Download - Seventh-day Adventist Church, Sierra Leone

Personal Ministries Secretary
The Role
The work of the Personal Ministries
secretary is behind the scenes, but it is
very important. Duties include serving
as the business agent by ordering supplies
from the Adventist Book Center,
conference office and/or other distribution
facilities regularly used by the
church; caring for the records, supplies
and clerical details of church activities
such as Sabbath School, community
outreach, soul-winning, family life programs,
children’s and youth ministries,
stewardship education, etc.
The Personal Ministries secretary
serves as the secretary of the church
Personal Ministries Council. Duties
include keeping the minutes and, without
fail, handling correspondence. He
or she may also be a member of the
Church board and various other committees.
It is important to see that one or
more assistant secretaries are appointed,
because it is vital that someone
function in this role every Sabbath
and at every meeting of the related
committees.
In some places, especially if the
church membership is small and the
church finds it difficult to fill all the
offices, it may be better to combine the
positions of Sabbath School and Personal
Ministries secretaries into a
single position. This combination also
provides a single contact point for the
Sababth School and Personal Ministries
Department at the conference/
mission office when sending information
and materials to the church.
Line of Authority
The Personal Ministries secretary
works under the direction of the church
pastor and the Personal Ministries director,
and in close cooperation with
the Sabbath School leadership team.
Time Commitment -Two hours a
week
This can be a time-consuming responsibility.
Certain details must be
attended to every week.Committee
meetings must be attended each
month.
Even in the smallest church, a minimum
of one hour a week will be needed
just to sort the mail, stock supplies,
type and copy minutes of meetings, and
read and respond to correspondence. If
your local church has more than 200
members, it may take up to two hours
a week for the paperwork.
If the congregation is a larger one,
some duties can be delegated to assistants.
Assistants can cover meetings,
but some of the sessions will require
the regular involvement of the Personal
Ministries secretary to know
what is planned by the church leaders
and provide the support they will need.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Personal Ministries secretary
is elected by the church and serves as
the representative of the Adventist
Book Center for all departments of the
church. The secretary works closely
with the Personal Ministries leader in
developing the outreach (missionary)
programs of the church.—Church Manual,
p. 94
Personal Ministries Handbook, page 10