Committees

Worship Committee

Focus: Internal topics that affect the spiritual life of the Church.

Committee Chair: Rev Will Green (contact information)

Committee Activities:

  • Worship service design

  • Sanctuary décor

  • Youth and Adult Education

  • Music (general)

  • Sunday Fellowship organization

  • Internal communications (Sunday bulletins and Pastor communications)

  • Welcoming and Membership Services

  • Lay Ministry, Internal

Click to go to Worship Committee minutes

Bridge Committee

Focus: Focuses on nurturing and growing external relationships, those that impact the Peaks Island community and beyond. Includes the Social Justice Task Force.

Temporary Contact: Anne Coughlin (contact information)

Some Examples of Our Work:

The Social Justice Task Force, which is part of the Bridge Committee, organizes and supports social justice initiatives for New Brackett Church and works with other social action groups outside the church community. The areas of focus are determined by members of the Bridge Committee and others. These have included

  • Gun safety

  • Reproductive Justice

  • Wabanaki Sovereignty

  • Immigrant Justice

All are welcome to attend NBC SJTF meetings. We meet via in conjunction with the Bridge Committee in person (with Zoom option) on the third Wednesday of the month at 4 pm. Contact Anne Coughlin at annefcoughlin@gmail.com or 719-964-1160 for more information.

Social Justice Task Force

Committee Focus:  The Finance Committee is responsible for reviewing and managing the financial health of the Church, including bringing important issues and decisions to the Board and to the Assembly. 

Committee Chair:  Patty Zimmerman - geenzim@gmail.com or call 207-712-1712
Treasurer: Nate Cooper - treasurer@newbrackettchurch.org or call 203-313-3858

Committee Activities:

  • Assisting Treasurer in all financial responsibilities, as needed

  • Preparing budget for review and ratification by the Church Assembly

  • Coordinating monetary collection from multiple sources, and managing inputs/outputs of any associated online donation/pledge programs

  • Maintaining accurate accounting of all Church funds, and managing inputs/outputs of any associated online or stand-alone accounting programs

  • Ensuring payroll is accurate and timely, and managing inputs/outputs of any associated online payroll system

  • Providing direction and oversight of investment funds

  • Organizing annual giving and capital campaigns

Click to go to Finance Committee minutes

Finance Committee

Building and Grounds Committee

Focuses on the general operational and financial aspects of The Church

Committee Chair: Rob Bunton, robertcbunton@gmail.com or call 207-776-1593 (cell)

Committee Activities: 

  • Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

  • Accounting and Finance

  • Oversight of Investment Funds

  • Annual Giving Campaign, Capital Campaigns

  • Monetary Collection

Click to go to Building and Grounds Committee minutes

Right Relations Team

Per our covenant, we strive to, “ honor the divine in each of us, tend honestly and kindly to differences and tensions, and be accountable for collective care”.

One of the ways that New Brackett Church is honoring our covenant is to develop a Right Relations Team to help facilitate sensitive or difficult conversations between congregants and/or with members of church leadership.

To do this we seek to move from a culture of high support and low accountability, i.e., a permissive culture, to one of high support and high accountability.

A ‘High Support - High Accountability’ culture strives to

• Encourage Safety and Thriving of Members
• Set clear expectations of appropriate boundaries and behaviors
• Encourage the practice of deep listening and compassionate communication
• Offer to restore community and repair relationships when harm has occurred (when possible).
• Offer everyone a chance to tell their story, to learn from their mistakes, and to have a voice in finding a way forward.
• Create a community that continues to support both the one who has experienced harm and the one who has caused harm as they do the work of restoring right relationship.

Right Relations Teams are lay leaders entrusted to help the congregation practice faithful communication and creative conflict based on values of mutuality and consent. The NBC Right Relations Team is still new and in its own training and growth process, however longer term goals of the team include:

• Tending to the covenant by articulating and modeling its practice
• Providing training and other learning opportunities around the tensions needed for creativity in congregations
• Modeling and coaching communication processes that promote mutuality and consent (i.e. small group ministry, discernment circles)
• Modeling and coaching creative conflict
• In low level conflict, creating brave spaces where people can move from defensiveness toward resolution
• When conflict does become more heated, offering opportunities for deep listening and restorative processes
• Creating low-anxiety/high-learning experiences for the congregation around conflict and covenant

New Brackett Church policies and practices supporting Right Relations:

Buck Benedict - 207-766-2781
Betsey Remage-Healey, 207-622-2084
Tonya Guyton-Thompson, 207-361-7069
Stephanie Birdsall, 907-350-1234