Church Council

Meeting Minutes of March 17, 2011
Recorder: Robin Reinhold

Present: Sally Hinckley, Phil Whitney, Roger Addor, Robin Reinhold, Carrie Skeffington, Elsa Peters, Carl Murphy, Bob Morse, Andy Ellis, John McCall, Peggy Murray, Nancy MacLean. Absent: Matt Early, John Shoos

Opening: Nancy MacLean opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m. Robin offered a reflection about how the proverb “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” applies to our church.

Meeting Minutes: from the February meeting were reviewed and approved.

MINISTERS’ TIME:
John - reported that there will be a fundraiser on Saturday evening, April 2nd in the sanctuary. It will be a musical program by 3 groups to raise money for the medical team that is going to Konbit Sante in Haiti. Tickets are $15. John said that it was heartwarming that we can and want to make our space available for the wider community.

Elsa - reported that there are now 17 people going on the Maine Seacoast Mission trip this July. She reported that the group is planning a Spaghetti Supper fundraiser on Saturday evening, March 26th at 5:30. The ticket costs are $7 for adults, $3 for children, and $20 for a family. There will also be an auction at the supper. Tickets will be on sale in Wright Pavilion on Sunday.

Elsa also reported that she is working on arranging for camperships for the people that will be attending Pilgrim Lodge this summer. She sent a letter last week to parents of kids she knows are interested. The Church Council is responsible to hand out money for these camperships from the interest earned from 3 endowment funds (these are listed in the segregated funds in budget). In addition, the Hilltop Guild and the Holly Daze Bazaar each donated money for camperships. Elsa requested authorization from the Council to distribute the funds, and all members were in agreement of this.

Elsa also began a discussion about how we can create a larger sum of money for camperships in the future. Suggestions included:
1. Ask the parents of the children who are planning to attend Pilgrim Lodge to organize some fundraisers. Elsa said that other churches in the area do this.
2. Host an “Adopt a Camper” program where sponsors are found who would be willing to donate money to send a child to camp. This would be a tax-deductible contribution.
3. Host a “Winter Picnic” in Guptill Hall where box lunches are sold.
Questions were raised about how to get the word out about opportunities (perhaps an announcement from the pulpit?). Perhaps Elsa should form a committee (like the Scholarship Committee under CF&G). Or should CF&G oversee this committee? Council decided to look at this again next year.

OLD BUSINESS UPDATES:
Emergency Guidelines - Nancy reported that these guidelines are complete and are in circulation. The Administrative Team is working on signage, elevator access, and phone access. The User Guidelines for Emergencies document was modified and a line was added in the middle of the guidelines specifying that, in case of an emergency, all Sunday School children would be evacuated by their teachers to the Church parking lot. Other issues (from last month’s minutes) concerning fire drills, the fire alarms, the phone system, and the elevator were presented by Stan Jordan to the Administrative Team and are currently being looked into.

Discovery Center Legal Status - Andy reported that he reviewed the documents for the Discovery Center and they appear to be in order. He explained the history of how the Discovery Center Corporation was established and that the Church Council is responsible for electing the members of the Board of Directors of the Discovery Center.

UCC Conversation (Part 2), The Association - Elsa shared information about the history of the United Church of Christ. She explained the difference between contracts and covenants and helped to clarify how Biblical covenants are instituted by God whereas historical covenants are instituted by people. Elsa then shared a diagram of the origins of the UCC and explained how the two entities (the Congregational Christian churches and the Evangelical and Reformed church) came together to form the UCC.

Elsa explained that there are currently 37 churches in the Cumberland Association, of which we are a part, and that each church contributes to the energy that goes into the association. A portion of our per capita dues goes to the association through the conference. Churches are assessed per member, and the association uses this money mostly for administrative costs.

Financial Futuring Tasks - Nancy and John met to discuss the role of a Working Group and what its mission would be.

John proposed the question: “Do we want the Working Group to generate next steps or just come back to the Council with information and have the Council decide what to do? In other words, do we want only information or do we want recommendations, too? This was discussed, and it was suggested that the Working Group should gather information, report to the Council, and then based on discussions and feedback, come back with recommendations. This should be done in steps, with conversations happening throughout the process.

A timeline for the process was discussed, and it was decided that, if we identify the task and ask people to be in the group, realistically they probably would only get to meet once before the summer and then would pick up the work again in the fall. The hope is to engage the congregation with some questions to help the group determine what direction they will be going in. It is anticipated that the recommendations will not be ready for the 2012 budget process.

The next step is to decide who is to be in this group. Several names were suggested, and Council members were asked to forward any recommendations to Nancy.

Filling Vacancies:
Four members of the Council are finishing up their term (Andy, Sally, Phil, and Nancy). New members need to be found for the Council and for the Stewardship Committee. Council members were asked to come up with 5 people they would like to recommend for these vacancies and forward the names to Nancy by next Wednesday, March 23rd.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Next Meeting: April 28th; Carl Murphy will be the opener and recorder.