Education Growth and Fellowship

Meeting Minutes of November 4, 2009
Recorded by: Margaret Thibodeau

Team members attending:
Jana Frank, Ginny Gledhill, Karen Pierce, Carolyn Foster, Margaret Thibodeau.

The meeting began with the approval of October’s Minutes.

Karen reported that the Library and Scholarship committees are both well organized, and that things are going along fine.

Jana shared that volunteers are signed up to serve and bake for Coffee Hour for November. She has not needed to send out a whole-church email yet, as people are volunteering to help by using the signup sheets available at coffee hour. For November 8th, the 275th Celebration committee will be providing a sheet cake. People have requested sanitizing lotion be available during coffee hour. Margaret will check with Tom to see if less coffee is being prepared, and if the large coffee pots are left for him to clean each Sunday. The Mission Board has contacted Jana and asked to host Coffee Hour sometime in January.

The Nursery is going along fine, Ginny announced. Information sheets are posted, and signup sheets are available. Parents appear to be staying as needed when more than two children are present in the nursery.

Margaret shared that there was an Inquirer’s Meeting October 20th. There were three prospective members attending. New Members Sunday is November 15th. Dave Allen, from Growth Group, was not able to attend this meeting, but reported that the group is working on “parish hosts”-matching up new parishioners with congregation members for support.

Carolyn shared her perspective on Sunday School, and further explained her hopes and concerns for the program as discussed previously with Elsa. Carolyn is impressed by the commitment of the Sunday School teachers, who are very prepared and responsible. The program is going well overall, and the children are having fun. The last Christ Kid’s Club had three adult helpers, which is necessary with such a large group of children attending. Carolyn observed that the children love the idea of the “club”, that there are several high-spirited students, and that Elsa does a wonderful job. The superintendent appears to be circulating more amongst the classrooms, offering support to the teachers. Carolyn also explained her observations and hopes for the Children’s Offering, a monthly group worship time on Communion Sundays, and reevaluating our semester model of recruiting teachers. The EG&F Team would like to explore each of these areas further at future meetings. The team wondered what the current teacher’s feedback might be regarding some of these proposals.

The Team read the rest of Elsa’s Faith Formation update, which included information on adult faith formation, Confirmation, and the upcoming special event: A Veggie Tale movie scheduled for November 14th. The event could use some additional volunteers, and the EG&F Team suggested sending home a flyer with children Sunday which promotes the event, and asks for volunteers. Margaret will follow-up with Elsa before the movie night to see if more help is needed.

Two church members have asked to coordinate the Advent Workshop, and the Team is appreciative of their efforts. The Team decided we would like to host Jesus’ Birthday, after the family service Christmas Eve.

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, December 3