How to run a committee

• Check the FRS bylaws (on the website under "Governance") for official duties of the committee.
• Submit a list of committee members' names to church office.
• Notify church office of upcoming meeting times.
• Set goals at the first meeting of the year, which should occur early.
• Choose a meeting cycle that fits the committee's ambitions.
• Use an agenda for each meeting and distribute it before the meeting.
• With kindness and tact, keep the meeting on the agenda items.
• Set a time for ending and end on that time. If meetings keep dragging on later, you either need more meetings or more attention to staying on the agenda. Very little useful work gets done when committee meetings go over an hour and a half or two hours.
• Have minutes taken at the meeting and distributed before the next meeting.
• Have your agendas and minutes circulated to the church administrator to inform the broader church of your goals, ideas, hopes, and progress.
• Ask for help from the Committee on the Ministry or the Parish Committee if the committee work is becoming drudgery or if accomplishment seems impossible.
• Attend Leadership Council meetings.
• Review and forward updates if necessary for church communications (for example, The FRS Introductory Booklet and your committee's portion of the web site).
• Review and update the committee's objectives.
• Develop a budget and submit it in time for the budgeting process, usually early February.
• Prepare and sign check requests for any expenditures of the committee.
• Monitor the committee's income and expenditures.
• Prepare an annual report and submit it in time for the Church's annual report in early May.
• Participate in Committee Fair Sunday and other church-wide committee gatherings.
• Plan for transition to the following July through June year.
• Keep meeting minutes and other important committee records in a file to pass on to next committee chairperson.
• Check your mail slot whenever you are in the Parish Hall.
• Check your section of the web site (under "Governance").