Shared Leadership

At Overton we are losing our senior steward of the last 4 years as she is moving out of the area. She has given enormous dedication to the task and will be impossible to replace. No one individual was prepared to take over the role so we are experimenting with a shared leadership where several people are taking over some of the roles of the senior steward. We have 2 new church stewards who will join the remaining steward, along with extra individuals taking on the roles of publicity and another taking on the church secretary’s role temporarily. This new arrangement will necessitate good communication and a great deal of understanding and accommodation as we go forward. The advantage of such an arrangement is that no one individual feels overwhelmed by the task, but the downside is that inevitably some things will slip through the net. One thing is for sure we will not be replicating the past, so inevitable things will have to change. The idea of shared leadership is not a new one. Every church council is essentially a shared leadership environment, but the week by week decisions and roles are normally the responsibility of a few(the church stewards). In a small congregation the Methodist Church gives permission for the general membership to act as the council, provided they agree to be so included.

Just as we embark upon this new challenge we are also facing our own crisis regarding our future, which I have written about earlier. The lack of one dynamic individual to help the church negotiate this will need a great deal of ownership by the congregation and those who support from a distance. Pray for the church at this time of transition.

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