Governance

You may think of the church in terms of worship and Sunday morning. However, behind the scenes, All Saints’ is a medium-sized non-profit with an annual budget around $1 million dollars. We have a governance structure that is particular to our own parish needs and also organized according to the canons of the Episcopal Church. We need church members to serve in many roles of leadership in order to keep our parish functioning effectively and faithfully.

Info for the 2023 Annual Meeting

All Saints’ Episcopal Church’s annual meeting took place on Sunday, February 12, 2023. At this meeting, the parish voted to revise All Saints’ bylaws, new vestry members were elected, and we received our Annual meeting reports, including our financial reports. Elected to the vestry were Rob Cramer, Jody Deveney, and Leonora Laryea.
Summary of Changes to the All Saints’ Bylaws
All Saints’ Bylaws

The leadership of the local church is shared between the rector (senior clergy person) and the elected vestry members (lay people) of All Saints’. At our 2023 Annual Meeting, the congregation approved a revision to All Saints’ bylaws. Until our 2024 Annual Meeting, All Saints’ will have a vestry of 10 persons. After that meeting, the vestry will have 9 members, 3 classes of 3 people who serve for 3 year terms. New members of the vestry are elected at the annual meeting. At the first vestry meeting following the Annual Meeting, the rector nominates 4 people to serve as Senior Warden, Junior Warden, Treasurer, and Registrar (the Officers of the church, who together with the clergy make up the executive committee). The officers are not voting members of the vestry unless they have also been elected to serve on vestry.

If you want to know more about the functions of church governance, you can read the by-laws here.

The minutes of the vestry are public documents, available to anyone who would like to know the content of a vestry meeting. The meetings themselves are also open to the community of the church, unless for reason of confidential content, the vestry chooses to meet in closed session. The vestry meets every fourth Tuesday of the month at 7pm.

The rector is responsible for the worship and spiritual life of the church. The vestry is responsible for the buildings, grounds, and finances of the church. Together, the rector and vestry discern the mission of the church with the help of the Holy Spirit.

The vestry has several standing committees that make recommendations to the vestry for specific areas of oversight that address the concrete resources of our parish.

Governance & Vestry at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Frederick, MD

The Budget and Finance Committee – Financial Resources

The Buildings and Grounds Committee – Property Resources

The Personnel Committee – Staff Resources

All Saints’ is part of the Diocese of Maryland. Each diocese of the Episcopal Church is overseen by a bishop and the staff of the diocese. To learn more about the diocese visit www.episcopalmaryland.com.

The Episcopal Church is a collection of dioceses around the globe that meets in convention every three years. Learn more about the governance of the entire Episcopal Church.

The Vestry

The vestry is part of the administrative entity in an Episcopal parish, composed of the rector and a group of elected parishioners,
which carries out the affairs of the parish.

All Saints’ vestry has established the following standing committees: Budget and Finance, Communications, Executive, Investment, Parish Council, Personnel, Rector’s Development Team, Stewardship, and Strategic Planning.

2023 Minutes