The Vestry: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Tonight, I have another vestry meeting, maybe my 350th monthly meeting of the elected leadership of Christ Church. The vestry in an Anglican church meets routinely, usually monthly, to give leadership and oversight to the congregation’s mission and ministry.
Over the years, Christ Church has undergone many phases of vestry development, involvement, and leadership—not all of them are easy or effective. There are canons to be followed, to be sure. And certainly, we (the Vestry and I) have grown and changed over the years. I have made too many mistakes in my leadership.
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But the Christ Church vestry and I have come to a point of clarity about our roles and responsibilities, which I would like to summarize in these ten ideas:
- Five for the vestry (below),
- Five for the rector (my next article).
The Role of the Vestry
1. Protect the Vision
The vestry’s primary role is to protect the stated vision of the parish. Each member of the vestry should be able to articulate and safeguard the primary visionary direction of the congregation. They should each know the answer to this question: What are we trying to do here? How to discern and articulate the vision that God has for the parish deserves its own article, but once the vision is understood and prayed through, the vestry should guard and protect it. It shouldn’t change with the seasons or the passing of years.
2. Insure the Values
The next function of the vestry is to ensure the congregation’s values. That is, while the vestry may know the direction and what they are trying to do as a parish, the values question is this: How are we actually trying to live out our vision? What are the means and programs by which we are working toward our vision? Where do we focus our efforts? What are we going to do now? Adult discipleship, worship, evangelism ministries, small groups, student ministry, compassion ministry, local mission, etc. These are not choices to make—one instead of the other—but areas to build up and maintain.
3. Uphold Financial Integrity
The vestry is also charged with protecting the financial integrity of the church. Through a designated finance team, the vestry should scrutinize the finances every month. They should provide for an annual audit of all funds, approve budgets, and make routine reports to the congregation. They should approve long-term financial contracts and basically act as guardians of the financial life of the parish to ensure that the church has a long-term future and is operating in a trustworthy way with all funds that have been given or borrowed.
4. Support the Rector
Supporting the rector is the fourth key role of the vestry. The rector is the main agent of the vestry to accomplish 1, 2, and 3 above. The vestry’s primary role, then, is to help the rector accomplish these things. Vestry leadership is never honorary; they are not rubber stamps for what the rector decides is best. But they are not either to be “devil’s advocates” (who needs that!?), the loyal opposition, or representatives of any special interest groups or programs in the parish. The vestry has one job in a sense: find the rector to lead the parish in 1, 2, and 3 (above) and support him however they can.
5. Model Sacrificial Giving
The final role of the vestry is to model sacrificial, tithe-based giving to the parish. The vestry should be among the most generous and financially committed members of the church. Why? Obviously, the leadership should never ask members to give beyond their own willingness to give and their own personal level of commitment. Leaders lead in every area. That makes sense. But the vestry should be strong givers because people who are sacrificial givers—tithers—have usually discovered in themselves a heart of generosity that will help create a parish-wide culture of generosity in the years to come.
My next article will summarize the role of the rector. But I want to add to this post quickly: Like all things Anglican, these ideas must be locally adapted to the custom, the temperament of the people, and the church and its traditions. Many effective leaders may disagree with these five points—or add a sixth or seventh. But this is what I have learned as I prepare for yet another meeting tonight with one of my favorite groups in the church: the vestry.
(Next article: The Role of the Rector)
This article first appeared at LeaderWorks.
Photo by Greg Sawyer for Getty Images, courtesy of Canva.
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