As of January 2024, our church is joining many others in the Methodist connection by switching our local governance to a Simplified Accountable Structure or One Board model. In our church, the change to this structure was approved at our Charge Conference in 2023.  The current slate of members was also approved at this time.  There are many advantages to this model of ministry leadership, and we are excited about what this change will mean to our church.

The typical structure of the One Board model has 9-15 voting members who are elected by the Charge Conference and who all serve as members of the Discipline-required committees:  Finance, Trustees, and Staff-Parish Relations.  Other voting positions are the board chair and lay leader.  Non-voting members of the board are representatives from UM Youth, United Women in Faith, UM Men, and the church treasurer.  Voting Board members are elected into three classes of three members each.  Each year, one class of members rolls off the board, and a new class is elected.  See the list below of FUMC Crossett Board Members for specifics. 

One big idea behind this change is to channel more of the church leadership’s energy into mission and ministry work.  Work area teams will still conduct the maintenance, finance, and employee relations work of the church, and their reports will be submitted to the Board before gatherings to be read and approved as a “consent calendar” with discussion only if clarification is needed or a vote is required.  This will allow in-person gatherings (currently planned for once a month) to focus on big-picture issues and visioning about the church’s ministry in the community and as a part of the larger United Methodist Church.  Anyone in the church is welcome to attend these gatherings or to provide thoughts or feedback to members at any time. 

The work of the Board falls into three basic categories:

1. Fiduciary - tending to the stewardship of tangible assets

2. Strategic - working to set the congregation’s priorities and seeing that resources are aligned with those priorities

3. Generative - problem forming and sense making about the shifting environment of the congregation and community.

There is a strong focus on communication, partnership, and accountability in all the work of the Board.  The Board is also charged with identifying and building up future leaders to replace current members.  To this end, all Board gatherings include spiritual and leadership development activities.  The majority of the gathering time is spent on reviewing goals and finances.  Gatherings end with decisions on pressing issues, plans to help ministries within the church, and general problem solving.  Notes will be kept to indicate decisions made, actions planned, and those responsible for the actions. 

We acknowledge that change can be disconcerting, so questions are encouraged.  Please speak with Rev. Matt Daniels or current Board Chair Eddie Cheatham about anything you’d like to know.  We appreciate your prayers, encouragement, and thanks for the responsibilities accepted by everyone serving on this Board.