Council Members Present: Marianne Brown, Airin Cherian, Pastor Ross Goodman, Anne-Louise Klaus, Mark Olson, Dana Ramish, Alison Roberts, Heather Sheridan, Brian Sniffen, Marilyn Waehler.
Also Present: Vicar Andrew Heisen, Diane Kramer, Don Mitchell, Jen Nahn.
Absent: Wendy Stack.
A quorum was gathered and we came together in God’s name at 7:40pm. A candle was lit to remind us that Christ is present with us as we meet.
We shared joys and prayer concerns: passing friends, family, birthdays, and new life. Prayers are asked for Wendy, Jim Mapstone, Don’s son John, Marianne’s mentor Sydele.
The agenda was accepted.
Alison Roberts then led a devotion on knowing the endings to stories. Next month, Dana Ramish will lead devotions.
We sing Great is Thy Faithfulness (733).
The minutes of May were accepted as amended.
Don Mitchell reports that we’re well ahead of schedule for receipts. He continues to investigate mechanisms for accepting electronic payments.
Diane Kramer delivers the report in lieu of Kirsten Lienhard. Quotes are in for work in the fellowship hall, on the trees at Hillside House, and other important property work. The elevator and boiler are both broken again; we’ll have service contracts in soon.
She’ll be working to set up a new budget item for the new coffee hour expenses.
The council briefly enters executive session.
Yesterday’s (indoor) picnic closed out the education year. Sunday School attendance remained low: many families register their children but rarely come. Survey responses haven’t asked for anything different, so we don’t have any approach to changing that for next year. We’ll plan class sizes accordingly. Children’s Church and the Nursery are well attended and proceed well. The planned outreach to families with children 0–3 have been well received. The youth group has high participation and is blessed by a great group of adult chaperones. We’re looking for a long-term youth leader again, to supplement the work of the Vicars.
Andrew brings part of the youth group report forward: though we and the staff are concerned about a long-term youth-group leader, the confirmands and their parents are concerned about what role will be open to them at church next year: how they can participate, take ownership of their role here, and be members of the congregation. There’s a great group here, but they need help figuring out how to participate.
We discuss amending the bylaws to include a number of Youth Members of the Council: one year terms, not voting on financial matters. We also discuss including them more explicitly in the other committees of the church—treating them as we treat new members of the congregation, asking them to get involved in specific and useful ways.
Moses Dennis, Saint Paul intern from 2004 and pastor of Faith Worship Center in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, will be going on a mission trip to Liberia. We wish to support his trip with funds designated to purchase school and medical supplies once the group arrives in Liberia. Todd Hay also arranged for donation of five laptops from mitre, which Ross personally delivered to Moses.
Motion 1 We approve the request of the Social Ministries committee for a contribution of $500 from n7 to fund school and medical supplies by Moses Dennis on his mission trip to Liberia. moved, seconded, carried.
A total of $10956 has been received for the Dorchester Roof Appeal with an additional $1500 committed from the Metro Boston Chapter of Thrivent. The to-date total of funds donated/committed stands at: $12456. An anonymous donor family from Faith Lutheran in Quincy will match up to $15000 leaving Our Saviours just $2544 dollars short of this matching grant goal. Our donation will round out the $30000 funding appeal. St. Paul does have a history in providing support to Our Saviour’s.
Motion 2 We approve the request of the Social Ministries committee for a contribution of $2544 from n7 to go to Our Saviour’s Lutheran in Dorchester to help replace and repair their roof. moved, seconded, carried.
In continued support of the Seafarers’ Mission:
Motion 3 We approve the request of the Social Ministries committee that the balance of Coffee Hour Funds accumulated at the end of October be designated for Seafarers’ Mission. Social Ministries will also apply for a Thrivent Matching Grant. moved, seconded, carried.
We have accepted an offer by the directory company Olin Mills for a very comprehensive program through which they provide everything needed for a church directory. Each family photographed will receive a free pictorial directory and a free 8 × 10 color portrait. They also offer an online directory that we can link to our web site. We can also change the online directory as needed. There is no obligation to purchase anything. Taryn Weaver has offered to help in the process.
Pastor Goodman speaks about his joy in working with the staff here. It’s freed him to do more of the work he’s called to do. He’s also grateful to Marianne Brown for her very generous support in some of the church’s legal issues—Clearwire, permission slips for kids, and so on. He spent some time at a workshop in Philadelphia with C.J., our next intern. The Synod Assembly was pleasantly uneventful. There’s a church retreat to Calumet the first weekend in October. He’ll be gone a few Sundays over the summer. The third Sunday in August will be Andrew’s last with us.
Vicar Heisen reports that there’ll be 39 at the Progressive Dinner this weekend.
Pastor Goodman gathers us in prayer and leads communion at 9:05pm.
Respectfully submitted, Brian Sniffen
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Next regular council meeting: 12 July 2010 at 7:30pm.
These minutes can be found online at http://evenmere.org/~bts/Church/.