The October meeting of Council was constituted by Rev Tim Loftis who joined us by zoom from Melbourne. Tim is the CTCA Consultant who many of our members will have met last year when he conducted our planning workshops. After reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, where the need for all working together was stressed, Tim referred to the progress that we are making as we set
goals and strive to reach them. The third set of goals which will take us through to the end of February are in this newsletter. After Tim left us we went on to consider the following matters:
– The best current option for us as we look ahead and consider our current financial situation. We have now paid for the accessway and that together with property and repair costs has left us in a tight financial position. Council decided that the Congregation must be kept informed and that our efforts need
to go into the Revitalisation Project and into growing our church for sustainability.
– The Goals for the next 4 months which were approved. These involve change and trying some new things. They will not be achieved without the active involvement and support of us all.
– Pastoral matters – these were shared and Council members committed to praying for the support needed for those identified.
– The Minister’s Report with the welcome advice on the newly started Chinese Alpha program which is attracting some of those attending our English Conversations Class
– The Property Report where Stephen spoke of the steps to be taken as we deal with the use of the newly acquired driveway and parking area by others.
– The Finance Report which provided an overview of the situation and a deficit for September of $3k. The loan of $15k is still to be refunded
– The Worship Report together with the schedule of services and leaders through into next year
– The Christian Education Report where Dorille advised of the games night where our ‘Elevate’ Youth Group was joined with some of the youth from the Forrest Hill Church. We are planning to invite those from other close-by churches to our Family Games nights.
– The Quiz night which was a great community event – has raised just over $2k
Under the heading of Revitalisation and Growth the following actions were noted:
– Incubator training- 7 from our church will be attending the 25 Oct session on Spirituality at the Orewa Church
– Our church name now being used is Mairangi Bay Presbyterian Church and once formally agreed we will change the registered name.
– We agreed to make an application to the Northern Presbytery Mission Fund for financial assistance to allow us to employ a part time Family and Community Worker. The next step is to seek Regional support.
– We welcomed the response from the Congregation on the favoured group of new logos which had been created by Rachel Burn, circulated and decided to take the next step of getting a view on which of the 6 individual logos within the group is favoured. Number 2 was the favourite voted in.
– We warmly welcomed the news that Evelyn Chiu and Jessica Li have joined our church.
– There will be a meeting of the Congregation after the 10am Church service 9th November to agree on the change of Church name & logo.
Stewart Milne (Clerk)