Vestry Nominations
This week, we begin accepting nominations for vestry. By the end of the year, you will have chosen four individuals to serve a three-year term on the vestry. But what does the vestry do? Who makes a good member of the vestry? In a church as big as ours, in which you are likely to know personally only a few of the nominees, how do you decide whom to support?
Sometimes people ask me whether I think that an individual would be a good member of the vestry. Usually, I think they just want someone to confirm that their hunch is a good one. Occasionally, they seem to want more specific feedback. Regardless, I decline to offer my opinion. My job as your rector is to work with whomever you choose to serve on the vestry. I can tell you whether someone is canonically qualified (i.e. is a confirmed communicant of our parish who makes a financial contribution to the church), but I do not want to play a part in assessing who would be a good member of the vestry.
Partly, that is because I believe that whoever is chosen will be right for the job. I have served with vestries for twenty years. Some have been easier to work with than others, but all of them have been faithful to their charge. We need diverse gifts, experiences, and perspectives. We need people who like the way things are and people who want everything to change. We need people who are willing to work hard and who trust that their work contributes to the overall health and vitality of our parish. And I am convinced that the best way to achieve all of that is to trust the members of the parish to identify, recruit, select, and support a new class of vestry members.
But how do you know where to start? How do you figure out whether you or someone close to you has gifts for the vestry? How do you know whether you or they would enjoy serving? Here are some things about the vestry you may not realize. Perhaps learning more about the role the vestry plays in the life of our parish will help you know whether God is nudging you to offer yourself for this ministry.
Serving on the vestry is a lot of work. Normally, we only meet as a group once a month, but the vestry is divided into committees, and those committees usually meet on their own. Vestry members also serve as cashier on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings, and that usually requires at least one shift per month. The vestry is also responsible for the parish picnic and the annual giving stewardship campaign. They are expected to show up for parish workdays and other special events. We go on retreat together at the beginning of the year, and we usually gather for an all-day meeting during the summer. Occasionally, we need extra meetings to get our work done, and we often use email to conduct our business outside of meetings.
Although serving on the vestry requires considerable time and effort, this ministry is also substantial and meaningful. This is not a rubber-stamp operation. While the vestry is not charged with managing day-to-day operations—thankfully we have talented and dedicated staff and volunteers to make the church run—its input on making strategic decisions, naming missional priorities, responding to challenges, and furthering the work of the church is essential. Every member of the vestry is a leader of the church, and together they guide our parish.
Members of the vestry have fun with each other. Meetings last a while, but they are usually filled with laughter. The work of the vestry is important and, at times, contentious, but even moments of considerable disagreement quickly give way to an overriding spirit of love and support. Friendships among a few vestry members usually exist before individuals begin their term, but new friendships always form throughout the group. All four of our Sunday-morning services are reflected in the members of the vestry, and, by the end of the year, any distinction between congregations has dissolved.
We start every year with a two-night vestry retreat at Camp Mitchell. Our time there is full and productive, but part of the productivity is building relationships of trust. We cannot navigate the challenges a year will bring unless we trust each other. Otherwise, every minor point would need to be discussed and debated by the whole group. Instead, by establishing a sense of shared purpose and demonstrating our ability to pursue our collective goals with joy and delight, the members of the vestry quickly discover that they can depend on each other, and that makes the work fun.
The vestry is responsible for more than budgets and properties. While it is true that the vestry is charged with managing the temporal affairs of the parish, the canons also state that they are supposed to “cooperate [with the rector] in promoting the spiritual welfare of the cure.” There is, therefore, a spiritual, religious, heavenly, other-worldly, faithful aspect to the work of the vestry, and I think vestries are at their best when they partner with the rector in pursuing the spiritual welfare of the congregation.
The rector and the vestry are partners when it comes to nurturing the souls of the parish. A partnership, however, can be built on shared goals and responsibilities without depending upon fully shared roles. Members of the vestry are not expected to preach from the pulpit, lead worship, sing in the choir, or teach Sunday school, but they are expected to be invested in the preaching, worship, music, and formation of the parish. Not everyone who serves on the vestry enjoys perusing financial reports or lease agreements. Those are essential to the job, but so is making sure St. Paul’s is being faithful to God and to its people.
Our work is usually done by consensus, but sometimes we disagree. In our meetings we use parliamentary procedure to get our work done, but we rarely need to count votes. In an average vestry meeting, we have four or five matters upon which a vote is recorded, including approving the minutes and receiving the treasurer’s report. In almost every case, those votes are unanimous. Every once in a while, however, one or two people will abstain or vote against a motion, and I think that is a really healthy pattern for our congregation.
I enjoy consensus. When the vestry is facing a big decision like authorizing a capital campaign or approving a budget, I think it helps for every member of the vestry to be of one mind. Sometimes, though, issues are not that clear. Should we lease our rental property to a tenant for the next four years even though we may want to use that building for ministry within the next three? Should the new roof be weathered wood or estate gray? When there is not consensus, the members of the vestry need to feel comfortable speaking their mind and sharing their wisdom.
Given how often we make unanimous decisions, I find that the vestry pays particularly careful attention when we do not all agree, and that leads to good decisions. Since the members have worked hard to build trust among themselves, even those who represent a minority opinion are willing to stand behind the will and wisdom of the group.
Vestry members are not representatives of the congregation. Occasionally members of the vestry will ask parishioners for their input on a particularly difficult decision, but their job is not to translate the opinions of the parish into a particular vote but to vote their conscience. Although there are members of the choir who serve on the vestry, the choir does not have a representative who is beholden to the opinions of the choir. The vestry is made up of people from many different facets of our congregation, all of whom are entrusted with decision-making authority by the congregation as a whole.
When thinking about whether someone would make a good vestry member, I encourage you not to think about what ministries or demographics are underrepresented on the vestry but to look for individuals who are deeply invested in the life of our congregation. Usually, the people who come to church the most are the ones who make the best vestry members. They do not need to poll parishioners every time a contentious issue comes up. Instead, because they are already enmeshed among the people of St. Paul’s, their wisdom reflects the wisdom of the whole parish and, most importantly, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, which undergirds our work.
Vestry members depend upon relationships throughout the congregation. One of the hardest aspects of serving on the vestry is recruiting other parishioners to help out with the ministries of the parish. The vestry is made up of twelve individuals plus the rector. Even with a fully functioning staff, the thirteen of us cannot possibly accomplish all the work we need to do on our own. We need help, and knowing lots of people throughout the congregation makes it easier for us to do what God is calling us to do.
For example, the vestry believes that an active and vibrant ministry for newcomers is essential for the health and growth of our congregation. That makes sense. That priority is identified and set by the vestry, which also devotes financial resources to it through the budgeting process. But a robust ministry for newcomers requires more than strategy and money. It needs people to greet visitors when they walk through the door, people to conduct the monthly Let’s Get Acquainted class, people to reach out to newcomers and invite them to Let’s Get Acquainted, people to host newcomer dinners in their home, people to encourage consistent newcomers to take part in the Inquirers Class, and people to follow up and see what else is needed to help someone find a home. That is a ton of work, and it is far more than thirteen people can do.
The vestry’s job is to share that vision with others in the congregation and then recruit people to give of their time and effort to make that vision a reality. Some of us are good at inviting others to join in our work. Some of us know a lot of people and can reach out to dozens of potential volunteers without much effort. Some of us struggle with those things and need help. A good vestry member is someone who recognizes that they cannot do everything on their own and that they will need other people to help out.
Serving on the vestry is a ministry. More than anything else, we must remember that God is the one who calls individuals to serve on the vestry. That call is identified and confirmed through a peculiar process of discernment, nomination, election, and empowerment, but it is a divine call nonetheless. Like serving as a chalice bearer, serving as an usher, serving at Community Meals, or serving with St. Spat’s, serving on the vestry is an opportunity to use the gifts that God has given you to respond to God’s call to share God’s love with others.
If you are the sort of person who can intuit the connection between approving a budget and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the world, you have gifts for the vestry. If you have the ability to discuss improvements to the building and grounds without losing sight of God’s work in the church, you have gifts for the vestry. If you can see how supporting a church staff is one way you can be faithful to God, you have gifts for the vestry.
Nominations are now open for the vestry. If you want to know more about what being on the vestry is like, ask any of the current or recent members. If you suspect that you might have gifts to offer in this particular way, tell someone you know and trust. See what they think. In the end, if you are inclined to share your gifts with God and St. Paul’s as a member of the vestry, fill out the nomination form and trust that parish will choose whoever is right in this moment. And, if that is not a ministry you feel called to, ask God to help you find someone who is. Your appreciation for another person’s gifts may be the spark that encourages them to say yes.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner
Vestry Nomination Form
If you or someone you know has gifts for the vestry, please complete the vestry nomination form and turn it into the church office by November 8. Names and biographical sketches of nominees will be published on November 12, and the vestry election will be held on December 13. https://www.stpaulsfay.org/s/Vestry-Nomination-Form.pdf
