Each year, our Committee of Nominations and Leadership Development begin their work to consider nominations for the coming year. To do all of the work of Orange UMC, it requires several committees and teams comprised of many volunteers to help the church continue to strive towards a vision of helping people find their place in God's story.

Are you ready to jump in and find your place?

Church Council

The Church Council is a group of appointed church members whose purpose is two-fold. The first purpose is to be big picture thinkers. They plan, evaluate, and implement the ministries of the church to ensure that it is living out its mission and vision. It also provides the administrative work necessary for the maintenance and operation of the church. The Church Council is instituted by the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, which establishes foundational rules, structure, and processes throughout the denomination. Here is what is what the Discipline says about Church Council work:

251. Purpose: The church council shall provide for planning and implementing a program of nurture, outreach, witness and resources in the local church. It shall also provide for the administration of its organization and temporal life. It shall envision, plan, implement and annually evaluate the mission and ministry of the church. The church council shall be amenable to and function as the administrative agency of the charge conference.

The Church Council is made up of Committee and Team Chairs or representatives, in addition to representatives of different ministries, as well as 6 at-large members of the congregation. Church Council typically meets once a month on a Sunday evening, and the meetings typically last between 1 to 1.5 hours.

Committees and Teams

Committees and Teams are sub-groups of the Church Council. The Book of Discipline requires that each church has a Finance Committee, Staff-Parish Relations Committee, and Board of Trustees. Additional Committees and Teams may be created or dissolved by the Council. In Committees, all members are nominated to serve three-year terms. In Teams, chairs are nominated but members are not. Each Committee Chair or Team Chair is a voting member of Council.

Staff-Parish Relations Committee- This committee is the intermediary between the staff and the church members to make sure that the relationship between the church members and the paid staff is a healthy one. They take on functions such as filling new positions as needed and making recommendations regarding staff compensation. SPRC consists of 9 members, each of whom are serving a 3-year term. On a normal schedule, SPRC typically will meet once a month, with some meetings being held on Zoom and in-person.

Finance Committee- The Finance Committee provides financial guidance and support that enables the church to live out its vision and mission. They help make sure that all the ministries of the church have the financial resources they need. Per the Book of Discipline, the Finance Committee consists of the Finance Committee Chair, Vice-Chair, Church Treasurer, Financial Secretary, SPRC Chair, Trustees Chair, Church Council Chair, Lay Leader, Lay Delegate to Annual Conference, along with 7 additional at-large members. Finance Committee has been meeting once a month for about an hour, and their meetings have primarily been held via Zoom.

Trustees- The Trustees are the stewards of all church property. They help maintain, fix, and purchase the land, building, and equipment of the church. This includes everything from mulching parking lot islands, to keeping the vans maintained, to purchasing sound boards, to making sure HVAC filters are replaced. In addition, they make decisions regarding the use of our campus and facilities. The Trustees are comprised of 9 members who are all serving 3 year terms. The Trustees have been meeting monthly on the 2nd Thursday of each month, and these meetings are held in the Heritage Hut from 6:30PM-8:00PM.

Nominations and Leadership Development Committee – Nominations and Leadership Development Committee are responsible for providing a list of nominations for people to serve in the coming year. The work of Nominations and Leadership Development to consider who might be best to serve on the various committees, teams, and in leadership positions. This committee typically begins their work during the summer with a series of meetings determining what vacancies will need to be filled, and then beginning to come up with a list of potential nominations. Nominations and Leadership Development Committee consists of 9 members who are all serving 3-year terms.

Welcoming Team- The Welcoming Team is in charge of making sure that every person who walks through the doors of our church is treated as family. Welcome Team volunteers arrive a few minutes early for each service to get ready to greet everyone who comes to worship. They set up the welcome table and have name tags available so that we can greet one another by name, and they offer a free gift to first time visitors. Weekly, a team of 2 Welcome Team volunteers are needed for each worship service. One of the ways that we welcome folks to our Pathways service is through providing coffee and hot water for tea, and we need 1-2 additional volunteers each week to arrive a little early prior to Pathways to help set up and prepare the coffee.

Nurturing Team- The Nurturing Team makes sure that once someone becomes a part of our family, they know it. They ensure that no one falls through the cracks and everyone receives the love, support, and encouragement that they need from their church family. Nurture Team volunteers send cards to church members who have been ill or experiencing difficulties, and they set up Care Calendars for folks such as families with newborns, or individuals who are recuperating from sickness or procedures. The Nurture Team meets monthly on the 3rd Sunday of the month at 4:00PM.

Outreach Team- The Outreach Team focuses on loving the people outside of the OUMC family. This team is responsible for coordinating our outreach efforts, such as blood drives with the American Red Cross, food distributions with PORCH of Hillsborough, putting together the Share the Love bags that we distribute within the community, and our partnership with Reality Ministries. Each one of these outreach efforts requires several volunteers, so we are always looking for additional people to serve as God’s hands and feet in our community.  

Tech Team
Each Sunday, a team of staff and volunteers ensure that worship services a great experience for everyone. We are looking for more volunteers who our Tech Director (Ryan Lutz) will help train to serve in the following roles:

Worship Slides: A volunteer will advance the slides with the lyrics of the songs/hymns as they are sung. The volunteer receives guidance and direction from the Tech Director so that the lyrics, scriptures, and graphics can be shown on the screens for worship.

Sound: A volunteer is given guidance regarding how to mix the sound for those worshiping in person and online. In addition, they will mute microphones at appropriate time and pay attention to which microphones need to be on.

Camera Operation: We utilize 2 cameras at each service for our livestream broadcast. Most of the time, these cameras do not require much attention, however, occasionally we need to move the camera to get interesting shots for the broadcast.
You do not have to be an expert to help in these roles, all that is needed is a willingness to learn!