Part of equipping congregational board members is to make sure they have all the information they need at their fingertips. One way of doing this is supplying an up-to-date Governance Manual with key documents. Going through this manual can help with on-boarding of new board members.
Here's a short list of the kinds of congregational documents that board members would need.
- Table of Contents
- Brief Introduction to the Manual for new board members
- Board Covenant
- Board Meeting Procedures
- Perpetual Calendar
- Congregation Mission
- Congregation Vision
- Congregation Covenant
- Bylaws
- Executive Limitations (Policy Governance)
- Ends Statements
- Strategic (Long Range) Plan
- Policies
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Safe Congregations Policy (which would include information on the Right Relations Team and their processes, Disruptive Behavior Policy, emergency response policies, etc.)
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Personnel Policies (or a separate section for the Personnel Manual)
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Finance Policies
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Other policies
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Descriptions of / Charges to all board committees including any term limits for chairs
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- Procedures
- Appendix (as needed)
- Organization Chart or other visual representation of church structure
- Committee Directory
- Annual Board Goals
- Letter of Agreement with Called Minister
- Financial equations for determining endowment income or the like
- Any other key information
- Current Line-Item Budget
- Previous Year's Annual Report