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 oversight: move from dual oversight (Elders for content, Deacons for child safety) to Elders only, with child protection preserved.

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 oversight: dual oversight to Elders only, with child protection preserved

Background / Current state

DiscipleTown is the church's children's discipleship ministry. Today it carries dual oversight by design. The Team-to-Board Oversight Map assigns DiscipleTown to the Elders for content, curriculum, and theological direction, with the Deacons holding child-safety oversight under the Child Safety Policy (Bylaws Policy Page viii). The Child Safety Policy names the Deacons as the child-protection oversight board across all Mayflower children's ministry, even where the discipling content sits with the Elders. The DiscipleTown charter has been written to reflect this dual relationship, with two commissioning signatures and an Elder-Deacon Roundtable to reconcile questions that sit on the line between teaching and safety.

Dual oversight is honest about the two things the ministry carries, but it adds a seam. A leader with a question must decide which board it belongs to. A matter that touches both teaching and safety has to be routed to the Roundtable. The Council is asked whether a single clear home would serve the ministry better, provided child protection is not weakened.

Proposed change

Place DiscipleTown wholly under the Board of Elders for ministry oversight.

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 matches the bylaws, matches the budget, matches the position description, and removes the routing seam. The simplification is real, but it must not cost the children their protection. That is the question the Council must settle, and it is addressed directly below.

Child safety, handled head-on

Child protection must not be weakened by this simplification. The Child Safety Policy is the church's standing guard over every child in every Mayflower ministry, and it stays in force regardless of which board oversees the program. The only question is how the Council wants child-safety oversight expressed for DiscipleTown once program oversight is fully with the Elders. Two clean options are before the Council.

Option (a), recommended. Child-safety compliance for DiscipleTown continues to follow the church-wide Child Safety Policy, which applies to DiscipleTown as a standing policy regardless of which board oversees the program. The Elders hold ministry oversight. The Child Safety Policy still requires every worker to hold a current CORI check and complete child-safety training before serving, and still binds every gathering. Nothing in the policy changes; it simply applies to DiscipleTown as it applies everywhere children are present. This is the simpler path. It gives DiscipleTown one clear board home while leaving the church-wide child-protection standard exactly where it is and fully in force. The Deacons retain the Child Safety Policy itself as a church-wide policy; they simply no longer hold a separate program-oversight seat over DiscipleTown.

Option (b). Formally extend child-safety oversight of DiscipleTown to the Elders by amending the Child Safety Policy's application so that, for DiscipleTown specifically, the Elders carry both ministry oversight and child-safety oversight. This makes the elder home complete on paper. It is heavier, because the Child Safety Policy sits in the bylaws Policy Pages, and amending its application is a bylaw-level matter that may need to go to the congregation. It also begins to separate DiscipleTown from the single church-wide child-protection standard the Deacons hold for the Nursery and every other place children gather, which is a unity worth keeping.

The recommendation is Option (a). It achieves the clarity the proposal seeks, it is the lighter governance change, and it keeps child protection anchored in one church-wide policy that applies everywhere without exception. Under either option, the standing requirement holds: no worker serves DiscipleTown without a current CORI check and completed child-safety training, and the safety protocols bind every gathering. Whichever option the Council chooses, child protection is preserved in full.

Charter readiness

Two charter versions are prepared and ready, so the Council can adopt either and the charter is ready immediately:

Version A — Elders only. Single board home, two-signature block (Elder Chair commissions; Servants Council ratifies). Matches Option (a) or Option (b).
Version B — dual oversight, the current state. Three-signature block (Elder Chair and Deacon Chair commission; Servants Council ratifies). Matches a decision to keep dual oversight as it stands.

Impact

Oversight home: Board of Elders for ministry oversight if adopted.
Child-safety oversight: under Option (a), the church-wide Child Safety Policy applies to DiscipleTown as a standing policy, with the Deacons retaining the policy church-wide; under Option (b), child-safety oversight of DiscipleTown is formally extended to the Elders by amending the policy's application, which is a bylaw-level step.
Budget administrator: DiscipleTown Curriculum, administered by the Elder Chair (Purchasing Policy). No change.
Charter signature block: two signatures under Version A (Elders only); three signatures under Version B (dual oversight retained).
Documents to update if adopted: the Team-to-Board Oversight Map moves DiscipleTown from "Elders (with Deacon child-safety oversight)" to "Elders," with the child-safety note conformed to the option chosen; the System 07 position description "24 — DiscipleTown Leader" is reviewed to confirm child-safety language reflects the option chosen (the Accountable To line already reads Board of Elders); the adopted charter version (A or B) is ratified.

Recommended motion

That the Servants Council place DiscipleTown under the oversight of the Board of Elders, provide that child-safety compliance for DiscipleTown continues to follow the church-wide Child Safety Policy as a standing policy in full force, adopt Version A (Elders only) of the DiscipleTown Charter, and direct that the Team-to-Board Oversight Map and the System 07 position description be conformed accordingly.

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.

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; child-safety compliance continues under the church-wide Child Safety Policy in full force (Option a); adopt Version A of the charter; conform the Oversight Map and position description.

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 Deacons named as child-protection oversight board across all Mayflower children's ministry, even where discipling content sits with the Elders.
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).