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The Staff Parish Relations Team at The Rock United Methodist Church is responsible for helping the church relate to the pastor, for helping the pastor relate to the church, and for providing encouragement and help to the staff.

If you would like to contact the Staff Parish Relations committee you may e-mail us at: therockumc@austin.rr.com. Please include "Staff Parish Relations" in the "for" line.

Below is our policy for pastoral leave and holidays for the staff:

Pastoral and Holiday Policies

December, 2006

The purpose of this policy is to set standards for vacation, continuing education and participation in conference activities for our pastor. These policies are compatible with the suggested policies in the policy manual for the Southwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Where there are differences in policy they are noted.

Pastor’s Benevolence Fund

The Pastor’s Benevolence Fund is a dedicated account that is used at the direction of the Pastor. The purpose of the fund is to provide support for those in need. It may be used (for example) to help with household bills, to help with medications, to provide support to schools or to provide scholarships for church members or the community. It may not be used to directly benefit the pastor or staff of The Rock United Methodist Church. Nor may it be used for anything that would be considered a normal operating expense of the church. Periodically these distributions (with the names redacted) will be audited by the Staff Parish Relations Committee.

Pastor’s Vacation

We recommend that the pastor take the following vacation time each year (all weeks include Sundays):

0-5 years of service in ministry – Two Weeks 6-12 years of service in ministry – Three Weeks 13+ years of service in ministry – Four Weeks

This is slightly more generous than the SWTX Annual Conference Policy which calls for a minimum recommended vacation of Two Weeks for 0-8 years of service, Three Weeks for 9-12 years of service and Four Weeks for 13+ years of service.

Pastor’s Continuing Education

We take seriously the importance of continuing education, and to be in compliance with the recommendations of the General Conference on Continuing education (see Paragraph 248 of the 2000 Book of Discipline, reprinted below):

“Continuing Formation and Spiritual Growth – 1. Clergy shall continue their formation and spiritual growth for servant ministry and servant leadership throughout their careers, including carefully developed personal programs of study augmented periodically by involvement in organized educational and spiritual growth activities.”

For that reason we recommend that the pastor take one week of continuing education each year. The pastor should work with the SPR committee to plan for continuing education and the SPR may approve more than one week of continuing education in any given year if they deem it helpful.

Emmaus

Walk to Emmaus is a powerful spiritual tool for the renewal of leadership in the church. This ecumenical movement, at its best, serves to encourage leadership in the church. We recognize that not all pastors wish to serve the church in this capacity and that there are other worthy spiritual and leadership development tools. If our pastor chooses to participate in the Walk to Emmaus we would encourage them by providing for them to be gone from the pulpit for up to two Sundays in order to serve on Walk to Emmaus, Journey, or Chrysalis weekends. We believe that serving on up to two walks a year can serve the community well. At the pastor’s discretion they may serve on a third walk and with the blessing of the SPR may even be gone on a third Sunday in order to fully participate in the Walk. However if the pastor does schedule more than two Walks a year, the courtesy of discussing that with the Staff Parish Relations Team is requested.

Holidays

The following holidays are paid holidays for pastor and staff. If staff is part time these holidays are paid for them at a part time rate.

Jan New Year’s Day Martin Luther King Day

Spring Two days after Easter

May Memorial Day

July July 4th

September Labor Day

November Thanksgiving and the day following

December The week between Christmas and New Years (5 work days)

Sick Leave

Ten days per year is allocated for sick leave if needed. The sick leave is not accruable (cannot be carried from year to year.)

Pastor’s Salary

 (For recommendation and planning only not a strict policy of the church)

We recognize that as a New Church start we have had the advantage (and it has been necessary) of being able to pay our pastor at the minimum compensation level. We also recognize that this needs to change as we grow. And so, with a goal of grown to having 150 in worship by 2011, we are hoping to be able to budget the pastor’s salary as follows: 2007 - $33,000, 2008 - $38000, 2009 -- $44,000, 2010 -- $48,000, 2011 -- $52,000. This is for guidance only. The actual rate for pastor’s salary will be recommended by SPR to the church on a year by year basis.

This policy was passed by the Staff Parish Relations Committee on 12-10-06.