under the oversight of the Board of Elders, direct that the System 07 position description and the Team-to-Board Oversight Map be conformed accordingly, and ratify the Shoebox Ministry Charter under Elder oversight. --- ### Proposal 2 — DiscipleTown program oversight to the Elders, with the Child Safety Policy under the Servants Council and applied by the Deacons ### Background / Current state DiscipleTown is the church's children's discipleship ministry. Today its oversight has read as dual: the Team-to-Board Oversight Map assigns DiscipleTown to the Elders for content, curriculum, and theological direction, and has named the Deacons as holding child-safety oversight. That framing conflated three distinct roles that in fact belong to three different bodies at Mayflower. Naming them plainly resolves the question without amending any policy. There are three roles, and they are compatible: - Program oversight, the relevant board for the ministry. For DiscipleTown the bylaws point to the Elders (youth and children's Christian Education and discipleship, Art. II §B 1.c.2). - Policy oversight, owning the church's policies including the Child Safety Policy. This is a Servants Council role, not a Deacon role. The Council owns and oversees the policy church-wide. - Application and management, ensuring the Child Safety Policy is managed and applied properly across all children's ministry. This is the Deacons' role. Read this way, the bylaw line naming the Deacons in connection with child protection (Bylaws Policy Page viii) refers to the operational application role, not to ownership of the policy document. The DiscipleTown charter was drafted in two versions while this was being clarified, with a dual-oversight version carrying two commissioning signatures and an Elder-Deacon Roundtable. With the three roles named correctly, the dual program-oversight arrangement is unnecessary. ### Proposed change Place DiscipleTown under the Board of Elders for program oversight, with the Child Safety Policy remaining owned and overseen by the Servants Council and the Deacons continuing to ensure its proper management and application across all children's ministry, DiscipleTown included. ### Rationale The bylaws place youth and children's Christian Education and discipleship under the Elders (Art. II §B 1.c.2). The DiscipleTown Curriculum budget is already administered by the Elder Chair. The position description ("24 — DiscipleTown Leader") already names the Board of Elders as the accountable board. A single elder home for program oversight matches the bylaws, matches the budget, matches the position description, and removes the routing seam that the earlier dual framing created. This does not weaken child protection, and it requires no change to the Child Safety Policy. The policy stays exactly where it belongs, under the Servants Council, which owns and oversees the church's policies. The Deacons keep their role of ensuring the policy is managed and applied properly across all children's ministry. Only program oversight moves to the Elders. Because these are three separate roles carried by three bodies, moving one of them changes none of the others. The earlier concern that simplification might cost the children their protection rested on a misreading that treated program oversight and policy oversight as the same thing; correct attribution resolves it. The standing requirement holds without exception: no worker serves DiscipleTown without a current CORI check and completed child-safety training, and the safety protocols bind every gathering. Charter readiness Two charter versions are prepared and ready: - Version A — Elders for program oversight. Two-signature block (Elder Chair commissions; Servants Council ratifies). This is the recommended version under the three-role division above. - Version B — dual program oversight. Three-signature block (Elder Chair and Deacon Chair commission; Servants Council ratifies). Retained only as a fallback if the Council specifically wishes the Deacons to share DiscipleTown's program oversight, which the corrected role division makes unnecessary. ### Impact - Program oversight home: Board of Elders. - Child Safety Policy: owned and overseen by the Servants Council, unchanged. The Deacons continue to ensure its proper management and application across all children's ministry, DiscipleTown included. No amendment to the policy is required. - Budget administrator: DiscipleTown Curriculum, administered by the Elder Chair (Purchasing Policy). No change. - Charter signature block: two signatures under Version A (recommended). - Documents to update if adopted: the Team-to-Board Oversight Map moves DiscipleTown from "Elders (with Deacon child-safety oversight)" to "Elders for program oversight," with a note that the Child Safety Policy is under the Servants Council and applied by the Deacons; the System 07 position description "24 — DiscipleTown Leader" is conformed to read the same way (the Accountable To line already reads Board of Elders); Version A of the charter is ratified. - Bylaw wording note for the Council: the Bylaws Policy Page viii line naming the Deacons in connection with child protection should be read consistent with this division of roles, as the application-and-management role rather than ownership of the policy. The Council should flag for the Elders whether a conforming wording note to the bylaws or Policy Page is warranted at a future congregational meeting. ### Recommended motion That the Servants Council place DiscipleTown under the oversight of the Board of Elders for program oversight; affirm that the Child Safety Policy remains owned and overseen by the Servants Council and that the Deacons continue to ensure its proper management and application across all children's ministry, DiscipleTown included; adopt Version A (Elders for program oversight) of the DiscipleTown Charter; direct that the Team-to-Board Oversight Map and the System 07 position description "24 — DiscipleTown Leader" be conformed accordingly; and record that the Bylaws Policy Page viii reference to the Deacons in connection with child protection is to be read consistent with this division of roles, with any conforming wording referred to the Elders for a future congregational meeting. --- ### Proposal 3 — Sanctuary Preparation: fold into the First Impressions Team under Elder oversight ### Background / Current state The Sanctuary Team prepares the sanctuary and foyer for worship each week so the space is attractive, uncluttered, and inviting to those who gather and to those who visit. The bylaws name Sanctuary Preparation under deacon oversight (Art. II §B 2.c.1). The team has been drafted from the prior team-charter draft and the deacon-oversight reference in the bylaws, but there is no System 07 position description for a standalone Sanctuary Team Leader. The Sanctuary charter itself flags this and asks for a decision: either author a Sanctuary Team Leader position description, or fold the team's work into another Sunday support team. The First Impressions Team welcomes guests at the Lord's Day gathering and walks them into the life of the church, carrying both the first welcome and the patient work of assimilation. It is overseen by the Elders. Contextual note on First Impressions oversight. First Impressions oversight has been confirmed under the Elders because of its essential role in discipleship and assimilation, which is clearly elder oversight. This confirmation needs no separate motion. It is noted here only because First Impressions is the home into which Sanctuary Preparation would move. ### Proposed change Fold the Sanctuary Preparation responsibilities into the First Impressions Team under Elder oversight, and retire the standalone Sanctuary Team. ### Rationale Preparing a clean, attractive, welcoming sanctuary and foyer is part of preparing the Lord's Day environment for guests. That fits the First Impressions assimilation purpose, which is to help a guest feel expected rather than merely noticed, from the door inward. The two functions serve the same Sunday and the same guest. Consolidating them puts the readied room and the warm welcome under one team and one leader, rather than two teams coordinating across a seam. It also resolves a real gap: Sanctuary Preparation lacks its own leader position description, while First Impressions has one ("23 — First Impressions Ministry Leader," Board of Elders). One Sunday-readiness team is simpler than two, and it removes the need to author a standalone position description for a small function. ### Impact - Oversight home: Board of Elders, through the First Impressions Team. - Budget administrator: supplies coordinated with the relevant board as First Impressions already coordinates its needs (Purchasing Policy). No new named budget line is created. Facilities concerns continue to escalate to the Trustees. - The standalone Sanctuary Team Charter retires. Its scope moves into the First Impressions Charter. - The exact text to add to the First Impressions Charter, In scope section: - Prepare the sanctuary and foyer weekly so the space is attractive, uncluttered, and inviting to those who gather and to those who visit. - Periodically assess how the sanctuary, foyer, and restrooms appear to a first-time guest, and put right what the team can. - Escalate facilities concerns beyond the team's reach to the Trustees rather than leaving them or carrying them alone. - Coordination note to add: First Impressions readies the room and carries the welcome into it; Hospitality readies the fellowship table; the Trustees carry building repairs, equipment, cleaning contracts, and facility systems, to whom facilities concerns are escalated. - Bylaws and Oversight Map: because the bylaws name Sanctuary Preparation under the Deacons (Art. II §B 2.c.1), moving it under Elder oversight through First Impressions needs the Council's approval and a corresponding note to the bylaws and the Team-to-Board Oversight Map. The Council should record that Sanctuary Preparation, while named under the Deacons in the bylaws, is carried operationally within the elder-overseen First Impressions Team, and flag for the Elders whether a conforming bylaw note or amendment should follow at a future congregational meeting. - Child safety: not applicable. Sanctuary Preparation does not involve children's ministry. ### Recommended motion That the Servants Council fold Sanctuary Preparation into the First Impressions Team under the oversight of the Board of Elders, retire the standalone Sanctuary Team Charter, direct that its scope be added to the First Impressions Charter as set out above, and record a note to the bylaws and the Team-to-Board Oversight Map that Sanctuary Preparation, though named under the Deacons in the bylaws, is carried within the elder-overseen First Impressions Team, with any conforming bylaw amendment referred to the Elders for a future congregational meeting. --- Summary of recommended motions ### 1. Shoebox Ministry: place under the Board of Elders; conform the position description and Oversight Map; ratify the charter under Elder oversight. ### 2. DiscipleTown: place under the Board of Elders for program oversight; affirm the Child Safety Policy stays under the Servants Council and the Deacons continue to ensure its proper application across all children's ministry; adopt Version A of the charter; conform the Oversight Map and position description; read the Bylaws Policy Page viii deacon reference consistent with this division of roles. ### 3. Sanctuary Preparation: fold into the First Impressions Team under the Board of Elders; retire the standalone Sanctuary Team; add its scope to the First Impressions Charter; record a bylaws and Oversight Map note and refer any conforming amendment to the Elders. ### Sources - Mayflower Church Constitution and Bylaws — Art. II §B 1.c.2 (teaching, worship, missions, outreach, assimilation, baptism, discipleship, and Christian Education under the Elders); Art. II §B 2.c.1 (service ministries, including Sanctuary Preparation, Children's Nursery, and Hospitality, under the Deacons); Art. II §B 4.c.7 (Servants Council receives and approves Ministry Team charters). - Child Safety Policy (Bylaws Policy Page viii) — the church's standing child-protection policy, owned and overseen by the Servants Council; the Deacons ensure its proper management and application across all Mayflower children's ministry; CORI and child-safety training required of workers. The bylaw line naming the Deacons in connection with child protection refers to this application-and-management role. - Team-to-Board Oversight Map (Draft April 2026, System 06) — Shoebox recommended to Elders; DiscipleTown to Elders with Deacon child-safety oversight; First Impressions to Elders. - System 07 Position Descriptions — "24 — DiscipleTown Leader" (Board of Elders); "23 — First Impressions Ministry Leader" (Board of Elders); "30 — Shoebox Ministry Leader" (Board of Deacons). - Team Charters (System 06) — Shoebox Ministry Charter; DiscipleTown Charter (Versions A and B prepared); Sanctuary Team Charter (proposed for retirement); First Impressions Team Charter (proposed to absorb Sanctuary Preparation).