Team Charter Standard
MAYFLOWER CHURCH
Team Charter Standard
Streamline System 06 — Org Chart, Oversight, and Team Charters
DRAFT for consideration by the Servants Council at its meeting on July 11, 2026.
Governing Principle
A team that knows its charge serves with confidence.
A charter is not a job description and not a wish list. It is the standing answer to one question: what has the overseeing board commissioned this team to carry, and where are the edges of that work? When a team knows the size and shape of its charge, it can say a glad yes to what is theirs and a clear no to what is not.
Purpose
This page sets the canonical form for every Mayflower ministry team charter. It exists so that a leader appointed to a team, a board that oversees one, and a member who serves on one can all read the same one page and agree on what the team is for, how big the work is, and who is responsible for it. The charter is the team-level mandate. It is approved by the overseeing board chair and ratified by the Servants Council, which holds the standing responsibility to receive and approve Ministry Team charters (Bylaws Art. II §B 4.c.7).
A charter is standing and evergreen. It does not expire on a calendar year. It is reviewed each August at the Leadership Summit and re-ratified by the Servants Council only when the work materially changes.
What a charter is, and what it is not
The charter sits in a family of four documents. Each answers a different question at a different altitude. The charter must not duplicate the other three.
| Document | Altitude | Answers | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team Charter | The team | Why this team exists, what it is commissioned to carry, scope in and out, scale, oversight, resources, health, review | System 06 |
| Position Description | The leader | The leader's role, qualifications, term, time commitment, selection | System 07 |
| Annual Goals | The year | This year's 3 to 5 measurable targets inside the mandate | System 11 |
| Volunteer Chapter | The members | How members are recruited, equipped, and retained | System 06 |
The charter is the stable mandate. The annual goals are the yearly layer set inside it at the August Summit. If a line you are about to write names this year's number, a target date, or a single event, it belongs in the annual goals, not the charter. If it names the leader's qualifications or hours, it belongs in the position description. Keep the charter at the team altitude.
The standard form
Every Mayflower team charter is one page and uses these eleven fields in this order. If a field does not earn its place for a team this size, cut it rather than pad it. Plain prose and short bullets. No filler.
MAYFLOWER CHURCH
[Team Name] 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
[One memorable line that names this team's heart.]
[One or two sentences unpacking it.]
1. Oversight (the home)
Overseeing board: [Elders / Deacons]. Day-to-day point person: [Senior Pastor, or named staff]. Every team has a home; this team works first with the board above.
2. Purpose
[Two or three plain sentences. Why this team exists and which of the church's callings it serves.]
3. Priority-ministry link
This team serves and overflows from [one or more of the Five Priority Ministries We Guard, System 01].
4. The Commission
[The load-bearing field. One paragraph stating what the overseeing board has commissioned this team to carry and the scale of that work. Name the size and shape plainly: how often, how many, how wide. This is the scope-and-scale sentence the rest of the charter defends.]
5. In scope / Out of scope
In scope:
- [Bullets naming what this team owns.]
Out of scope:
- [Bullets naming what this team does not carry, especially where a sibling team or board holds it instead. This is where overlaps and gaps get resolved on paper.]
6. Scale
Shape: [core team size; whether it expands for events; commitment categories drawn from the Volunteer Chapter]. The team recruits and mobilizes others rather than absorbing every task itself.
7. Key responsibilities
- [Plain bullets, team-level, not this year's tasks.]
8. Coordination
- [Which teams and boards this team hands off to or receives from, and what crosses the line each way.]
9. Resources
Budget line: [name] administered by [role]. Facilities needs are coordinated with the Trustees. Scheduling runs through Planning Center.
10. Health indicators
A few faithfulness-shaped signs the team is alive and serving well. Not vanity metrics. The year's specific targets live in the System 11 annual goals, set with the overseeing board each August.
- [Indicators.]
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 board's authority follows the Decision-Making Framework (System 09). Leadership succession follows the Leadership Handoff Guidelines (System 12).
Commissioned by: [Overseeing Board] Chair ____________________________ Date __________
Ratified into the operations documentation by: Servants Council ____________________________ Date __________
Drafting guide
Write the Commission first; everything else defends it. State plainly what the board is asking the team to carry and how big that work is, then let In scope and Out of scope draw the edges so the team neither overlaps a sibling nor leaves a gap. Keep every line at the team altitude: if it names this year's number it belongs in the System 11 annual goals, if it names the leader it belongs in the System 07 position description, if it names how members are recruited it belongs in the Volunteer Chapter. Use no DISC test and no spiritual-gifts inventory; giftedness, passion, and fit are the right language. One page, plain American English, theology that breathes through the work rather than decorating it. When a team's charge cannot fit on one scannable page, the charge is unclear, not too large.
Sources
- Mayflower Church Constitution and Bylaws, Art. II §B 4.c.7 (Servants Council receives and approves Ministry Team charters); Art. II §B 1.c.2 (board oversight of ministry).
- Streamline System 01 — The Five Priority Ministries We Guard.
- Streamline System 06 — Org Chart, Team-to-Board Oversight Map, Volunteer Chapter.
- Streamline System 07 — Role Clarity (Position Descriptions).
- Streamline System 09 — Decision-Making Framework.
- Streamline System 11 — Annual Goals and Evaluation.
- Streamline System 12 — Leadership Handoff Guidelines.
- Prior team charter drafts (Missions, Hospitality, AV, Nursery, Sanctuary), Basecamp archive, the form upgraded here.