SMUMC Church Council Mar. 27, 2019
Church Council
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
7:30 PM
Attendees
Amy Chai, Chair
John Alexander, Vice Chair
Neil Hough, Sr. Pastor
Nickie Moreno Howard, Assoc Pastor
Darold Plate, Member at Large
Sandy Plate, Member at Large
Bruce Thomas, UMM
Karen Chevalier, Layleader
Carol Andrukonis, Lay Leader
Bob Hull, Member at Large
Brad Oswalt, Trustees
Gary Strohm, Trustees
Andrew Gay, Children's Council / Member at Large
Angela Culberston, Chair SPRC
Bill Culberston, Finance
Beth Lantheir, Lay delegate to annual conference
Amanda Hill, UMW
Josh Harrison, Children's Council
Steve Lloyd, Member at Large
Mandy Lloyd, NLI Worship Team
Debbie Creekman, Altar Guild
Todd Creekman, Treasurer
Jim King, Member at Large
Annette Landers, Member at Large
Chris Ligon, Discipleship
Bill Workman, VAT
Earl Conklin, VAT
Susan Ely
Welcome & Introductions Amy
Introduced.
Opening Prayer Neil
Prayed.
Approval of February Minutes Amy
Skipped as paper copies unavailable. Minutes were emailed out to the Council members prior to the meeting
NLI Vision Alignment Team Earl/Boe
The St Matthews Strategy Map was presented to the Council. This depicted the relationship between the purpose, values and annual strategic plan. The strategic plan can change as needed as it contains the goals, strategic focus areas and strategic priorities.
Note: The PowerPoint shown during the council meeting should be attached to the minutes. The summary statement is:
Mission of the United Methodist Church: To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
St. Matthew’s Purpose: At St. Matthew’s, we share our faith, strive to live and grow as disciples of Jesus Christ and empower all people to develop and build strong relationships with God and each other. Values that Guide Us: Welcoming; Acceptance; Faithfulness; Service; Generosity; Authenticity; Forgiveness; Caring
Children and youth, older adults, families and serving those in need are purposefully incorporated into everything we do.
Next steps for VAT would be to reach out to educate the council and committees. Help implement the vision across the church.
As presented to Council: Does this describe accurately the future state of SMUMC that we can all agree on and aspire to? The intent is to see if this is in the right direction and can still move forward. The Church Council voted to agree it is ok for VAT to move forward engaging committees and the congregation to solicit feedback. This vote is not a final acceptance nor finalization of the language.
NLI Strategic Worship Planning Team Mandy
Note: The notes from Sunday's Town Hall meeting should be attached to the minutes.
The NLI Strategic Worship team recommends the following new service schedule:
• 8:30am – Traditional worship
• 9:45am – Sunday School for all ages
• 11:00am – Modern worship
Offer Children’s Worship for both 8:30am and 11:00am services. Ensure a robust offering of Sunday School options for all ages. Begin new schedule in September with the start of a new school year. In addition to eliminating the conflict between Sunday School and services, the committee considered the following advantages to this recommendation:
• The modern worship service is given equal value to traditional worship. There is a perception reflected in the survey comments that attendees of the modern service don’t feel as valued as the traditional service attendees. Given the logistical/time constraints of the current service schedule, the modern worship team is limited to the scope of worship experiences that could be offered during this service. The later time would allow for more creative planning of the modern worship experience.
• Given the rehearsal time needed for traditional choirs before service, the early service is preferable for the traditional service so adults/youth/children aren’t leaving Sunday School early each week for rehearsals.
• In addition to considering the service preferences for our current congregation, the committee also considered which option might allow for growth. The modern worship style seems to have the widest appeal for young families and youth, so offering it at the later time seemed the best option.
The Strategic Worship Planning Team has completed the worked requested and the team is ending. The remainder of the work will be handled by the Council and Committee Chairs. The action asked for is council members to take this back to all committees. The committees should discuss how it will change the work they do and start to report at Council how it will impact the church.
A follow-up survey is suggested. The survey should not be a yes/no would you participate in Sunday school; it should explore what topics would be of interest to the congregation. Consider the other six days of the week for religious education.
The vote is projected (not committed) to occur in May.
NLI Discipleship Team Chris
Note: The PowerPoint shown during the council meeting should be attached to the minutes.
Two major actions:
Launch more small groups - done in 2018 with life groups
Create/develop a discipleship strategy - working on in 2019 to help members find their place in the journey. Working to figure how the programs/groups offered by SMUMC fits into a discipleship journey. This will help identify gaps to see if there are spaces missing where an meaningful offering could be provided.
General Conference Response Karen/Carolyn/Neil
Lay Leaders are working on a petition letter for people who disagree with the results of the special session of general conference. It is a representation of individuals and not meant to represent the church.
The lay leaders are bringing together the various conversations at 11am this Sunday, and then alternate with 9:45 every other Sunday. They want to learn what people think; inform people with what is going on; determine what welcoming looks like at SMUMC. They hope to start this as a discussion to have productive dialog. We need to start and have an open dialogue about the situation.
There is a lot of anxiety about this issue. They want people to be here and be part of the solution. Note: A copy of the petition letter discussed during the council meeting should be attached to the minutes.
Comments from the Pastor Neil
Please take a look at the highlights for the full comments. This is Lent and Holy Week is coming. In the midst of all the change and issues, take the time to remember the importance of this time in the religious calendar.
Reports
SPRC - Angela
Kara Stuebing from the Centerville UMC will be Director of Family ministries starting on 23 April. Christine Moser will be the P/T Children's Coordinator. They will delay filling the other position until Kara arrives.
Director of Music is Carol Workman. She will work with Tom Wells to define the choir directors (children, youth, older).
Jenny Ligon's last day was today. The position will remain unfilled for the near-term. Nickie will be covering some aspects of the position.
Carrie Schwab's last day at SMUMC will be May 12, Mother's Day (with some flexibility).
Finance - Bill
Feb is the 3rd consecutive month that revenue exceeds expenses. Since Derek made the ask from the pulpit, we are 2/3 of the way toward covering the budget shortfall. The amount moved from $116k in January to $25k in March. Finance will soon come to the Council that they are comfortable with the budget as it stands.
Trustees - Brad
Joys and Concerns Shared.
Closing Prayer & Adjournment Prayed. Closed.