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* Church At Large*
:-)
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| Draft Minutes of the Extraordinary Church Council Meeting
|
| On: Wednesday 27th October 20:00
| At: St Marc's Church Centre
|
| Present:
| Stephen Coffin (Chaplain), Richard Sheppard (Treasurer),Lara Confort (Churchwarden), David Bailey (Churchwarden), Alison Coulavin (Synod Rep.), Claire Naylor, Elizabeth Cherhal, Craig Alciati, Segun Odunlade, Mark Lewis (Secretary).
| | Absent:
| Troy Simoni.
| | Excused:
| Valerie Golton (Synod Rep), Alan Golton.
|
-----------REMINDER OF AGENDA------------------------------
|
| | 66.
| Prayer & apologies
| | 67.
| Approval of minutes of last meeting and any matters arising
| | 68.
| Treasurer's report
| | 69.
| Committee reports
- 69a - Catering Committee
- Could we have more electrical power?
- Could we buy a new microwave rather than the current 'hand you down' which is useless?
- 69b - (no other reports)
| | 70.
| The Years Ahead...
- 70a - An oral report of the discussion (and ideas raised) with Ian Watson. (David Bailey)
- 70b - The next steps (Stephen Coffin).
| | 71.
| Second Service Proposal
- A letter to church members - text to be approved of a letter to be sent to all Church members explaining our decisions (this will be circulated to members by the chaplain before the meeting).
(follow on from items 4a,21,33,48,60)
| | 72.
| Review of past & future events
| | 73.
| Church project(s)
- 73a - The Possibility of inking with an American Missionary Couple from autumn 2005.
*72b - Prices and Logos for T-Shirts and Postcards (follow on from 54b, 62b)
- 72b - (no other projects)
| | 74.
| New Church Website and Website Issues
| | 75.
| Any Other Matters (or AOB)
| | 76.
| Closing Prayer
|
-----------BEGINNING OF THE MINUTES------------------------
Minutes:
| | 66.
| Prayer & apologies (please notify Chaplain)
The meeting opened in prayer.
| | 67.
| Approval of minutes of last meeting and any matters arising
The minutes from the last two meetings (CCM_Minutes20040908 and CCM_Minutes20041027) were accepted unanimously by the Church Council.
There were no matters arising.
| | 68.
| Treasurer's report
The Treasurer reported that the church was financially healthy. Answering a question about the donation to the Burkina Faso Technical school the Treasurer informed the council that the school should receive half the gift by the end of November.
| | 69.
| Committee reports
- 69a - Catering Committee
- Occasionally the fuse blows while the Catering Committee are busily at work in the church kitchen. The appliances pull too much electricity. The problem may be resolved by "redistributing the load of kitchen appliances over the three phases" or more simply by switching to a higher power allowance with GEG/EDF. The Council mandated Stephen to go to the "Centre St Marc's bureau" to negotiate a switch in the current electricity contract. The Treasurer informed the Council that we could foot the extra cost if need be.
- Concerning a new microwave, the Council agreed that catering with small second hand microwaves was not ideal. The Council mandated Mark Lewis to price up professional Microwaves and to report back to Council.
- 69b - (no other reports)
| | 70.
| The Years Ahead...
- 70a - A report of the discussion (and ideas raised) with Ian Watson on Wednesday 27 October 2004 (CCM_Minutes20041027). The questions we had been issued before this extraordinary meeting were used as guide lines for discussion. No minutes were taken during this meeting. However it would be foolish not to record at some point some of the issues raised. The following is a rapid overview of these issues.
- Ian Watson renewed the financial support agreement with ICS.
- We were encouraged to see that the youth work within the church also includes our church youth’s friends.
- We were challenged to think about ways to reach the 18’s to 30’s+ people group within the church.
- Equally to think about the growing Retirees people group, with more and more people retiring abroad. About their special needs and areas of service open to them within our community.
- A book: “The Emerging Church” by Michael MOYNER was suggested to us by Ian Watson as a way to take up the challenge of the “Great Commission”.
- We challenged ourselves with outreach to people groups within the International Companies of Grenoble.
- We reminded ourselves of our first calling as a church acknowledging that we were primarily here for Christ Jesus. We should therefore not get lost in the social side of things but remember that we have “something special” to share.
- Non Church Organisations that reach English speakers can and should be invested by Christians and used for socialising and outreach.
- We were challenged to set up more Home Groups.
- We were challenged to investigate tithing our time as well as our money. Could people commit time to the church?
- We could possibly invite a IFES student to come and work with our church (possibly with the 18’s to 30’s+ group). In exchange we would have to contribute accommodation and pocket money.
- We should back everything with prayer.
- Another book “30 Years that changed the World” by Michael GREEN.
- ICS Church Plant in Morzine: Could it be extended to Chamonix?
- Could we propose Alpha courses in French? (other venues, other leaders?)
- Can we get more people involved in Teaching/Helping with Sunday school?
- What about “Cluster Groups” – forming small groups by geographical location. Cells and Clusters with lay people, training, pastoral care and friendship evangelism.
- Individuals could be commissioned by the Council for support and accountability.
- We should be getting to know the French churches of Grenoble.
- We underlined the importance of prayer and our weakness in this area.
- 70b - The next steps (Stephen Coffin).
Stephen acknowledged the Council’s wish to see him stay on as Chaplain of the ICS Chaplaincy of St Marc’s in Grenoble. However he was “genuinely concerned” as to: is he the right person to lead the church on? He underlined the fact that he works more by consensus than by authoritative direction and that although he would like to see the church move on he could not force it to do so.
Stephen then asked the Council to “draw up some guidelines for the next three years.” The Council agreed to work on this with Stephen over the next few months, seeking the Lords direction. The Idea is to draw up a clear plan of areas that need to be tackled and that Stephen and the Council can agree on and commit themselves to.
| | 71.
| Second Service Proposal
- A letter to church members – The letter was approved unanimously by Council members after a little discussion.
(follow on from items 4a,21,33,48,60)
| | 72.
| Review of past & future events
- The tour of Vienne with our French tour guide Christelle went well and was appreciated by the church members present.
| | 73.
| Church project(s)
- 73a - Linking with an American Missionary Couple from autumn 2005.
A self financed missionary couple Howard and Donna DEAL working for International Teams is pursuing the idea of moving to France. Their idea is to eventually learn French and minister to the French. However in the mean time they propose to come and serve in our church, possibly working with home groups and women.
The Council recognised that a job description should be drawn up if this was to go ahead and that some form of CV and statement of faith should be asked of the missionary couple. In the mean time the Council will pursue (item 70b) the drawing up of the guideline for the next three years to see “if and where” Howard and Donna might fit in. However most Council members see this as an opportunity for St Marc’s.
- 73b - (no other projects)
| | 74.
| New Church Website and Website Issues
The Council heard a brief explanation of how the website was set up and of the different areas and appropriate permissions needed to use the site.
The Council wishes to express it’s thanks to Larry Baltz who has put much time and energy into the setting up and running of the new Website. Thanks Larry.
| | 75.
| Any Other Matters (or AOB)
- 75a- Apparently a carpet had been suggested for the crèche room. Council agreed that this was not such a good idea as little children and especially small babies could suffer from the fibres and particles.
- no other matters
| | 76.
| Closing Prayer
The meeting closed in prayer
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Next Church Council Meeting:
| | Wednesday 08th December 2004 20:00 at St Marc's Church.
| | Agenda Topics to be sent to secretary before Wednesday 01st December 2004.
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