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Minutes of the
Church Council Meeting |
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On: |
At: The Chaplain’s Apartment |
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Present: |
Stephen
Coffin (Chaplain), Lara Confort (Churchwarden), David Bailey (Churchwarden),
Alison Coulavin (Synod Rep.), Valerie Golton (Synod Rep), Claire Naylor, Segun Odunlade, Elizabeth Cherhal, Troy
Simoni, Craig Alciati, Mark Lewis. |
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Absent: |
none |
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Excused: |
Richard
Sheppard (treasurer) Elisabeth
Cherhal (delayed) |
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Agenda: |
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1. |
Prayer
& apologies (please notify them to me) |
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2. |
Confirmation
of appointment of Secretary & Treasurer & election of
Vice-Chairman/woman (Churchwardens to make their statutory declarations.) |
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3. |
Approval
of minutes of last meeting (attached) and any matters arising |
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4. |
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5. |
Frequency,
dates & procedures for future meetings |
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6. |
Council
Away Day - date & venue (the Ferie Thursday 20th May seems to suit
most) |
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7. |
Church
Committees (Evangelism; Events; Music; Social/catering; Building; Finance) -
would you please consider which committee you would prefer to join? (Other
Church members are also invited to join these.) |
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8. |
Review of
past & future events |
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9. |
Church
project(s) - Romanian family, Cecile's house decoration, future ideas |
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10. |
Church
web site |
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11. |
Any other
matters |
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Meeting: |
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1.
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Prayer & apologies The meeting
opened in prayer. |
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2.
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Confirmation of appointment of Secretary & Treasurer &
election of Vice-Chairman/woman The newly
appointed Churchwardens made their statutory
declarations. Richard
Sheppard is confirmed as Treasurer. David Bailey is
chosen as Vice Chairperson. Mark Lewis is chosen as
Secretary. |
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3.
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Approval of minutes of last meeting (attached) and any matters arising
3a- The brief report of
Sunday the 04th of April’s “after service discussion” was
approved. 3b- Regarding the proposal
to design and make a new church lectern in memory of John Wesley. The new
lectern would take the place of the existing lectern. It was thought fitting
that Selena Wesley be included in the choices leading to the design and
making of this new lectern. Lara Confort offered her husbands DIY skills for
the actual making of the object if need be. 3c- The church has offered
to help Cécile Forestini decorate her newly built house. It is thought the
church volunteers could start decorating at the end of April. There is no
definite date however as the workmen are still building the house. 3d- The Chaplain once again
led a service in the MORZINE/ICS church planting project. As many as 33
adults and 9 children attended this service. It is thought there is a
possible base for future work by ICS in MORZINE. 3e- The Youth Weekend “Dare
to be different” was a success. It brought together 19 youths from the church
and 7 staff. 2 more weekends are planned. 3f- After the last Synod
there has been discussion about “chaplaincy twinning” with the Lille ICS
Chaplaincy. For now we are waiting for the Lille Church Council’s decision as
to “does their chaplaincy wish to twin or not”? |
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4.
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Opportunity for each member to talk about their hopes for the Church
Council 4a- Claire suggested looking
into a “parallel service” for non believers, meant to be seeker friendly,
contemporary and self explanatory. It could for example not presuppose bible
knowledge and use a topical approach to the bible and belief. 4b- Valerie suggested
redefining our goals as a council and as a church by answering questions such
as “What are we here for… or where are we going?” 4c- Alison put forward
building on an idea of Lynn Vannette’s: Putting together a church directory
with people’s names, addresses but also photos of family members to allow all
to get to know each other and easily recognise the youngsters amid the
growing number of children. 4d- Mark proposed more “food
for thought” and in depth teaching for “mature” Christians. 4e- Lara proposed more
visibility of church infrastructure so that people with a “role in the church
organisation” might be known more easily by the church community. 4f- Lara suggested a unified
Church Council vision for the welcome of newcomers. 4g- Lara brought up the
importance of Church Ministry to children, including: meeting with parents,
out of church activities for the youth. |
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5.
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Frequency, dates & procedures for future meetings 5a- Frequency: A vote was
taken for monthly meetings vs. bi-monthly meetings, (9 votes for, 1 vote
against, 1 abstention) . Monthly meetings were
adopted. 5b- Dates: Discussion
followed as to which weekday was best and no agreement was reached. However,
the next three meetings were planned as follows: -
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5c- Procedure: A few general
guide lines were brought up. -
The Chairperson will be the
Chaplain unless absent, in which case the vice Chairperson will lead the
meeting. -
Any Council member can
volunteer to be Chairperson of a future Council meeting. -
The Secretary will take
notes in view of publishing the minutes but can be replaced by any Council
Member for note taking. -
Minutes are to be published
ASAP by the Secretary and are made available to all church members. -
When voicing opinions and
discussing Council members should: -
avoid generalisations -
avoid the passive tense -
aim for content as opposed
to formalities -
raise hands to speak when
appropriate (at Chairpersons discretion) -
Concerning the Agenda: -
The Secretary gathers topics
for the Council meetings from the end of one meeting up until the publishing
of the agenda for the next. -
Approximate time for
proposed topic should be included but this will remain flexible. -
The agenda will be sent to
all Council Members by the Secretary a week before the meeting. -
Concerning discussion
boundaries -
Only non personal topics may
be discussed -
All policy issues are to be
discussed -
The Council acts as the
church’s “Sounding Board”. -
Concerning money (although
out of place) -
An unanswered question
stands: How much can be spent without referring to the Church Council?
Historically the euro equivalent of 500FF. -
Should there be a standing
committee for the sole purpose of passing expenditure? 5d- Co-option: -
After the discussion over
the co-option of Alan Golton, the Church Council voted (10 votes for, 0 votes
against, 1 abstention). Alain Golton was co-opted onto the Church Council. -
The co-option of two more
Church Council members is possible. (Up to half of Council’s elected
members). A reassessment to see if the Council is representative or not of
the congregation should be held at a later date, further co-option could then
reset the balance. It was held that
better communication within the church community
of how St Marcs (the ICS church in |
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6.
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Council Away Day - date & venue Further discussion on this
topic has been put off until a later date. There is no away day planned for
the Church Council for the time being. |
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7.
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Church Committees Some discussion about the
committees was heard. Council members are invited to reconsider the
pertinence of existing committees and are invited to propose the creation of
any others considered useful. For example: a “church
giving committee” or redefining the
goals of the “church building committee” (which could possibly be involved in discussion
about the new handicapped toilets that are to be installed at St Marc’s and
the redecoration of the room used for the crèche). Church Council members are
again asked to consider which committee they would prefer to join. |
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8.
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Review of past & future events Council Members are asked to think
about any future events they would like to bring forward |
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9.
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Church project(s) Again Council Members are
asked to think about any future projects they would like to bring forward. |
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10.
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Church web site Elisabeth Cherhal, Graham Naylor, Larry Baltz, and Mark
Lewis are currently discussing how best
to update/modify the church website. |
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11.
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Any other matters 11a- The Treasurer is
granted permission to open a new account “CBF deposit Fund” as this seems
necessary. 11b- Claire Naylor is
allowed to create 2 new notice boards for “Youth” and “Music” and can place
them at the back of the church during the service. The boards must be put
away upstairs after use. 11c- It was agreed (10 votes
for, 0 votes against, 1 abstention) that the Church should purchase a Video
Projector, capable of multimedia presentations, including
"PowerPoint". Troy Simoni, who also offered to donate a
compatible laptop computer with the appropriate software, will liaise with
the Treasurer over its purchase. 11d- An appeal
for help was voiced by Alison, concerning a person currently seeking asylum
in |
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12.
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Closing Prayer The meeting
closed at |
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Accountability: |
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All Members: |
Proposing /redefining Committees (item 7) Joining Church Committees (item 7) Proposing Projects and Events (items 8 & 9) |
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Troy Simoni : |
Liaising with treasurer and purchasing a Video Projector. (item 11c) |
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Agenda Topics to be sent to Secretary. |
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The Secretary for
the Church Council |
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