Boards and Committees
- Church Council
- Board of Christian Education
- Board of Deacons
- Board of Finance
- Board of Music
- Board of Personnel
- Board of Property
- Board of Social Action and Mission
- Women’s Fellowship Board
Church Council
Misison Statement: The Church Council is the lay-led body charged with overseeing the operations of the church.
Who:
- Ashley Martinage is President of the Church Council
- Sarah Gilmour is Vice President.
- Wayne Limberg, Allen Moore, Donna Moss and Jane Sessa are at-large members of the Council.
- In addition, the Chairs of all Boards (or their designees), the Officers (Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Clerk), a representative from Women’s Fellowship, and the Pastors are all members of the Council.
When: Meets Fourth Monday of every month
What We Do: The Church Council is charged with supervising the activities of the Church, visualizing the entire task of the Church, assisting the pastors in the general direction of the Church’s spiritual activities, and cooperating in the formulation of a well-rounded program.
How to Contact: You can reach the Church Council by email at: churchcouncil@rockspringucc.org
Board of Christian Education
Mission Statement: Coming Soon!
Who: Chair- Taryn Roman
When: Meets first Monday of the month at 7:30 pm
What We Do: CE volunteers will work closely with Rev. Hank Fairman to support the Children, Youth and Families ministries of Rock Spring UCC. That includes working with and supporting our volunteers who teach and provide child care, maintaining bulletin boards, planning services with Pastoral staff that include children i.e., Christmas pageant, planning and running special events such as Advent Sunday and the Easter Egg Hunt, serving as liaison to preschool, securing gifts for CYF as needed, promoting and supporting our Adult Education offerings, and all related tasks and events.
How To Contact: You can reach the Board of Christian Education by e-mail at: christianed@rockspringucc.org
For more information about Christian Education at Rock Spring click here.
Board of Deacons
Mission Statement: The Board of Deacons supports the worship and spiritual life of the congregation, extends hospitality to visitors and members, and reaches out to those who are ill, homebound, or have special needs.
Who: The Board of Deacons consists of 12 members, evenly divided between men and women, and supported by dozens of volunteers. Deacons are elected for 3-year staggered terms and must be members of Rock Spring. In addition, two members under the age of 19, one male and one female, may serve for a one-year term. Emory Hackman currently serves as chair and Will Martyn serves as Vice-Chair.
When: Generally meetings are held the third Monday of the month at 7:30 pm.
What We Do: Rock Spring’s Board of Deacons is responsible for worship, spiritual life, support of the sick & needy members/friends, outreach to newcomers, and new member orientation and welcoming into the life of the church.
How to Contact: You can reach the Board of Deacons by e-mail at: deacons@rockspringucc.org
For more information about the Board of Deacons click here.
Board of Finance
Mission Statement: The mission of the Board of Finance is to ensure the financial health of the church by fulfilling its constitutional mandate to oversee the collection and expenditure of all church funds, prepare an annual unified budget, and support an annual giving campaign.
Who: Carolyn Hart is the Chair for 2009. The board consists of 7 other members and has one vacancy. Board member Susan Peters is chair of the Giving Campaign committee for 2009. The Treasurer and Financial Secretary also always serve on the Board of Finance, by virtue of their roles.
When: Meets 3rd Monday of every month
What We Do:
The Board of Finance:
- Provides the director of the annual stewardship or giving campaign – the chair forms a committee involving at least one member from the Board of Stewardship.
- Presents an annual consolidated budget to Council, and then to the Congregation at two all-church meetings: a proposed budget is presented and endorsed at the “Budget and Mission Goals” meeting in October and the final budget is approved by the Congregation at the Annual Meeting at the start of the church year in January.
- Supervises the collection and expenditure of all church funds in the approved annual budget – this involves counting collection and other weekly income every Sunday and monitoring expenditures against the approved budget at every monthly meeting.
- Recommends budget adjustments to the Council, as necessary.
How To Contact: You can reach the Board of Finance by e-mail at: finance@rockspringucc.org
Board of Music
Mission Statement: The Music Board seeks to give Rock Spring members and friends the opportunity to express their relationship to God through music and to experience the fellowship that music can create. Our goal is to offer music programs that aid worship, provide a form of worship, and that offer inspiration to Rock Spring members and the entire community.
Who: Don Johnson serves as chair of this board.
When: Meets third Wednesday from 7:15 PM to 9 PM
What We Do: The Music Board provides guidance and support for the church’s music program and for the professional music staff. The professional music staff consists of Elizabeth Kluegel Niblock, our music director and a professional opera singer, and Ed Roberts, our organist and also a professional musician. The Organ Planning Committee was established in 2007 to research the replacement of the church’s organ.
How To Contact: You can reach the Board of Music by e-mail at: musicboard@rockspringucc.org
For more information about the Music Programs at Rock Spring please click here:
Board of Personnel
Mission Statement: The mission of the Board of Personnel is to provide policy guidance and implement procedures for Rock Spring Church to ensure that the human resource practices of the Church are legal, fair, consistent and reasonable.
Who: Dave Clarke serves as chair of this board.
When: Second Wednesdays of each month at 7:30 pm
What We Do: The Board of Personnel helps implement Human Resource policy at Rock Spring, as set forth in the Church’s Personnel Handbook and in decisions of the Church Council. Guidance from the Central Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Christ is also relied upon, as well as on-going changes in general employment policy and laws. All Church employees are free to bring personnel matters directly to the Board.
How To Contact: You can reach the Board of Personnel by email at: personnel@rockspringucc.org
Property Board
Mission Statement – The Property Board is charged with maintaining the buildings and grounds of the
church including the parsonage – including painting, cleaning, plumbing repairs, etc. We also
coordinate capital improvement projects such as driveway paving and installation of new carpeting.
Who: The Property Board has 12 members. Carol George serves as the chair of this board.
When: Property meets on the second Saturday of each month at 9:00 a.m. in the Library.
What They Do: Typically our members oversee tasks that need to be done rather than doing the tasks themselves. We
do have some hands-on members who like to tackle projects themselves such as replacing old
technology light bulbs with more energy efficient ones. The Board has room for both kinds of folks!
Property sponsors the annual Spring and Fall workdays where Board members and volunteers from the
congregation meet to spruce up the church grounds – rake, mulch, plant and whatever else needs to be
done to the property and have fun in the process. We have also tried an inside workday to clean pews
and straighten storage areas.
We like to say that service on our Board can be addictive. We have several “permamembers”
who attend meetings and handle many of our projects even though their Board term was “up” some
time ago.
How To Contact: You can reach the Board of Property by e-mail at: property@rockspringucc.org
Board of Social Action and Mission
The Board for Social Action and Mission provisionally combines the former Boards for Social Action and Stewardship. This merger was one of the outcomes of the Congregation’s decision in October 2009 to suspend some parts of the constitution in the quest to make better use of the time and talents of our members and friends.
Mission Statement: (currently under review)
Mission statements of the former Boards:
- Social Action: The mission of the Social Action Board is to assist the Church in recognizing and responding to social issues of Christian concern in the community, state, nation, and world; and encourage and act as liaison with organizations that serve the community and promote social justice.
- Stewardship: The Stewardship Board oversees the benevolence contributions of Rock Spring Church, which are used to support local and national charities. The Stewardship Board also works with the Finance Board to conduct the Church’s Annual Giving Campaign.
Who: 12 Church members, including 2010 Chair Michael Bell and Vice Chair Martha Huelsbeck.
When: Meets second Thursday of the month at 7:30 pm
What we do: SAM works to identify and respond to pressing social issues and to advise on and disburse the Congregation’s benevolence budget. It serves as a catalyst to inspire members of the Rock Spring community to offer their time, talents and treasure as extensions of their faith in the service of our wider communities.
SAM deals with financial aspects of the Congregation’s community outreach through mission. Specifically, the Board:
- works with the Board of Finance on Rock Spring’s Annual Giving Campaign;
- offers advice and provides information on Our Church’s Wider Mission;
- determines how the benevolence budget for UCC and other organizations is distributed each year; and
- manages the four special offerings Rock Spring receives each year: One Great Hour of Sharing, Strengthen the Church, Neighbors in Need, and the Christmas Fund. These special offerings fund respectively: community development projects and emergency response needs, church growth and leadership, justice and compassion ministries and support for retired ministers.
Our work focuses on direct service, gift-giving, and advocacy, and the Board is beginning to organize its other activities in five broad areas:
- National and global issues, including Special Offerings
- Interaction with organizations providing services and social justice in Northern Virginia
- Direct service and action in our local community
- Support for United Church of Christ organizations
- The church’s Annual Giving Campaign, including information and advice about Our Church’s Wider Mission
Two standing committees work under the oversight of the Board: the Eco-Justice Committee and the Open and Affirming Committee. Also, Rock Spring is exploring membership in Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE), which works to empower the disadvantaged in Northern Virginia; a core team is working with the Board.
For more information about the benevolences the church supports please click the following link Benevolence Book.
For more information about Social Action and Mission activities at Rock Spring please click here
How To Contact: You can reach the Board of Social Action and Mission by e-mail at: socialactionandmission@rockspringucc.org
Women’s Fellowship Board
Mission Statement: This active group of women of all ages offers spiritual growth, mission, service and fellowship. Women’s Fellowship (WF) represents all women who are members and friends of Rock Spring Church. This group engages in activities and projects that offer opportunities for spiritual growth, community service, fellowship and fun.
Who: A committee of five to seven women meets monthly to plan activities and projects. The Women’s Fellowship board does not elect a chair, but one member represents the committee on the Church Council and acts as primary point of contact. Peggy Greenwood serves as the communications liaision.
When:The WF board typically meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month, at 7:30 pm. There are several sub-committees that met regularly as well throughout the year, such as the Women’s Spirituality group.
What We Do: Women’s Fellowship strives to create programs and activities that allow women of all ages and stages of life to share in fellowship. Most often these programs also serve to support the church and the greater community.
How To Contact: You can reach Women’s Fellowship by e-mail at: WF@rockspringucc.org.
For More information about the Women’s Fellowship at Rock Spring please click here:
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