The Vestry is…
At Emmanuel and in The Episcopal Church vestry members are legal agents in the congregation who, with the clergy, provide leadership. It is important to understand this is a vestry/clergy partnership.
Being on a Vestry means:
You are asked to apply your baptismal vows to your acquired business experience in the carrying out the mission and ministry of your congregation. A well-planned meeting and guidelines about achieving stated goals are as important in the vestry room as they are in the boardroom. The vestry takes those skills and enhances them by adding prayer, discernment, and reflection. When addressing fiduciary responsibilities, the basics of standard accounting practices are raised to a higher level by adding questions regarding the discernment of God’s will. Entering your call as a vestry member entails bringing all the wisdom and insights God has given into your congregation. Infusing those gifts with prayer, discernment and reflection, you are expected to take them back into the world, rejoicing in the power of the spirit.
Your election is a call to a sacred ministry by the body of Christ. If you think of your membership and the membership of your peers as a sacred ministry, you will treat it and each other with more respect and affection. Think of being a vestry member as one of the manifestations of your relationship with God. The value system that drives vestry decisions is not dollars or production of product but the Baptismal Covenant to which we recommit each time we witness a baptism.
The work of the vestry is crucial to the life of the congregation. However, being a vestry member is about what you do and how you do it. Vestry membership is about offering our unique God-given gifts and allowing your strengths to shine. Vestry membership is about being yourself, your true self, and staying engaged in the work. It means staying engaged even when you want to walk away. This is not easy. It is not easy. It is hard work and when it feels the hardest, it is then that you are most closely responding to God’s call.
I was pushed hard so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. (Psalm 118:13)
Size of the vestry at Emmanuel:
There are twelve members (from fifteen) including the Senior and Junior Wardens.
Terms of Office:
Vestry members are elected to a three- year term, with one-third of the body elected each year. This ensures a regular influx of new members while providing continuity with more experienced members. The terms of office of vestry members may be dictated by diocesan canons and are specified by the congregation’s by-laws.
(Prepared December 2009)
