Spiritual Life & Worship Team

Meeting Minutes December 4, 2008
7:00pm

Present: Elinor Redmond, John McCall, Betsy Keiter, and Dana Wiggins

Opening: John offered a very nice opening prayer.

Review of November Minutes: We reviewed the November meeting minutes, but were not able to approve as we didn’t have enough team members for a quorum. We will need to add to agenda for January.

Minister’s Time:
Sabbatical
John handed out a draft of his sabbatical plan which highlights the various tasks to be covered by others in his absence. We discussed the areas in which SL&W would be responsible. Deacons will need to approve the final draft of the plan.

360 Review Process
Pastor/ Parish completed a 360 degree ministry review with Elsa this past Fall and now is assembling a group to conduct the same for John and his ministry. This review will take place January to April.

Christmas Eve Readers
Readers are needed for the 7pm and 10pm services. An announcement will be made during Sunday worship and Betsy will be in the Narthex with sign-up sheets after the service.

Christmas Eve Birthday Cake for Jesus
We’ll check with Margaret Thibodeau (EG&F) to coordinate the cake and party hosting to take place after the 5pm Family Christmas Eve service.

Budget
John indicated that pledges have been coming in slowly and we are currently short by a considerable amount. He is hopeful that the gap will close quite a bit with year end gifts and late pledges. We discussed in general the need to look at everything and everywhere for opportunities to reduce costs and expenses, but the opinion was that there didn’t seem to be a lot of fat in the budget. John gave a brief review of budgets that have passed in the last few years.

Hymnals:
Per Dana, final edits are currently being made to the new hymnal. Half of the purchase price for the hymnals has been paid from the North Church Memorial Fund with the hope of the other half being funded by individual member purchase(s) of hymnals recognized through book plates/ In Memory Of notes. The contract has been signed and received. Dana noted that Maggie Tucker who has been a facilitator of the process has been extremely helpful and great to work with in guiding Dana and the process.

Growth Committee:
Focus Groups
Per Elinor, the Growth Committee Will be conducting focus groups with new members and Jim Kupil will facilitate them.

Brand Identity
John said that he is hearing that our church has a certain identity in the community. He said it is recognized as ‘Unapologetically Christian and Forward Thinking,’ making a difference in the community, and being true to the “No matter who you are…you are welcome here” statements. John also referenced the “Power of Invitation and Welcome” article from the UCC.

Narthex
John indicated that it would be helpful to have an additional person or 2 available in the Narthex after worship to help escort/ shepherd new members/ visitors to coffee/ Wright Pavilion.

Miscellaneous:
• Dana spoke briefly of her experience visiting a mega church recently.
• Dana also indicated the Flower committee is in need of a couple of new people.

Closing:
Dana read a lovely closing from the book, The Human Dance. Book of Love and Gratitude.

Meeting ended at 8:15 p.m.

Next Meeting: January 8, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.