To the Community of Grace,

Those of you who have read the Warden letter in the December/January newsletter know that the Vestry (formerly Bishop's Committee) is proposing some important governance changes for Grace in 2011.   

In short, we propose dividing the duties of Grace governance into "Trustee" work, to be the focus of our Vestry, and "Program Ministry" work, to be the focus of a Program Ministry Council.   The Trustees that comprise the Vestry would oversee our resources and direction.  The Ministers of the Program Ministry Council would oversee the programs of the church.  We have spelled out how we see these groups working together in a more detailed proposal which you can read on the Grace website.

We are also proposing to add some new leadership positions.  A Trustee for Development would coordinate all of our fund-raising efforts.  Two Trustees at-large would act as stewards of Grace's mission and values and be charged with listening and representing the views of the broader Grace community in our discussions.

And we propose the Membership position be expanded to include leadership for Service - knowing the people of Grace and matching them with needed service roles at Grace and in projects supported by Grace.

We hope you will be able to join our Vestry for a Parish Meeting to discuss these proposed changes after our Sunday service on December 12.   

In that meeting we will briefly present the proposed governance changes and the rationale for making the proposed changes in 2011.  We will listen to the views of Parish members.   And then the Vestry will vote on this proposal or an amended version.   So please attend if you can and take this opportunity to voice your views.

Thank you for taking time to read and consider this proposal.  We look forward to seeing you in the Parish Meeting on December 12.  If you cannot attend that meeting or prefer to comment to us directly, please contact Don Warkentin at 206-855-9643 or at dwarkentin2@yahoo.com.

To see the full proposal and the full rationale, as well as answers to the questions we anticipate you might have, please visit the Grace website using the following link: http://www.gracehere.org/news_archives.html

John Waldo, Warden

Don Warkentin, Warden