Overview of Governance and Documentation Levels

Our church operates with a multi-layered governance system that ensures clarity, accountability, and consistency in how our community is organized and managed. This system reflects the various levels of decision-making and responsibility within the church, providing a structured yet flexible framework for how we operate. Each layer plays a distinct role in guiding our actions and aligning them with our shared values and mission. Below is an overview of the key layers within our governance system:

Bylaws

Purpose: The Bylaws are the foundational governing documents of our church. They establish the core principles and structures that define how our community is organized and how it operates.

Authority: The Bylaws are set and can only be amended by a vote of the entire congregation, ensuring that the most fundamental rules and principles are reflective of the collective will of the community.

Policy

Purpose: Board policies define the mission-driven boundaries and priorities within which the church operates. Rooted in policy based governance as directed by Foothills bylaws, these policies guide both the Ministry and the Board by articulating:

Vision/Ends: The outcomes the church exists to achieve—what difference we seek to make, for whom, and at what cost.
Executive Directions: Requirements for the execution of ministry
Executive Limitations: Boundaries around the methods and means that staff may not use in pursuit of those Ends.
Board Process: How the Board governs itself to act with integrity, accountability, and vision.

These policies live in the Board of Trustees Policy Book and form the operational between the Board and the Executive Team.

Authority: Policies are established by the Board of Trustees through a voting process, reflecting the board's role in providing strategic oversight and ensuring that the church operates in a manner consistent with its mission and values.

Organizational Guidance

Authority: Executive Team , or designated staff lead

Purpose: Organizational Guidance provides ministry-wide frameworks that interpret and operationalize board-level policy. More flexible than policy and more strategic than procedures, these documents offer consistent direction for how staff and ministries live out policies across varied contexts.

They answer:

What does this policy mean in practice? Ie. How is the executive team interpreting the board policy?
How do we stay aligned as we adapt and evolve?

Standard Operating Procedures

Purpose: Procedures are practical, step-by-step instructions that help staff to enact the Organizational Guidance and daily operations. They are designed to ensure that specific tasks and processes are carried out effectively and consistently across the church.
Authority: Developed and maintained by staff or designated teams.

How To

Purpose: How To guides are practical, congregant-facing step-by-step instructions to enacting specific tasks and actions from the perspective of someone outside the system. These documents are written in an accessible manner for the audience that is expected to use them.
Authority: Developed and maintained by staff or designated teams, these guides provide the necessary detail to support the procedures, ensuring that actions are completed in alignment with church policies and values.

Shelves	Books
1. Governance	Bylaws Board Policy Board Procedure Board Handbook Governance Archive
2. Organizational Guidance	Personnel / Employee Financial Membership Groups & Teams Care & Support Children and Youth Database and Records Building and Facilities Church Events Communication Legal
3. Standard Operating Procedures	Worship Rites of Passage Metrics Event Reservations and Promotion Caring Church Center Shared Ministry Covenanting
4. How To's	Using Foothills Technology
Specific Use Case Shelves (Ie. Group Leaders)