New Story Church has voted and approved all nominees to the Search Team and Pastoral Advisory Team on 2/5/23. See more below.
Step Three: Search Team Development
The Search Team is a group of wise, discerning leaders from within the body tasked with searching for who will step into leadership here at New Story. They’re also responsible for initially vetting a candidate before they are brought before the church.
With the Constitution revised and deacons established, we will now set our sights onto finding who will step into leadership here at New Story. For our church, the pastors cannot appoint other pastors, nor are we a part of a larger institution that would appoint a pastor for us. Instead, a pastor is chosen and voted on by the congregation. To do this, New Story will gather together a team, called the Search Team, that will head up the process of finding pastoral candidates best suited for this church. Before we get to searching for candidates, the pastors will select the team, and, much like a pastoral candidate, the congregation must approve of the team before moving forward.
Per Article 4, Section 1, Sub-Section D of our Constitution, the Search Team is “a group of wise, discerning leaders chosen by the pastor(s) from within the ownership of New Story and approved by the church. They are responsible for finding and communicating with candidates before a recommendation to the church. They must be in full agreement with New Story’s methodology and beliefs (see the ‘What We Believe’ section on our website for more). They must take a collaborative approach to decision making and have familiarity with New Story’s ministries and structure. Any other pastors on staff will serve as advisors to the Search Team.”
Along with the Search Team, we have developed what we call the Pastoral Advisory Team (PAT). Per Article 4, Section 4 of our Constitution, the PAT “will assist the pastor(s) in making decisions for the church. This team is recommended by the pastor(s) and is composed of deacons, staff, and lay owners within the church. They provide counsel and assistance to the pastor(s) in fulfilling the mission and purpose of the church…They must take a collaborative approach to decision making and have familiarity with New Story’s ministries and structure.” We believe that this team will be invaluable to the health of New Story Church and it’s leaders. They will advise on areas such as major project planning, doctrinal positions, ministry policies, staffing considerations, and inter-church relationships. Along with that, an important part of this team will be to provide accountability for the pastors in order to maintain safe and healthy environments for all.
Below are the 7 elected members of the Search Team and 6 elected members of the Pastoral Advisory Team.
This is an important step for us to take and we believe God will not only lead us in selecting the right team, but will lead us in the pursuit of future leadership.
If you have any questions, please let us know by emailing us at Info@NewStory.Church.