The purpose of Trinity’s Church Council is to live into a ministry of a program of nurture, outreach, and witness, implement the plan; provide an administrative infrastructure; align the plan with the mission of the church; evaluate the effectiveness of the plan; act as the administrative agency of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod. The Church Council exists to create a strategic plan for a local congregation. Therefore, its primary work is one of leadership rather than management. This is an important distinction to make. Leadership is the visionary, “big picture” work that assesses critically where the congregation is at the present moment, where God is calling it to be in the future, and what resources will be required to move from the current reality into the desired reality. Management is the essential “detail work” that we hope to accomplish daily to make the congregation effective.