The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) has launched a new partnership with a ministry called The Church Office to help independent churches with policies and procedures to serve their work and ministry.
In November, the first tranche of essential document templates were released on the FIEC website, and this will gradually be developed in the months to come to create a whole suite of resources for churches to make use of. In addition, FIEC has recruited a new member of staff to serve affiliated churches by helping them to develop the template policies to serve the needs of a particular church.
This new area of work has been launched in response to the needs of churches who are increasingly needing support in the increasingly complex area of charity governance. The churches that belong to FIEC are all independent charities and therefore need to ensure these important documents are fit for purpose.
The Church Office is a ministry that has been established by Christchurch Newport - an Independent church in South Wales - and is headed up by Gavin Smith who is the Church Manager there. Commenting on the new partnership with FIEC he said:
'The primary aim of The Church Office is to support leadership and ministry work that happens behind the scenes to allow the gospel to go forth. We have a real heart in particular for pastors who are running their own church offices and pastoring their flock at the same time. Partnering with FIEC means that we can assist more pastors in this situation as well as reach those in administration and ops.'
Becky Thomas is the new member of staff who will serve churches in this vital area of charity governance. She is seconded to FIEC from Beeston Free Church in Nottingham where she is the Operations Manager. Commenting on her new role as Church Governance Advisor she added:
'Each church will have different needs, but I believe good governance and administration should always enable gospel work to flourish and see more people reached with the good news of Jesus. I am really thrilled to be able to serve FIEC churches in supporting this.
'As well as working to provide a bank of resources, I am really looking forward to getting alongside individual churches who would value the opportunity to review their governance structures or policies. I can also help if you have no idea where to start, talking through what will serve the work of the gospel well in your context.'
The first suite of resources released by FIEC as part of this project can be found at fiec.org.uk/church-policies.
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