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Mission Area Conference: Governance, Roles and Responsibilities

Mission Area Conference: Governance, Roles and Responsibilities. O. Llyr Williams LLB LLM Solicitor and Director, Swayne Johnson Solicitors and Diocesan Registrar Head of Commercial, Charity and Ecclesiastical Department Tracey White Funding Officer, Diocese of Saint Asaph.

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Mission Area Conference: Governance, Roles and Responsibilities

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  1. Mission Area Conference: Governance, Roles and Responsibilities O. Llyr Williams LLB LLM Solicitor and Director, Swayne Johnson Solicitors and Diocesan Registrar Head of Commercial, Charity and Ecclesiastical Department Tracey White Funding Officer, Diocese of Saint Asaph

  2. Legal Definitions • The property within the Mission Area, together with the money and other assets are held by the Mission Area Conference ON TRUST for the Mission Area • This means that the members of the Mission Area Conference are TRUSTEES • The Mission Area Conference can delegate its powers (but not its responsibilities) to sub-committees

  3. The Mission Area Conference is a charitable organisation, whether registered as a charity in its own right or not • Exempt charity unless income is over £100,000 pa • Charitable organisations must comply with Charity Law, the most important being the Charities Act 2011, • Must also comply with their own governing documents, being the Constitution of the Church in Wales and the Diocesan Decree which promulgates the Mission Area

  4. The Mission Area Conference has the Constitutional responsibilities for both Deanery Conference and Parochial Church Councils • If there are times when the requirements appear to contradict each other, then the more stringent requirements must be followed

  5. Charity Law Requirements • Charities must be established for public benefit - the advancement of religion is a recognised public benefit • Charities can benefit from the Gift Aid Scheme • The watchdog is the Charity Commission, which is charged with ensuring that charities comply with their governing documents, the law, and any other rules (for example, specific legacies or trusts) • It has been agreed that assets and liabilities currently belonging to each former parish will be restricted for use by the churches and congregations of those former parishes until the Mission Area Conference agrees otherwise

  6. Hallmarks of an Effective Charity • Clarity about purpose and direction • A strong trustee body • Fit for purpose • Learning and improving • Financially sound and prudent • Accountable and transparent

  7. What is the Mission Area Conference there for? • The promotion of the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical, in the Mission Area • Assessing the needs of the Mission Area in respect of finance, personnel and property and buildings • Strategic planning for worship and pastoral care in the Mission Area • Consideration and discussion of matters concerning the Church in Wales or otherwise of religious or public interest

  8. Managing and raising Mission Area finances • Preparation of the Mission Area budget which shall include church expenses, church contributions to the Diocesan Share and home/overseas mission, and arrangements for raising the money needed • Annual review of clergy expenses • Production of necessary annual reports and accounts

  9. Mission Area Powers and Duties • Every Mission Area MUST have a Mission Area Conference which must meet at least four times a year • It is a DUTY of the Shared Ministry Team and MAC to consult together and co-operate in all matters of concern and importance to the Mission Area • The MAC is responsible for deciding how it will operate, if the information is not laid out in the Constitution of the Church in Wales • MAC may appoint sub-committees (including finance, property and buildings, and individual church committees) as deemed appropriate. MAC decides which powers to delegate and, unless pre-authorised, all decisions of these sub-committees must be ratified by the MAC which retains overall responsibility.

  10. Implementation of provisions by Governing Body, Representative Body or Diocesan Conferences • To discharge duties placed upon it by any Constitutional Regulations • Communication with the Diocesan Conference on matters as appropriate • Advising on any matter that is properly referred to the MAC • In the exercise of its functions the MAC shall take into consideration and expression of opinion by any properly constituted church meeting • The MAC is the normal channel of communication between parishioners and the Bishop

  11. MAC must furnish the Annual Vestry Meeting with annual and financial reports • The consent of the MAC is required for the establishment of a Local Ecumenical Project • The MAC is to receive the quinquennial report resulting from inspection of churches within the Mission Area • The MAC is responsible to the RB for the proper care, maintenance, upkeep and conservation of all churchyards in the Mission Area • Responsibility for preparation of procedures for ensuring safety of children and vulnerable adults • Employment policies. If MAC is responsible for employing staff - administrator, youth worker, organist or verger - the MAC must adhere to employment law

  12. Duty of prudence (Charity Law requirements) • Ensure that the charity is well run and will remain solvent • Use funds and assets reasonably • Avoid activities that might place charity’s funds, assets or reputation at undue risk • Take special care when investing the funds of the charity (or borrowing funds for the charity to use)

  13. Church Committees • Each church within the Mission Area may have a church committee • The church committee shall hold a congregational meeting before the Annual Vestry Meeting of the Mission Area to elect members of the church committee, the church committee being responsible to the Mission Area Conference

  14. Church Committees • At the congregational meeting, nominations shall be obtained for a Mission Area Conference representative and a substitute (the number of representatives for each church to be confirmed by the Mission Area to ensure adequate and equal representation from each church whilst ensuring the total does not exceed 25 elected members of the Mission Area Conference), sub-wardens (one nominated by the church committee and one nominated by the priest with special responsibility for the church), sidespersons, a representative to the Diocesan Conference, and any other position recommended by the Mission Area Conference for ratification at the Mission Area Annual Vestry Meeting • The sub-wardens elected for each church, and the Mission Area Conference representative shall be ex-officio members of the church committee.

  15. Composition of the MAC • Three classes of membership • Ex-officio members as set out in Church in Wales Constitution • Elected members (voted on) • Co-opted members (invited on)

  16. Ex-officio Members • Clergy (unless otherwise agreed between the Mission Area Conference and the potential ex-officio members) • Any full-time stipendiary lay workers • Mission Area Wardens

  17. Elected Members • Such number of lay qualified electors from each church within the Mission Area as elected at the Church Congregational meeting - church committee should nominate as many representatives as necessary (including supplementary list, if appropriate) • Number of elected members cannot exceed 25 • Number of elected members is to be fixed at the Annual Vestry Meeting of the MAC every year

  18. Co-opted Members • The Secretary and Treasurer, if not already either ex-officio or lay members • Such number (not exceeding seven) of lay members or clerics as MAC may determine • Such licensed readers (if any) as the MAC may determine • NO retired clerics are eligible to be co-opted

  19. Composition of the MAC - General • The number of clerical members shall not exceed the number of lay members • Every lay member of the Council shall be on the Electoral Roll of the churchand over 18 years old - this is a Charity Law age limit - although other persons may be invited to attend and speak at meetings • Before assuming office, each lay member shall sign a declaration in prescribed form in a book kept by the Secretary of the MAC for that purpose

  20. Chair of the MAC • The Chair will lead meetings and may be seen as the “ceremonial head” of the MAC, representing the MAC at functions and other meetings • It is encouraged that the Lay Co-Chair shall preside over Mission Area Conference meetings • Presiding officer has a casting vote in the event of an equality of votes

  21. MAC Secretary’s Duties • The MAC shall appoint a secretary, who will act as the MAC secretary and the secretary of the Annual Vestry Meetings. It may appoint a deputy secretary • In the event of both the secretary and deputy secretary being absent from a meeting, the meeting shall appoint another member as secretary of that meeting • The secretary shall bring any correspondence relating to MAC business to the MAC meeting for discussion and/or action • The secretary shall send names and addresses of Mission Area Wardens and individual church sub-wardens to the Archdeacon

  22. Treasurer to the MAC • The MAC shall annually appoint a treasurer (and a deputy treasurer) to administer the MAC finances • The Mission Area Treasurer may act as the chair of the Finance Sub-Committee, and is it encouraged that the other members of the Finance Sub-Committee should be the treasurers appointed by the individual church committees • A copy of the accounts of the churches shall be delivered to the MAC to allow the MAC to consolidate the same for display near the principal door of the churches and every other building in the MA used for public worship and belonging to the Church in Wales for a period including the two Sundays immediately preceding the day of the Annual Vestry Meeting

  23. Other Roles on the MAC • The MAC may wish to appoint to some/all of the following roles • MA Safeguarding Officer • MA Gift Aid Secretary (MAGAS) • MA Administrator • MA Training Co-ordinator • MA Information Officer

  24. Financial Responsibilities of MAC The Diocesan Share • The Diocesan Share will be allocated to each Mission Area. The Mission Area Conference will normally delegate the negotiation of the Share allocation to the Finance Sub-Committee to agree how the share is allocated between churches. The rebate will only be awarded if the Mission Area share is paid IN FULL • The Diocesan Fund, which is funded by way of the Diocesan Share, enables some redistribution of wealth between Mission Areas in the Diocese • Loans and grants may be made out of the Fund for projects in particular Mission Areas or other worthy causes • DBF, with Bishop’s approval, may place on a defaulters’ list ‘a Mission Area which culpably neglects to meet its financial obligations’ • Before being put on list, DBF must give MAC of such Mission Area ‘full opportunity of stating the case for the Mission Area’

  25. The Electoral Roll • MAC is responsible for the management of the Electoral Roll in the Mission Area • Recommended that an Electoral Roll Committee or Electoral Roll Officer is appointed to carry out revisions and report to the MAC • Also recommended that each church committee should be responsible for collating its own Electoral Roll and send up to MAC for collating (by church) to form the Mission Area Electoral Roll • Electoral Roll must be revised annually and renewed every five years • Rules on entry, removal, revision, renewing, appeals, and viewing have not changed

  26. Trustees’ Responsibilities • Trustees have, and must accept, ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of a charity, and ensuring that it is solvent, well-run, and delivering the charitable outcomes for which it has been set up and this is a shared/collective responsibility that cannot be passed to one or two members • Some of the functions of the trustees may be delegated, subject to standing orders (rules and regulations), but overall responsibilities cannot be delegated

  27. Trustees must be ‘disinterested’ and are responsible for safeguarding the public benefit • Funds should only be used for the furtherance of charity’s objectives • Inept or imprudent trustees can be personally liable for losses • MAC members may find themselves personally liable for any debt arising under any contractual obligation that they have agreed to if the Mission Area finances cannot cover that debt • Easier to ensure that the Mission Area funds are sufficient before any contract is concluded, and money set aside for special projects • No liability unless ‘recklessly negligent’

  28. Other considerations • Collaboration - can you work with other MACs in order to make better use of resources or avoid duplication? • Environmental responsibility - have regard for the environmental impact of the charity’s activities • Strategy and risk - responsible for setting the charity’s strategic aims, objectives and direction, and to identify any potential risks that may cause problems

  29. General closing thoughts • Common sense approach • If in doubt, ask - you are not alone. There is plenty of support available from the team at the Diocesan Centre, your friendly Diocesan Registrar (!!) or other experts • Have fun - being on the MAC is a privilege and, as such, should be enjoyable. Do what is necessary to support and help your churches, the Mission Area, the wider community, the Shared Ministry Team and your fellow parishioners

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