Worship Council Charter
MISSION & PURPOSE:The Worship Council's core function is to provide support
for worship services. The Council will help insure high quality,
meaningful worship at First Unitarian Society. To this end,
the Council will offer suggestions, feedback, and support to
the Society's professional worship leaders. The Council will
provide ushers and sound system operators to promote the
involvement of worshipers who are present and others who
participate in services by internet connection. The Council
will coordinate and support the activities of specified Committees
that contribute to its primary objectives: to maintain consistency
of the Society's high standards for worship, to explore possible
changes and alterations in its worship formats, and, with ministerial
and other professional guidance, to develop additional avenues,
such as, lay-led services, by which lay participation in worship
might be enhanced.
DOMAIN OF ACTIVITY/RESPONSIBILITY:
The Worship Council may participate in any and all activities relating to congregational worship and celebration, which shall include but is not limited to: regular weekend services, special holiday services, All Music services, Children's Chapel, and services jointly sponsored by FUS and other congregations.
The Worship Council is not expected to provide support for services conducted by the Society's Campus Ministry program, or for weddings, memorial services, and other rites of pasage or worship planned by and for the Society's various affiliated organizations.
The Worship Council is composed of a chairperson, one or more usher coordinators, a sound system coordinator, the Music Director or representative, the Parish Minister, and representatives of its Music, Lay Worship, and Intergenerational Worship Committees. The Worship Council consults with professional staff to maintain and further develop continuity between worship and the Society's changing needs and requirements. Regular, close communication is maintained between the Council and the at-large Board Trustee serving as liaison to the Council. The Council chair will ensure this two-way flow of information. The Board liaison may participate in Council meetings, ex-officio.
SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES AND TASK ASSIGNMENTS
The Worship Council shall convene at least bi-monthly. It will hear reports from its members and from relevant program staff. It oversees and trouble shoots to ensure unobtrusive and effective worship support by: 1) providing adequate levels of support to the Society's worship professionals; 2) helping to deepen lay involvement in worship; 3) responsibly managing resources allocated to it by the Board; 4) assuring membership of each Committee is adequate to meet its commitments; 5) keeping its Committees abreast of relevant issues being considered by the Board of Trustees and policies resulting from Board deliberations; and 6) using current task descriptions and setting reasonable short and longterm goals for the Council and its Committees.
To guage the Society's satisfaction with worship, the Council may from time to time solicit feedback from the Congregation. It wil help to insure that sufficient human and financial resources are available to support the worship efforts of the Society's professional staff. The Council and its chair are responsible for recruitment and training of new Council leadership.
