CHURCH OPERATIONS
LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT KEEPS EVERYTHING SMOOTHLY AT WESTMINSTER
Session
Our church is governed by a body referred to as “Session”
In each congregation of The Presbyterian Church in Canada, the session provides prayerful care and oversight. The session of a congregation consists of its minister or ministers, its active members of the Order of Diaconal Ministries, and ruling elders. The minister is always the moderator of the session and no session meetings can be held without the minister.
Session discussed arises from committee reports, congregational problems, concerns raised, suggestions from the minister,
elders, others outside the session, and so on. Our Session consists of 8 elected elders and our minister.
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FINANCE, ADMINISTRATION & HUMAN RESOURCES
The oversight of the finances, administration and human resources aspect of running an active church like Westminster cannot be overstated. It is important for the congregation to feel assured that everything is being managed appropriately and is transparent.
Each year we have an Annual Congregational Meeting where the full prior year’s finances are reviewed and the proposed upcoming budget is submitted and discussed and approved by active members of the congregation. This work is done by our Session (above) as well as our church treasurer.
Our administration is handled as a joint effort between the oversight elder, the volunteer office staff and elders. Key to this is ensuring that our Leading with Care program & records, mandated by the National Church is kept current. Additionally, most correspondence as well as phone calls and physical business is also handled in our office.
Communication and ongoing oversight of appropriate responsibility for our 4 staff members is also important with quarterly meetings and annual reviews being held with each.
Westminster strives to be a solid and stable resource to it’s members and our community.
Church Operations
Without a healthy building, it would be difficult for us to have a healthy congregation at Westminster. With many aspects from the outdoor sign, parking lot to the interior of the building it is important that it is well and safely maintained. This takes many volunteers and service people.
Also, in addition to our physical space, the operating of the church as a welcoming space involves our kitchen area for fellowship before and after service, dinners and church activities. Our technical area which provides the sound system, projectors and live streaming services continues to grow in it’s importance to both our “inside” church attendees but also our “virtual” attendees.
We have a number of renters as well and their expectations and requirements need to be met in order to ensure that they are satisfied customers. This is a great financial resource for the church so it’s important that we do a good job in this area also.