Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

It’s that time of year again when many vestries are orienting new members. This month, we are offering five resources to help vestries start the year off strong. Please share this digest with new members of your vestry and extend an invitation to subscribe to ECF Vital Practices to receive Vestry Papers and this monthly digest.

1. Has your congregation shared ECF’s Vestry Resource Guide with every one of its vestry members? Whether you are a vestry veteran or an initiate, this guide will help you clearly understand your role and help the vestry and clergy leadership become a cohesive team.

2. What Do You Wish You Had Known When You First Joined the Vestry? is a helpful post by the ECF editorial team who posed this question to a number of vestry members on Facebook. The combined practical wisdom shared is supported with a plethora of links and resources for new vestry members.

3. New to the vestry? Check out the hour-long webinar, Vestry Orientation, by Donald Romanik and Brendon Hunter to help you understand roles, responsibilities, and best practices for vestries. It also serves as a good refresher for more experienced vestry members to ground you for another year of ministry.

4. In Five Things Every Church Treasurer Should Know, Linda Puckett covers the most important functions of a church treasurer. Though it’s not an exhaustive list, the article references several other resources to help support you in your role. New to church accounting? This is a must-read.

5. Many vestries don’t fully understand their role and relationship with their Episcopal school. Ann Mellow, in When Your Parish Has a School—An Orientation for Rectors and Vestry Members, teaches us about everything a vestry member needs to know to about healthy church-school relations.