The Church Council is the agency responsible for planning the total program of the local church for all persons by developing specific goals, emphases, and plans for the church, and then administrating and implementing those plans for the Church.  

As the programming heart of the local church, the Church Council sets goals and determines settings for ministry in which the gospel may speak to experiences of persons of various ages with similar persistent life concerns and with varying individual needs.

Salem has undergone a change in structure to be in compliance with the new Book of Discipline.  The Council on ministries and the Administrative Board have been combined to form the Church Council.  Paragraph 252.1 of The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church 2004 states: “The Church council shall provide for planning and implementing a program of nurture, outreach, witness, and resources in the local church.  It shall also provide for the administration of its organizational and temporal life.”  In short the Church Council is the decision making body for the local congregation; all other committees function under the Council’s guidance and oversight.

In all of its planning, the Council will keep in mind the objective of the church.
     ...that all persons be aware of and grow in their understanding of God, especially of his redeeming love as revealed in Jesus Christ, and that they respond in faith and love-to the end that they may know who they are and what their human situation means, increasingly identify themselves as sons of God and members in the Christian community, live in the spirit of God in every relationship, fulfill their common discipleship in the world, and abide in the Christian hope.


Members of the Church Council:
Chair
Rob Clarke
Vice-Chair

Secretary
Pam Pittman
Lay-Leader
Jim Nickol
Lay Member, Annual Conference
Barbara Browning
Youth Members
Blair Lusby
Young Adult Member
Caitlin Morrison
Chair, Finance Committee
Will Stevenson
Chair, Staff-Parish Relations Comm.

Chair, Trustees
Robert Givens
Financial Advisor
Wayne Parsons
Financial Secretary
Ricky Holland
UMW President
Christine Wall
Memorial Fund Financial Advisor
Gail Covington
District Steward
Bob Givens
Chair, Nuture Committee
Bonnie Merritt
Chair, Outreach Committee
Jennifer Holland
Chair, Witness Committee
Barbara Browning
Chair, Cemetery Committee
F. Lynn Weidema
Pastor
Rev. Russell Lehman
Youth Director
Mary Chamberlain
Choir Representative
Jack Burton

2007 2008 2009
Robert Clarke
Christy Hudson Geraldine Mills
Blair Lusby
Pam Pittman
Peggy Pilchard
James Mister
Beth Timmons
Will Stevenson
Ray Stanley
Charles Webster
Jean Taylor

Caitlin Morrison
Tom Vilov