Missions Team Charter

MAYFLOWER CHURCH
Missions Team Charter
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
The gospel that gathers us here sends us out beyond here.
This team carries the church's reach past its own field: it supports the workers Mayflower sends and supports far off, and it raises up the larger shared occasions that take the body into Kingston and Plymouth County together. The going is the whole church's; this team gives it shape and sends it well.
1. Oversight (the home)
Overseeing board: Elders (Bylaws Art. II §B 1.c.2, missions and outreach under the elders). Day-to-day point person: Senior Pastor. Every team has a home; this team works first with the elders.
2. Purpose
Mayflower's outward calling is not one ministry among many. It is the overflow of the five priorities the church guards. This team exists to extend that calling beyond the local field: to support and send the global and regional missionaries the church stands behind, and to develop and run the larger shared gospel-outreach occasions that gather the body for witness across Kingston and Plymouth County. It gives the church a way to reach those its own everyday witness cannot reach alone, and it keeps the going well-ordered and well-prayed.
3. Priority-ministry link
This team serves the church's outward calling, which overflows from all five of the Five Priority Ministries We Guard (System 01) and is bound most closely to Gospel-Driven Prayer and Disciple-Making Pathways.
4. The Commission
The elders commission this team to carry Mayflower's gospel reach beyond its own doorstep, in two settled lines of work. First, support and send: maintain the church's relationships with the global and regional missionaries it stands behind, coordinating prayer, giving, and communication so they are known, carried, and not forgotten. Second, mobilize the larger occasions: develop and run two to four gospel-outreach activities each year in Kingston and Plymouth County, recruiting ad hoc teams for each specific event rather than staffing every event from the core team. The work is steady, not sprawling: a small core that organizes and recruits, a handful of named occasions a year, and a faithful tie to the workers far off. Gospel-outreach work requires the church's evangelism training as a prerequisite, so those who go are ready to bear witness.
5. In scope / Out of scope
In scope:
Supporting and sending the church's global and regional missionaries, including coordinating prayer, giving, and ongoing communication with them.
Developing and running two to four gospel-outreach occasions each year in Kingston and Plymouth County.
Recruiting ad hoc teams for specific outreach events as needed, and standing up the larger event teams.
Requiring the church's evangelism training as a prerequisite for gospel-outreach work.
Communicating regularly with the elders on plans, partners, and needs.
Out of scope:
The local field itself: the body's own direct, everyday gospel witness here, ongoing equipping for personal evangelism, and the follow-up of new believers. That is the Evangelism Team's charge (see Coordination).
Examining or approving people for membership or baptism. That belongs to the elders.
Becoming the team that does the going so the congregation does not have to. The going stays the whole church's; this team sends and mobilizes rather than substitutes.
Setting numerical conversion or sending goals as the measure of faithfulness. Fruit is the Lord's to give.
6. Scale
Shape: a small permanent core team that expands with recruited volunteers for specific outreach occasions, drawing commitment categories from the Volunteer Chapter (System 06). The core team organizes and recruits rather than absorbing every event itself; for each named occasion it stands up an ad hoc team rather than carrying the whole load alone. Leadership is one appointed Missions Team Leader (System 07, "20 — Missions Team Leader").
7. Key responsibilities
Maintain the church's missionary relationships, coordinating prayer, giving, and communication with the global and regional workers Mayflower supports.
Develop and run the year's two to four local-and-regional gospel-outreach occasions.
Recruit ad hoc teams for specific events rather than staffing every event from the core team.
Keep the evangelism-training prerequisite in front of those serving in gospel-outreach work.
Coordinate with the Evangelism Team so the local field and the wider reach neither overlap nor leave a gap.
Communicate regularly with the elders on plans, partners, and needs.
8. Coordination
Evangelism Team (Elders): clean boundary. Missions carries global and regional missionary support and the larger ad hoc outreach event teams. Evangelism carries the local field: its own direct gospel witness here, the body's everyday readiness and equipping, and new-believer follow-up. The dividing line is reach, not who does the work. Sending and supporting workers beyond the local field is Missions' to carry; the everyday local witness and follow-up is Evangelism's. Where a local-and-regional occasion touches both, the two plan it together so neither overlaps the other nor leaves a gap.
Elders: approve missionary partnerships and the year's outreach occasions, and receive regular reports on partners and plans.
Trustees: facilities needs for outreach occasions are coordinated here for space only.
9. Resources
Budget line: Outreach Fund, administered by the Elder Chair (Purchasing Policy). Facilities needs for outreach occasions are coordinated with the Trustees. Outreach scheduling and volunteer requests run through Planning Center.
10. Health indicators
Faithfulness-shaped signs the team is alive, not a sending scoreboard. The year's specific targets live in the System 11 annual goals, set with the elders each August.
The church's missionaries are known, prayed for, given to, and in regular contact, not merely names on a list.
The year's two to four outreach occasions happen, are well-prepared, and are carried by recruited teams rather than the core alone.
Those serving in gospel-outreach work have come through the church's evangelism training.
The boundary with Evangelism is working: shared occasions are planned together, and nothing in the local field is falling between the two teams.
The congregation, not only the team, is going on the shared occasions.
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 elders' authority follows the Decision-Making Framework (System 09). Leadership succession follows the Leadership Handoff Guidelines (System 12).
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 (missions and outreach under the elders); Art. II §B 4.c.7 (Servants Council receives and approves Ministry Team charters).
Streamline System 01 — The Five Priority Ministries We Guard; Missions and Outreach ("the gospel overflows from the five priority ministries").
Streamline System 06 — Team-to-Board Oversight Map; Volunteer Chapter.
Streamline System 07 — Role Clarity, "20 — Missions Team Leader."
Streamline System 09 — Decision-Making Framework; System 11 — Annual Goals; System 12 — Leadership Handoff Guidelines.
Purchasing Policy (Outreach Fund, Elder Chair).
Missions Team Charter draft 2 (substance inherited and upgraded); Evangelism Team Charter (sibling form for parallelism); Team Charter Standard, this folder.