SMUMC Church Council Jan. 23, 2019
Attendees
Neil Hough, Sr. Pastor
Amy Chan, Chair
Darold Plate, Member at Large
Sandy Plate, Member at Large
Ann Donnelly, UMW Co-President
Lyle Minter, Annual Conf Lay Member
Andrew Gay, Children's Council / Member at Large
Brad Oswalt, Trustees
Gary Strohm, Trustees
Bob Hull, Member at Large
Lousia Gerber, Weekday school
Bill Culberston, Finance
Todd Creekman, Treasurer
Beth Lantheir, Lay delegate to annual conference Karen Chevalier, Layleader
Josh Harrison, Children's Council Christine Nelson, Worship
Angela Culberston, Chair SPRC
Nickie Moreno Howard, Assoc Pastor
Keith Robertory, Member at Large
Agenda
1. Welcome & Introductions Amy Done.
Happy Birthday sung to Amy.
2. Opening Prayer Neil
Prayed
3. Approval of November Minutes Amy
Approved
4. 2019 Overview Amy
The Council will need to vision success, identify goals and how to measure it. There are measures in the council highlights; are those what we should be measuring against?
Focus areas for this year: NLI motions in the first half and implementation in second half. Plan to have NLI actions wrapped up by the end of the year.
Worship team in survey process. Motions in Feb/March. Vision Alignment team: Expecting motions to be coming forth. Communications: Recommendations being explored.
Council should have more discussions. Reporting is good and needed … and can be added to the highlights. Having everyone together is a time to discuss topics.
5. NLI Updates
Vision Alignment Team: Getting close to having content ready to present to Council.
Worship Planning Team: Member survey being conducted. No decisions have been made. Options have been narrowed down to be placed in the survey, but the survey isn't the only way forward. If all options are rejected, the team can go back and figure other options.
Communications: Main focus on a change management plan to help information membership about things taking place. Currently trying to figure how to measure the importance and impact of a change so the appropriate notifications are made and feedback collected.
Discipleship: Drafted a "what is discipleship at St. Matthews", and working on a pathway to help guide how the process would work. Team hopes to have something ready for Council in February.
6. Comments from the Pastor Neil Read the highlights for complete details.
We want to be clear that we're making a difference. Neil will be asking the question if we're making a difference throughout the year to see if we're working to our goals, and measuring things that align with the goal. Annual vital signs in highlights compared to prior year are all declining. This is consistent with what is being heard by Neil from other pastors in the area. The General Conference Town Hall, 27 Jan, is really important. Encourage all to attend to understand how the UM church is changing. This is a pre-informational session to the General Conference on 23-26 Feb. It will be video-taped, not live streamed. Plan is for about an hour; will stay as long as needed to answer questions until the questions can't be answered anymore. Pastors have been asked to predict what their church membership will do as a result of the General Conference. This is a very serious matter to the church, and has been on the agenda for the past 40 years (give or take). This General Conference has been called to address the issue. "The love of God that is experienced at St. Matthews is still needed. Our ministry doesn't stop.
We need to continue. Don't forget that in the midst of all the other stuff we have to deal with."
7. Reports
a. Finance Bill
Todd and Bill went to Bi-District training a few weeks ago. It was a very good experience. We are not the only church dealing with the issues that happen here. There were no significant findings in the annual audit requiring a rush to notify Council. The results will be presented to the Council in February when it is all packaged.
2018: Expenses exceed Revenue by $18k. This can be absorbed by the cash position (reserves) from prior years, so the news isn't so bad. It is a small percentage given the total size of the budget.
Looking at cash flow: Cash in the bank is near $600k. There is about $79k cash in the bank that is not assigned to anything which is roughly equal to the carry over from prior years, with few minor in/outs.
2019 Pledges: $906k to date. 101 member families of the church increased their pledge $61k (sum total). 19 member families that decreased their pledge by $34k. 37 member families that pledge in 2018 and not in 2019 for $147k, including those who have left the church or moved away.
Neil reminded that there are quite a few things that could effect pledge fulfillment. (General Conference. Worship schedule. Gov't budgets.). Before cutting back on the 2019 budget, Neil wants to reach back out to the membership to make them aware. The message needs to be clear, honest, open and positive. It is very hard to ask the members for more money during the furlough. No more money will be asked for until after the government shutdown is over.
Walk-in ministry is getting busier. Extra money is made available from the joy fund reserve.
Looking to help those who are in real need. Most people Neil has talked with are doing "ok" due to help from friends and families. Methodist Credit Union is offering no interest loans to members for people who are furloughed.
2. SPRC Angela
Director of Youth Ministry interviews: an offer was made to an individual but candidate declined. SPRC reviewed options and presented a new structure. A new full time position of Director of Family Ministry is created. An offer is extended to a candidate who is waiting until mid-Feb to learn of spouses new posting. Then they will decide how to fill the supporting roles. Current staff will continue in current positions until more information is known.
Nancy Cappel is going to retire in June. Music staff will work with SPRC to determine future possibilities. We will celebrate her 49.5/50 years with the church this summer.
c. Trustees Brad
The new cameras installed around the church are to prevent vandalism and burglary. It is a large building to be unlocked and have few people inside. The cameras will be recording at all times, but may not be monitored in real-time. The cameras should not change the culture and feel of the church. Signs will go up at the entry to the property to make people aware and help dissuade people with bad intentions. Access to the recordings and cameras are limited to few people (currently 3) selected by the Trustees. A lot of money has been saved by having volunteers install the system -- and many thanks go out to them.
8. Open Forum
SPRC Motion via email on 14 Jan: The motion before us is whether to approve SPRC’s
reorganization of the youth and children’s ministries positions into a full-time Director of Family Ministries and two part-time coordinator positions. SPRC's motion concerning its proposed reorganization of the Children's and Youth Ministries positions has passed.
Suggestion to create a new photo directory. The numbers in the old directory (2014) are not as accurate as they could be. Discussion about paper copy vs online. If anyone is willing to step forward and be the POC, Neil will put them in touch with the companies that do it. A message will be posted in the bulletin looking for a POC.
Thanks to the church for the support on starting a Scouts BSA Troop for Girls. The unit paperwork has been submitted and unit will launch on Feb 1. The church now supports a Boys' Troop and Girls' Troop at the church, and a Venture crew at BPH.
9. Joys and Concerns
Shared
10. Closing Prayer & Adjournment
Prayed