The Work of the MET

You may recall that the bylaws we adopted April 26, 2015 formalized the operation of the MET, the Ministry Executive Team.  While the Board of Trustees is primarily responsible for overseeing the governance of the congregation, the MET is primarily responsible for overseeing the ministry operations of the congregation.  In practice this means that the Board works on things like establishing policy, assessing our efforts to practice our mission and vision, and overseeing the financial health of the congregation while the MET works on matters that relate to our day-to-day practice of our ministry.  This includes things like ensuring that repairs to the building and grounds are made in a timely fashion, applying policies the Board has established in various areas of church life, reviewing rental contracts, administering the Lay Leadership Development Fund, and overseeing the process of hiring and terminating staff (though with our fantastic staff we can’t imagine the latter!).  Whereas the Board’s work is to stand on the balcony of church life as often as possible, the work of the MET is to be down helping make sure everything goes smoothly on the dance floor.

The MET is made up of the Minister, the Congregational Administrator, the Treasurer and a former Moderator of the Board.

The MET does its work in cooperation and collaboration with five Coordinators.  The following Coordinators oversee particular ministries in congregational life:

TBD — Personnel Coordinator

TBD — UU, Interfaith, and Community Connections Coordinator

TBD —  Volunteer Coordinator

TBD – Buildings and Grounds Coordinator

Vivien Sandlund – Social Justice Coordinator

You can learn more about our Ministry Coordinators and their roles on our website at https://kentuu.org/ministry/ministry-coordinators/

In addition to our work with the Ministry Coordinators, the MET also works with Committees on occasion.  For example, the MET makes the first pass at drafting a budget for the Finance Committee’s annual work of preparing a budget to send to the Board.  The job of the MET and the Finance Committee is to thoughtfully craft a budget that reflects our values.  In order to do this work, the MET and the Finance Committee look closely at Committee requests, historical spending and revenue patterns, and fair compensation recommendations from our Personnel Coordinator.  The Board reviews the budget drafted by the MET and Finance Committee with eyes on both mission and long-term financial health.  The Board may make modifications to the budget in light of their vantage point; the the Board-adopted budget is then presented  to the congregation at our Annual Meeting.  And, of course, the congregation has the final say in adopting (or not) that budget for the next church year.  This one example is a good window into the practice of cooperation and collaboration we do within our defined roles.

In addition to these roles, the MET is available to respond to individual concerns.   Lay leaders and staff are the first place to go with questions or feedback, but if the appropriate leader of any particular ministry area can’t answer a question, chances are good the MET will be able to help.  We meet formally monthly and are in regular contact throughout the month as situations arise that require our attention.  The MET takes formal minutes of its meetings and reports verbally to the Board at the monthly Board meetings.    If you have any questions or comments about our work, please don’t hesitate to contact us.