Consistory Restructure- What is it?

In order for Trinity’s leadership structure to better serve the mission of our church, we have identified three key convictions:

  1. Gift-based, passion-driven ministry is one of our core values for every member of the church.  If we want our congregation to be serving in their areas of giftedness and passions, then it is essential that we–as elders, deacons and staff–lead the way by serving in our own areas of giftedness and passions.

  2. The primary role of leaders is not to do all the ministry themselves but to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12).  The task of leadership is to empower and mobilize God’s people for ministry and mission.

  3. In order to effectively lead a church our size, we need more people leading in specific areas of ministry and fewer people responsible for the governance of the church.

Guided by these three convictions, here are the following changes as to how our staff and lay leadership will operate:

  • New ministry teams will form, comprised of staff, consistory, and other lay people that focus on a specific area of ministry (i.e. hospitality, discipleship, finance, etc.).  
  • Rather than monthly consistory meetings, full consistory will meet 3 to 4 times a year.  They will then be “freed up” to meet regularly with their teams and focus their work in their areas of giftedness and passion.
  • The responsibility of governance, accountability and support of the staff and church will be with the Leadership Team, rather than the wider consistory.  

Ministry teams fall under two broad categories: Spiritual Development and Missional Engagement.  While both categories fall under the role of consistory, elders are traditionally understood as having gifts and oversight in the areas of spiritual development while deacons are typically under the category of missional engagement.  Here are the ministry teams and you can find out more information on the ministry teams HERE.

Spiritual Development Teams:

  • Worship/Sacraments Team-

  • Discipleship Team-

  • Visitation and Care Team

  • Connection Team

  • Ministry Discernment Team

Missional Engagement Teams:

  • Finance Team

  • Hospitality Team

  • Local Needs Team

  • Missions Team

  • Property Team

The diagram below gives you a picture of what this new structure will look like.

Members of the congregation will still have an opportunity each year to nominate men and women for these elder and deacon roles (as we’ve done in the past), and the Ministry Discernment Team will guide a leadership selection process.  The congregation will give final approval to any persons who serve as elders or deacons.

We will be piloting this new structure over the next 12 months. The consistory unanimously approved this pilot, and we’re excited to “try it on” and see how it works.  We’ll be evaluating it along the way, and would welcome both your prayers and any feedback you may want to share as a member of the congregation.

If you would like to learn more about this new structure, have questions, or would like to share feedback, you are invited to a “Learn More” event on Sunday, January 21 at 9:50am in rooms 3-4.  You are also welcome to talk with Rick Clark (VP of Consistory), any member of the Leadership Team or any member of the staff.  You can also see more information on why we are restructuring HERE, and find our online nomination portal HERE.

Here’s what is true: the gospel is unchanging, even as we will always be changing our approaches, systems and structures to better share this gospel.  Our hope and deepest desire is that this new leadership structure will help us more effectively empower others and mobilize the church to share this gospel so the whole world might know Jesus is Lord.

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