Plymouth's ministry is organized into boards, each responsible for one part of the church's life. Every board member is a member of this congregation, nominated by their peers and elected at the Annual Meeting.

The board chairs sit together on the Leadership Council, which keeps the whole of it one church rather than a collection of separate programs. Beneath the boards, committees form for particular work — some ongoing, some for a season — and that is where most volunteering at Plymouth begins.

You don't have to be elected to take part. Committees are open to members and friends who want to join the work. If something below sounds like your kind of thing, use the contact links below to reach out to the boards.

Board for the Arts

 The Board for the Arts oversees Plymouth’s artistic life: visual, performing, literary, and decorative arts. Its charge is to make the arts a genuine point of entry to the church — programming that welcomes artists and audiences from the wider community as readily as it serves the congregation.

In practice, that means curating exhibitions in the Conn Gallery, bringing regionally and nationally known writers to Plymouth through the Literary Witnesses series, supporting theater and performance in the Conn Theater, and caring for the artworks the congregation holds in trust — including Plymouth's four embroideries, preserved through a dedicated endowment. The board also stewards the building itself as an object worth seeing, offering guided tours of the architecture, the stained-glass windows, and the corners most people walk past.

Committees under the Board for the Arts: Music, Gallery, Theater, Performance, Literary Witnesses, Embroideries, Decorating, and Tours.

Board of Community Life

The Board of Community Life is responsible for the congregation's connective work: welcoming newcomers, sustaining relationships among members, and ensuring people entering Plymouth for the first time find someone glad to see them. The board describes its own work as being about relationships, and the structure follows from that.

In practice, that means hosting the Welcome Table on Sunday mornings, organizing gatherings and receptions for new members, honoring those who have belonged to Plymouth for fifty years, and supporting the small fellowship and interest groups that meet under the One More Chair umbrella. The board also carries the church's care work — the Care Team and Care Ministries — and supports partnerships that extend that care past the building, including Mental Health Connect and the Downtown Grief Coalition. Intergenerational gatherings like the Community Christmas Festival, the Midweek Mingle supper, and One Hundred Hands service projects also sit under this board.

Committees under the Board of Community Life: New Member, Welcome Table, One More Chair, Midweek Mingle, and Care Team.

Board of Finance and Administration

The Board of Finance & Administration oversees Plymouth's financial health and the operating practices that support it. Its charge is to ensure the church's finances, facilities, and administration serve the Purposes of the Church and keep Plymouth on a sustainable path—balancing what the congregation is called to do with what it can faithfully afford.

In practice, that means developing the annual operating and capital budgets with staff, monitoring financial performance month to month, overseeing the annual audit, and maintaining the policies that govern financial stewardship, investments, and the management of restricted and endowed funds. The board also oversees the building itself: planning capital improvements, prioritizing major repairs, and stewarding Plymouth's campus as a long-term asset. Its work includes an ongoing effort to reduce the church's reliance on endowment draw so Plymouth remains strong for generations to come.

Committees under the Board of Finance & Administration: Archives, Consecration Sunday, Financial Stewardship, Human Resources, Facilities Management, Five-Year Plan Work Group, Long-term Sustainability Task Force, Technology, and the Task Force on Reparative Action.

Board for Justice Action

The Board for Justice Action carries Plymouth's public voice for justice. It clarifies the church's moral stance on justice issues, forms focused action teams around specific concerns, and creates ways for members to engage directly in advocacy and policy work. Where the Board of Outreach sustains long-term partnerships and service, this board is built to move quickly — to respond as issues arise and to make Plymouth a visible presence in the community.

The board consolidates justice work that Plymouth previously carried through several separate groups, bringing racial justice, climate and environmental justice, housing justice, and LGBTQ justice under a single structure. That consolidation reflects a conviction the congregation arrived at through several years of practice: justice issues are intersectional, and working on them together allows Plymouth to engage more meaningfully with the connection between its faith and its action in the world. The two boards collaborate closely, identifying where a concern calls for immediate response and where it asks for sustained commitment.

Committees under the Board for Justice Action: Immigration Justice and Reimagining Community Safety.

Board of Outreach

The Board of Outreach connects Plymouth to the organizations doing sustained work in the neighborhood and across the city. Its charge is to create pathways for members to invest time, talent, and treasure in social, economic, racial, and environmental justice — and to build the kind of long-term partnerships that let a congregation show up reliably rather than occasionally.

In practice, that means maintaining Plymouth's relationships with housing and food justice partners and organizing the volunteer work that flows from them. Members serve meals through Simpson Housing, prepare and share a hot meal in Plymouth's own building each month through Third Sunday Meal, pack weekend food for local students through EveryMeal, steward the orchard at Good Courage Farm, and join Habitat for Humanity build weeks across the metro.

The board also stewards Plymouth's Community Fund and the Christmas and Easter offerings, which direct congregational giving to partner organizations. Increasingly, its work is about linking efforts across partners so that the impact of any one of them multiplies.

Board of Spiritual Formation

The Board of Spiritual Formation is responsible for spiritual growth and learning across the whole lifespan — from the youngest children through the oldest members. Its charge is to make sure that whatever stage of life or belief someone arrives at, there is a way in.

In practice, that means Sunday morning programming for adults, including the Sunday Forum and small group discussion; classes, book studies, and scripture study throughout the week; and the children, youth, and family programming that runs alongside worship. Much of this work is led by Plymouth members themselves rather than by staff — a pattern the congregation values and the board deliberately supports. The board also cares for Plymouth's library and its contemplative practice, including retreats and dedicated space for meditation and prayer.

Committees under the Board of Spiritual Formation: Children, Youth & Families; Sunday Forum; Library; and Contemplatives in Action.

Board of Worship

The Board of Worship is responsible for the shape and character of Plymouth's worship life. Its charge is to support services that are spiritually enriching and genuinely reflective of this congregation — attending to what happens in the sanctuary each Sunday and to the seasonal services that mark the church year.

In practice, that means caring for the elements that give Plymouth's worship its particular texture: the Lighting of the Peace Candle, in which the congregation's commitments to peace and justice are named aloud each week; the friendship pads in the pews; and seasonal services such as Evensong, offered during Advent and Lent. The board works closely with Plymouth's music staff on the role of sacred music in worship, and it supports the members who serve every Sunday as greeters and offering takers. It also listens — surveying the congregation about worship at Plymouth and bringing what it hears back to the whole church.

Committees under the Board of Worship: Memorial Services and Communion.

Deacons

The Deacons set the church's strategic direction and vision. They also oversee the church's legal, fiduciary, and spiritual affairs.

• Dan Dressen, Moderator
• Mike McCallister, Treasurer
• John Schenk, Clerk
• Lani Bennett
• Peg Birk
• John Cairns
• José Pacas
• Maureen Sheehan
• Maureen Tanis

Leadership Council

The Chairs of the seven boards, clergy, three officers, and the church Archivist comprise the Leadership Council, which is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the church.

• Theresa Voss, Chair
• John Satorius, Chair-Elect
• Nancy Gores, Secretary
• Tom Anderson, Archivist
• Jane Eichten and Linda Seime, Co-chairs of Community Life
• Sue Moses, Chair of Finance and Administration
• Deborah Hendricks and Bonnie Janda, Co-chairs of Fine Arts
• Karen Barstad, Chair of Justice Action
• Jean Tracy and Leah Young, Co-chairs of Outreach
• Andy Holdsworth and Steve Sanders, Co-chairs of Spiritual Formation
• Karen Erickson and John Gisselquist, Co-chairs of Worship

• Deb Hendricks, Co-chair
• Bonnie Janda, Co-chair
• Carol Brandenburg
• Glenace Edwall
• Doug Hoverson
• Kurt Hunter
• Jackie Lotsberg
• Kathy Rothenberger
• Christopher Watson

• Jane Eichten, Co-chair
• Linda Seime, Co-chair
• David Astin
• Scott Beaumont
• Annie Krishnan
• Bjorn Peterson
• Sue Specker
• Myra Starkenburg
• Stacy Yoakiem

• Sue Moses, Chair
• Larry Brandts
• Gina DelCorazon
• P. Gayle Fuguitt
• Andy Schou
• Don Schultz
• Rick Seime
• Matt Smith
• Kevin Walker

• Karen Barstad, Chair
• Cate Causey-Mullaney
• Katie Dillon
• Cathy Gustafson
• Tom Haigh
• John Humphrey
• Loey Meyer
• Trish O’Brien
• Carol Truesdell

• Jean Tracy, Co-chair
• Leah Young, Co-chair
• Sara Bergan
• Lynnette Black
• Anne Cheatham
• Karl Jones
• Ann Ludlow
• Steve Pundt
• Cynthia Smith

• Andy Holdsworth, Co-chair
• Steve Sanders, Co-chair
• Annette Atkins
• Diane Boruff
• Renee Corbin
• Peter Eichten
• Richard Jewel
• Nan Peterson
• Mary Sheehan

• Karen Erickson, Co-chair
• John Gisselquist, Co-chair
• Doug Anderson
• John Geertz-Larson
• Kathy Hunter
• Gwyneth Jarrett
• Loretta Menke
• Matt Peterson
• Faye Sleeper