All Leaders

Hi all,

We converted from a church council governance to policy-based governance 3+ years ago.  We had a total re-write of our Constitution and By-Laws.  To this end, we have created a Master Governance Policy approved document.  We know have a BLL (Board of Lay Leaders) of which I am President.  Of course, we have tweaked the standard policy-based governance format and adapted in some areas for our church's unique needs.  Many of our key positions have "Limitation Policies" that instruct the person to what they CANNOT do and by definition allowing anything outside this fence.  FYI we are a congregation of ~400 and school size (pre-school through 8th grade) of 200+.

My questions:

If you are policy-based governance model, do you have example written policies that could be shared somehow for:

1.  Endowment Policy as far as creation (e.g., okay to be "named" by the donor, or a minimum to create a new Endowment) and administration?
2.  "Dedicated (or Designated) Accounts" creation, administration and limitations that are part of the overall accounting system?
3.  If you have a school, do you have a Principal Limitations Policy (see definition above of how we define a Limitation Policy)?
4.  A Sabbatical Policy for Pastors of you church?

Thank you in advance.  I thought I'd throw this out there before trying to create any of these from scratch aka "straw-man" template.

------------------------------
David Pasquini
President of BLL (Board of Lay Leaders)
St. Luke Lutheran Church and School
Cabot, PA
------------------------------

David,
These are all great questions. I serve in Congregational Services with the Missouri District, and we are gathering resources to help develop sabbatical policies for our congregations. Attached are some of the resources we have gathered, with thanks to Southeastern and North Wisconsin districts for their assistance. Perhaps these can be the basis for development of your own church policy.

Rev. Peter Kirby

------------------------------
Peter Kirby
LC-MS Missouri District
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-29-2023 10:04 AM
From: David Pasquini
Subject: Policy Based Governance--Policy Creation

Hi all,

We converted from a church council governance to policy-based governance 3+ years ago.  We had a total re-write of our Constitution and By-Laws.  To this end, we have created a Master Governance Policy approved document.  We know have a BLL (Board of Lay Leaders) of which I am President.  Of course, we have tweaked the standard policy-based governance format and adapted in some areas for our church's unique needs.  Many of our key positions have "Limitation Policies" that instruct the person to what they CANNOT do and by definition allowing anything outside this fence.  FYI we are a congregation of ~400 and school size (pre-school through 8th grade) of 200+.

My questions:

If you are policy-based governance model, do you have example written policies that could be shared somehow for:

1.  Endowment Policy as far as creation (e.g., okay to be "named" by the donor, or a minimum to create a new Endowment) and administration?
2.  "Dedicated (or Designated) Accounts" creation, administration and limitations that are part of the overall accounting system?
3.  If you have a school, do you have a Principal Limitations Policy (see definition above of how we define a Limitation Policy)?
4.  A Sabbatical Policy for Pastors of you church?

Thank you in advance.  I thought I'd throw this out there before trying to create any of these from scratch aka "straw-man" template.

------------------------------
David Pasquini
President of BLL (Board of Lay Leaders)
St. Luke Lutheran Church and School
Cabot, PA
------------------------------