Happy New Year from the Board of Elders!
The beginning of a new calendar year is a good time to share some information and updates on what is happening here at Grace Chapel. We hope you found the season of Advent and Christmas to be a spiritually encouraging time. We’re especially thankful for all the volunteers, lay leaders, and staff who helped make the season truly bright!
Looking ahead, we wanted to share an organizational update that will better prepare us to continue serving the thousands of people who call Grace Chapel their church during this interim season of searching for our next Senior Pastor.
There are a couple of things we’d like to highlight:
- We’re affirming our Executive Team as the decision-making body for our staff;
- As we continue our search for our next Senior Pastor, we’re establishing an Interim Senior Pastoral Team, who will address pastoral care and theological matters that would normally fall under the Senior Pastor role.
These both highlight how our church leadership structure is built on collaboration: the Board of Elders provides oversight, while the Executive Pastor and Executive Team manage the day-to-day ministry and operations of the church.
During this interim period, the elders are reaffirming this structure and entrusting Mark MacDonald as our Executive Pastor, and the Executive Team with authority to make decisions that support the ongoing ministry of our church. They are empowered and entrusted to lead operationally, pastorally and spiritually in alignment with our mission, with accountability, and with transparency. We are grateful for their faithfulness, discernment, and integrity, and invite our staff and church family to stand with them to continue to grow God’s kingdom together.
In addition, we are pleased to announce the formation of an Interim Senior Pastoral Team composed of Ruthie Seiders, Pastor of Central Ministries; Tom VanAntwerp, Pastor of Campus Development (and Wilmington Campus Pastor); and Tim Ghali, Pastor of Discipleship and Interim Teaching Pastor. This team will work together, collaborating with the Board of Elders and our Executive Pastor Mark MacDonald to provide spiritual leadership in this interim period: clearly communicating Grace’s vision and spiritual priorities; providing spiritual care to ministry leaders and staff; and modeling Grace’s values, character and leadership culture.
Grace Chapel continues to be blessed to have a strong staff team of faithful leaders who have a desire and passion for leading this congregation into the future, to realize our continued mission to make and mobilize more disciples for Jesus Christ in greater Boston and beyond, with the vision to discover life with God for the good of the world.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support as we move forward together into the future.
Sincerely,
Grace Chapel Board of Elders
