Simplified Accountability System Update

Greetings Topeka First UMC,

The email today will focus upon the shift from the committee system of UMC church governance to the Simplified Accountability System Leadership Council system of governance. On October 28, 2025 during our special called church conference, church members voted to make this shift in governance. Our hope is that in moving to this new system, decisions will be made in a more efficient manner, and it will free up the rest of the church for mission and ministry. 

The move to the Simplified Accountability System allows the church to more clearly understand the roles for various positions for accountable leadership: John Edmund Kaiser's Winning on Purpose (pages 46 & 107) say it best:

• Leadership Council = Role is governance (fiduciary, generative, and strategic work).
• Pastor = Role is leading the people into the mission field through communicating God's mission and vision.
• Staff (paid & unpaid) = Role is managing the day-to-day ministry as equpiiers and coordinators (not do-ers)
• Church Members = Role is ministering to the church, the neighborhood, and the larger world

The biggest shift will be the Leadership Council moving away from managing to governing. The governance responsibilities of the Leadership Council are four-fold: stewardship, strategic, generative, and accountable leadership. Per the Book of Discipline, instead of 4 separate meetings with 4 separate areas of focus each month, the Leadership Council is now jointly and simultaneously responsible for all four areas of responsibility: finance, staff-parish relations, and trustees. Outside of human resource/staffing decisions, most of the considerations and votes that the Leadership Council will consider will come from ministry teams, work groups, and staff. The flow chart below (or here) explains the process.

The Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development is meeting next week to begin the process of considering the ministry teams and work groups, and to discuss which people and their gifts will best fit for each team. These teams will meet to discuss specific ministry areas and then make proposals and recommendations to the Leadership Council. If you are interested in being a part of a team (ongoing church ministry) or a work group (event or project based), please let me know or contact any of the members of the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development.

In 2025, the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development  prayerfully considered the new Leadership Council and the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development for 2026. Here are the people on both teams for 2026.

Once again, if you have questions about any of this, please let me know (brad@fumctopeka.org). We will discuss this further at the State of the Church meeting on Sunday, February 1 at 6 pm (chili dinner preceeding at 5 pm).

Blessings,

Pastor Brad