PURPOSE

Seymour Church gives glory to God by following the Father’s call to become mature through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Shepherd Board exists to advance this purpose of Seymour Church by providing pastoral care to the congregation and community.

MEMBERSHIP

Seven (7) shepherd elders and seven (7) shepherd deacons, together with the Pastor of Congregational Life & Outreach, will serve on the Shepherd Board. The elders and deacons will be selected through the approved nomination process and serve a three-year term.

The Pastor of Congregational Life & Outreach will serve as the facilitator of the Shepherd Board.
The elders and deacons on the Shepherd Board may appoint gifted members of the congregation to join them on the board as part of the care team. Each zone can be assigned up to four (4) care providers from the congregation.
The congregational members of the Shepherd Board will serve for three-year renewable terms.
Each shepherd elder –assisted by a shepherd deacon and appointed care providers — will be responsible for the pastoral care of one zone.
Seven (7) zones will be established for the pastoral care of the congregation.

MEETINGS

The Shepherd Board will ordinarily meet on the second Monday in the months of January, March, May, July, September, and November. The meetings will begin at 7 PM and run concurrently with the meeting of the Administrative Board.

Meetings of the Shepherd Board will be divided into two parts. The first half of the meeting (from 7:00 to 8:00 PM) will be spent with instruction in and encouragement of pastoral care skills. The Pastor of Congregational Life & Outreach will (with the assistance of others at his discretion) facilitate the instruction. The second half of the meeting (from 8:00 to 9:00 PM) will be spent in small group zone discussions. The zone meetings will be led by the shepherd elder. The elder will receive visitation reports and make visitation assignments to the deacon and care providers on the zone team.

ACCOUNTABILITY

The Shepherd Board is directly accountable to the Council of Seymour Church to which it will provide an oral report through the Pastor of Congregational Life & Outreach.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The responsibilities of the Shepherd Board include the following:

  • Pray for the congregation and community of Seymour Church.
  • Conduct its work according to the Church Order of the Christian Reformed Church.
  • Provide individual and family visitations.
  • Provide pastoral care to the congregation and community in the seven (7) zones.
  • Report and coordinate any elder concern to the Elder Board.
  • Report and coordinate any deacon concern to the Deacon Board.
  • Facilitate the assimilation of new members in the congregation.