The November meeting of Parish Council was constituted by Raewyn with extracts from the prayer course which Tokerau has been running.
Points of interest from our meeting:
– In Tokerau’s Report he included the effect of shortening the length of his ‘Devotions’ items on Facebook. The recorded views have jumped from 60 to over 600 which confirms the advice we have been receiving in the rebuilding of the website that short focused messages are what is required.
– An update from Stephen in his property report with respect to the Driveway from Penzance Road which is now owned by the church. This included an explanation of the next steps to be taken including : a Planner’s Report on the adequacy of the Driveway into the future; a Valuer’s Advice on a reasonable amount to charge users for use and non-church-related parking; Legal advice on the approach and documentation required.
– My report on a continuing financial deficit against our budget which for the first quarter of the year is $14k . The main reasons for this include a $4k deficit in offerings and a prepayment of the full amount ($17k) of our Insurance premium .
– An appreciation of the great work that Sandy Burn has done in building a new website for the church. It will be formally launched in December but in the meantime have a look – you only need to Google bayspc on your computer and you can explore it yourself. We will be acknowledging Sandy, daughter Rachel (who produced our new logo) and Andrew (our IT expert) at the Packing Service on 7 December.
– A decision to proceed with a ‘Ripple Effect’ Workshop for the whole Congregation which is being planned for Saturday 21 March . Please make a note of this important event on your 2026 calendar.
– The invitation from the Mairangi Village Business Association for our church to take the lead in the annual Carols in the Park event which this year will be held at 6pm on 12 Dec in the Children’s Playground which is situated behind the petrol station in the Village.
– A welcoming of Encore Lin who is joining our church as an Associate Member, with her son Shane.
– A report on the many activities within our Revitalising Project which is summarized in a separate article in this newsletter.
Stewart Milne