Policy Manual Governance
View revision historyEvery change to this policy, with the date and who made it.
Purpose
Section titled “Purpose”This policy says how the other policies come to exist. It sets who may approve a policy, what has to be true before one is published, how a policy is numbered, and how one is changed or retired.
It is first because without it, nothing else in this manual can be trusted. A policy manual is only worth reading if a reader can tell the difference between what the church has decided and what someone wrote down.
This applies to every policy published in the CrossRoads Church policy manual.
What counts as a policy
Section titled “What counts as a policy”A policy is a standing decision of the church that binds future action until it is changed. “Background checks are required for anyone working with minors” is a policy.
A procedure is how that decision gets carried out day to day. “The children’s director collects the form and files it in the office” is a procedure.
Procedures may be published alongside a policy, and may be changed by the staff member responsible without board approval. Policies may not. Where a document mixes the two, the policy section is marked and the rest is not binding.
Numbering
Section titled “Numbering”Every policy carries a permanent number in the form section.item, for example 4.02.
Numbers are never reused and never reassigned. If a policy is retired, its number retires with it. If the manual is reorganized, numbers do not move. The number appears in the policy’s web address so that a link written today still works in ten years.
The sections are:
- Governance
- Elders and board
- Staff and employment
- Child and vulnerable adult protection
- Finance
- Facilities
- Ministry and program
- Communication and technology
Proposing a policy
Section titled “Proposing a policy”Anyone on staff, any elder, or any member may propose a policy or a change to one. A proposal goes to the elder board in writing and states what problem it addresses and what it would require.
The board may return it, revise it, or move it toward approval.
Approval
Section titled “Approval”Only the elder board approves a policy. Approval happens in a meeting and is recorded in the minutes of that meeting.
A policy is published as approved only when all of the following are true.
- The board voted to approve it.
- The minutes of that meeting record the approval.
- The policy names the date it takes effect.
- The policy names what earlier version it replaces, if any.
Until all four are true, the policy is published as draft and carries a notice saying it is not in force. Drafts are published on purpose, so that the congregation can read what is being considered before it is decided.
Effective date
Section titled “Effective date”A policy takes effect on the date it names, which may be later than the date it was approved. Where a policy needs people to be told, trained, or given time to comply, the board should set the effective date accordingly.
A policy with no effective date is not in force.
Revision
Section titled “Revision”A change to the text of an approved policy requires board approval, and follows the same path as a new policy.
Two things do not require board approval, because they do not change what the policy requires: correcting a spelling or grammatical error, and correcting a broken link or a reference to a renamed document. Anyone with edit access may make those corrections. Every such correction is recorded in the revision history automatically.
When a policy is revised, the new version names what it supersedes, and the previous version stays in the revision history permanently. Nothing is removed from the record.
Retirement
Section titled “Retirement”The board retires a policy the same way it approves one, by vote, recorded in minutes.
A retired policy stays published, marked retired, with the date it left force. It is not deleted. A reader looking into a decision made in 2027 needs to be able to see what the policy said in 2027.
Where the record lives
Section titled “Where the record lives”The elder board minutes are the record of what the board decided. This manual displays those decisions and links to them. Where the manual and the minutes disagree, the minutes govern, and the manual is corrected.
The manual’s own revision history is a supporting record, not a substitute for minutes. It shows every change ever made to the text of a policy, with the date and the person who made it, and it cannot be quietly altered.
Review
Section titled “Review”The board reviews this policy every three years, and reviews the manual as a whole annually to identify policies that have gone stale or that the church now needs and does not have.