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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), David Bailey (Churchwarden), Richard Sheppard (Treasurer),
Alison Coulavin (Synod Rep.), Valerie Golton (Synod Rep), Alan Golton, Claire Naylor, Segun Odunlade, Elisabeth Cherhal,
Craig Alciati, Mark Lewis (Secretary). |
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Absent: |
none |
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Excused: |
Troy
Simoni, Lara Confort
(Churchwarden) |
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Agenda: |
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29. |
Prayer
& apologies (please
notify Chaplain) |
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30. |
Approval
of minutes of last meeting and any matters arising - Aims goals and direction (alternative
wording to “…some find boring”) - Vote count for item 18 in question
- end of the matter (Proposed by
secretary) |
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31. |
Treasurer's
report |
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32. |
Committee
reports 32a - Finance committee’s Report (follow
on from item 17a) discussion & approval of
paragraph 1 & 2f |
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33. |
Discussion
on 2SWG Feedback (2nd Service Work Group) See
details in attached document “second_service_proposal.rtf”. Please
say if you cannot open it. (follow
on from items 4a, 21) |
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34. |
Defining
a Procedure for reaching decisions on major investments (follow
on from postponed item 19) |
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35. |
Discussion
of format & content of the church magazine, “St Marc's Matters”. (follow
on from postponed item 22) |
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36. |
Regularity
of the Family meal
– maybe only once every 2 months? |
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37. |
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38. |
Review
of past & future events 38a - Church Away Weekend evaluation and
assessment (follow on from postponed item 25a) |
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39. |
Church
project(s) –
nothing up for discussion |
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40. |
Church
Committees (Evangelism;
Events; Music; Social/catering; Building; Finance) Would you
please volunteer for the committee you would prefer to join or create? (follow
on from item 7 & postponed item 20) |
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41. |
Any
other matters 41a - Lyon Church Proposition (first put
forward as item 27a) 41b - Procedure - Publication of Church
Council Minutes |
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42. |
Closing
Prayer (Time as
needed. - Standing Item) |
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Meeting: |
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30. |
Approval of minutes of last meeting and any matters arising Concerning the minutes of
the Council meeting held on the It was also felt that in
item 15 the paragraph “We talked briefly about the Ecumenical meetings
that the Bishop Geoffrey has encouraged us to attend in order to interact
with the French. Some find these Ecumenical meetings outright boring.” should
be rephrased to read “It was suggested that our French contacts could also
be invited to ecumenical services as Bishop Geoffrey encourages us to do in
order to interact with the French. Some objected that they themselves found
such occasions pretty boring and therefore would not tend to invite their
friends to them”. Alain Golton who was indeed
present at the last meeting was added to the list of Council members present. The Council then approved unanimously
the minutes of the last meeting. One matter arising: A few
months ago, council gave a subsidy to a youth weekend, and also expressed a
willingness to offer further subsidy. I would like this to go
to the friends' weekend we have just had, and for council to decide the
amount at the next meeting. (proposed by Claire) This matter is reported
under the item Any Other Matters (item 41) of the present
minutes. |
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31. |
Treasurer's report The treasurer assured the Council
that there was enough money to honour our debts. The council also heard that
the church shall need to reduce its expenses for the summer months. The
summertime holiday period is known to lead to some financial misbalance
within the church accounts. A motion to “remind
church members to honour their financial engagements towards the church
during the summer months” was proposed, seconded and accepted by the
council (9 votes for, 0 votes against, 0 abstentions). |
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32. |
Committee reports 32a - Finance Committee’s
Report (follow on from item 17a) The Council
reconsidered paragraph 1 and paragraph 2f of the Financial report, having
already worked
on paragraph 2a-e at the last meeting. After discussion the
Chaplain proposed an amendment for paragraph 1 of the Financial Committee’s Report, reading: “The
Chaplain in consultation with the Treasurer and Wardens be authorised to agreed
spending of up to € 300 between Council meetings.” The Council accepted the amendment (11 votes for, 0 votes
against, 0 abstentions). Concerning paragraph
2f the Council debated around the implications of “…and recommend not supporting
as a Church, individuals”. An amendment was proposed, suggesting the phrase
should read “…and recommend not
supporting as a Church, individuals who are not members of St Marc’s Church”. The Council
voted and accepted the amendment (11 votes for, 0 votes against, 0
abstentions). The Council heard
suggestions as to which bona fide organisations could profit from the € 2500.
3 such organisations were
brought forward. -
“Compassion”- an
evangelical Christian child development ministry dedicated to addressing the
needs of children around the world (www.compassionuk.org)– donation of
€100/month totalling €1200/year towards general expenditure. It was thought
that the Church should not directly offer to sponsor children, as the
children may lose out on the human side of the relationship. Information
about this should be made available to individual Church members who could
then accept to sponsor individual children and build long term relationship
with them. (10 votes for, 0 votes
against, 1 abstention). -
“ -
“Champfleuri” – once
off donation of €500 (9 votes for, 0 votes against, 2 abstentions). This is a
donation similar to the one made last year. It was felt the Church should
support this mission in a more direct way than through “Away Weekend”
contributions. 32b - No other committee
reports. |
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33. |
Discussion on 2SWG Feedback (2nd Service Work Group) Discussion for this item is
based on 3 documents: - second_service_proposal.rtf sent by email to all Council members - a handout by the Chaplain (a double sided document with two grey
parallel columns) - a document received at the beginning of the Council meeting A main concern voiced
during the discussion was about the existing Sunday service. Council was
reminded that it had agreed (in item 21 of the minutes) not to alter the
format of the existing service. Some thought however that the rtf
document and the handout seemed to turn the existing Sunday service into a “retro
type” service which may seem to be off-putting for the congregation. For
example the phrase “so as to connect with people of a more traditional
church background” was thought to hold too much distinction of
expectancy. Some of the congregation may indeed prefer the existing service
without necessarily being from “a more traditional church background”.
The Chaplain offered to re-word the documents, as the original intention had
not been to change the style of the service but rather to present the
existing service along side the suggestions for a second service. The documents were intended to help see the
implications of the second service. The existing service will not be altered,
except perhaps on the long-term for the “family service”, (this was
only a suggestion). Concerning the second
Sunday service, Council was reminded that the original idea towards this
project was based on feedback from the congregation. The 2SWG met
together and brought forward some “food for thought” as to how to go about
organising the second service for a 3 to 4 month trial period. The question facing Council was “how do
we proceed?”. At this point it seemed important
to decide on the timing of the second service and how it could be fitted
round the existing service. One
suggestion was to have the second service as a separate evening service for
the 3-4 month trial period. Other suggestions are contained in the three
documents. Council went on to decide that it was time for more feedback from
the congregation concerning the issue. After further discussion as
to how best approach the congregation, it was agreed that an informative
document and a questionnaire be distributed among church members. The Council
members would make themselves available to approach, inform and accompany
people with their questions concerning the matter. The Council agreed to
mandate Stephen to devise and distribute the appropriate documents to church
members, (10 votes for, 0 votes against, 1 abstention). In any case nothing
concerning the second service is to be decided until the next Council meeting
in July, at the earliest. |
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34. |
Defining a Procedure for reaching decisions on major investments Following the vote to purchase
the Video-Projector it was felt necessary to propose a procedure to “avoid
making rushed decisions in the future”. The following procedure was
proposed and seconded: “Large items of expenditure on investments (over an
amount to be decided on a yearly basis) MUST appear as a separate item on the
agenda and MUST NOT be dealt with under AOB. Council MUST be provided with
sufficient information well in advance so that they may ascertain the
feelings of the congregation and to reach an informed and prayerfully
considered decision. If this is not the case, the issue will be put off to a
later meeting”. This point of procedure was voted on and accepted by the
Council (11 votes for, 0 votes against, 0 abstentions). The “amount
to be decided on a yearly basis” will be decided at our next meeting. |
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35. |
Discussion of format & content of the church magazine, “St Marc's
Matters”. This
discussion was called for after the Church Magazine “St Marc’s Matters”
was felt by some to be too dense. It appears that the original committee
concerned with the magazine has “fallen to pieces”
and that Alison has had to do most of the work alone. The Chaplain made a
point of thanking Alison for all her hard work to which the Council agreed.
Bravo Alison. However,
It seems necessary to reinstitute some form of Editorial Committee so as to
take the pressure off Alison and to allow some form of consensus as to the
appearance and content of the magazine. Alison pointed
out that her paging format was not far from what one may find in the secular
press. She also underlined her difficulty in obtaining regular content. It
seems people tend to contribute at the last minute which makes the publishing
of the magazine a little hectic. Some Council members
suggested spacing out the existing content in order to make the magazine more
readable. The call was for more white spaces and size at the top of the page.
The Council will see how they can address the subject of the Editorial
Committee at a future meeting. |
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36. |
Regularity of the Family meal – This item was cancelled “on
the fly” as it seemed no longer relevant. |
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37. |
Extract from Email:
“Just a note regarding something Larry (mostly) and I (Craig, a little)
have been working on. One of the ideas we talked about on the weekend away was having an
"info page" for newcomers to The idea was that it be "sponsored, developed, supported,
created" by St Marc's and out members but that it be independent of the
church page. Of course there will be clear links to find our church
website, should someone want to find an English speaking church or learn more
about our church. However, it would be a community resource tool for
anyone and everyone new to The Council
recognises the www.grenoble-info.org
as being a great idea, and wishes to encourage Larry and Craig in its
development as this represents a fair amount of work. Craig pointed out that any
ideas or suggestions could be emailed directly to Larry or himself. |
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38. |
Review of past & future events 38a - Church Away Weekend
evaluation and assessment This item was postponed
until a later date. |
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39. |
Church project(s) – nothing up for discussion |
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40. |
Church Committees (Evangelism; Events; Music; Social/catering; Building;
Finance) Would you please volunteer for the committee you would prefer to join
or create? This item was not addressed at the meeting and is therefore postponed. |
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41. |
Any other matters 41a - Alison, Valerie &
Alan suggested they may like to represent St Marc’s church at Lyon Church Weekend Away held on the 8th-10th October
this year. Stephen will enquire further of the Lyon Chaplaincy about this
matter. 41b - Procedure -
Publication of Church Council Minutes The Secretary asked
for more precision as to the publication of the Church Council Minutes. The
minutes should be proof read by the Chaplain. They shall then be published at
first under the title “Draft Minutes of the Church Council Meeting”
and be sent to all Council Members. The minutes should also be made available
to all church members via the church notice board or by any other means.
However only the minutes verified and accepted by the Church Council at the
beginning of the following meeting shall be looked upon as the official
Church Council Minutes. These too are made available to church members. 41c - Subsidy for 05-06
May 2004 Youth Weekend Away The treasurer proposes
to clear the bill for the Youth Weekend. The Council agreed unanimously (11
votes for 0 votes against, 0 abstentions). |
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42. |
Closing Prayer The meeting
closed at |
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Accountability: |
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Chaplain |
Seek feedback from church members concerning second service |
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Council Members |
Approach members of the church concerning second service |
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Richard |
Should approach J.Lenton about the church
making a donation to the college. |
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Agenda Topics to be sent to Secretary. |
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Mark Lewis Secretary for the
Church Council |
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