St. Luke’s Long Range Planning Committee has been at work seeking God’s preferred future for St. Luke’s ministry.  The committee has established eight initiatives as part of our vision for the next five years.  By the end of 2023, St Luke’s will:

  • Overhaul systems for hospitality, engagement, and leadership development
  • Expand strategic communications for traditional worship and all of St. Luke’s ministries
  • Enlarge St. Luke’s outreach ministry, including our work in the Gethsemane parish
  • Grow the Story Houston as an integral part of St. Luke’s mission
  • Strengthen and grow our Encounter worship community
  • Build a strong financial foundation for growing ministries
  • Improve technology, including a new church management system
  • Restructure our governance for more doing and less reporting

Specific strategies are being developed for each of these initiatives, along with objectives and ministry owners.  The plan will be presented at a church conference on June 25 at 6:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall.  All are welcome!  If you have questions or comments, please contact committee co-chairs Kristin Tillman ktillman@greenwoodking.com or Nick Erwin nicklerwin@gmail.com.

New Governance Structure Proposed

As part of the plan for the next five years, the Structure sub-committee of the Long Range is proposing a new governance structure for St. Luke’s.  The purpose of the change is to move more people into ministries of “doing” on teams, and fewer people on committees, whose primary function is simply oversight.  The specific recommendations are that St. Luke’s:

  • Replace our current Board of Stewards with two all church conferences each year, for the purpose of communications.
  • Create a new Church Council with 17 members, serving the same function as our current Executive Committee.
  • Create an Executive Committee of seven officers of the Church Council.
  • Reduce standing committees to 4- Lay Leadership, Human Resources, Finance & Operations and Advancement; all have 9 members
  • Merge Audit Committee into Finance & Operations; merge Executive Nominating into Lay Leadership
  • Replace Discipleship, Worship and Outreach Commissions with enhanced participation in ministry teams
  • Involve representatives from all worship communities in governance bodies.

The committee believes that these changes, consistent with United Methodist Book of Discipline, along with specific charters for each of our committees, will make volunteering at St. Luke’s far more productive, and increase volunteer participation across the whole life of the church.  If you would like to talk more about this new structure, please contact structure subcommittee chair Vicki Keiser vkeiser@swbell.net.