GLEN WAVERLEY UNITING CHURCH MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION

Held in the Worship Centre at 7:45pm on Tuesday 24 Nov 2015.

MINUTES

1. Welcome and Apologies

Apologies from; DavidMorgan; MargaretLemke; CarolynBlakemore; SarahBlakemore; BarbaraChamberlain; MalcolmChamberlain; EvelynFleming; JacquiKing; ColinKing; DeniseBaker; GeoffWillis; CliffBaker; JohnHurst; JohnSnare; MurrayLowe; JudyLowe; RonaPooley; BeverlyMcGlead

2. Prayer

WarrenGreenwood opened the meeting with a prayer reflecting on the meaning of “Inclusiveness”. Proverbs 3:6

3. Confirmation of Minutes of Meeting held on 30th August 2015.

See CongMeetingMinutes20150830

No Concerns Raised

4. Matters arising from the previous Minutes.

COP

Toilets

5. Correspondence

None specific for Congregational Meeting

6. Reports and Recommendations from Church Council.

6.1. Church Council Update on Vision and Resources

6.2. Financial Report – 2016 Budget for approval

Slide 1 – Income

Slide 2 –

Slide 3 – Income & Expenses

Support for budget passed by all

6.3. Introduction of the ''Safe Church Concerns Person'' and role

7. Report from Ministry Team

Presented by NeilPeters;

In terms of Vision I want to update you in relation to partnerships Glen Waverley Secondary College Chaplaincy Program

Alanee and LynneBoyer took part in are RUOK day – a mental health awareness initiative.

Alanee has been invited by the Well Being dept to present a proposal to resume a breakfast program at the school next year working alongside Chaplaincy/Well Being dept. We will need helpers.

The school lost Government Funding for the chaplain and are inviting churches to contribute.

Outreach Missional Group proposed to CC that GWUC contribute $5000 in 2016 to support GWSC Chaplaincy program - $2500 funded through fundraising and $2500 from the interest in the GWUC Endowment Fund. CC have endorsed this and we seek the support of the congregation at this meeting. We need to be able to advise the school and Young Life (chaplaincy provider) of our commitment for next year. We see this as seed or transitional funding as next year we see this being a COP application for funding in 2017.

The rationale for drawing on the Endowment Fund is as follows:

# Funding request was supported by the meeting

We intend partner with Brentwood Secondary College in a student mentoring program next year. Meetings have happened and we are now considering options presented by the school.

Glenallen School, we raised $2437 to upgrade Jai’s wheelchair. Nancye and I have met with the principal. I met Jai. There are opportunities for our members to volunteer at the school. We can also support the school working bees as they rely on community support for this activity.

Nanyce and I had a meeting only yesterday regarding a proposal for a partnership with Uniting Care Connections - Chinese Family Services. Connections are planning to come back with some proposals of how we can work together next year. This may involve supporting and adding value to our existing playgroups. This has the potential to be a broader partnership than Chinese Family service.

Uniting Care Life Assist have had their first afternoon tea at our church for 8 clients who are isolated in the community. The clients and staff met Nanyce, Heather and me and we talked about the programs our church offers that might interest them with a view to the clients getting involved in some of our activities.

Two weeks ago Alanee and I met with Mark, General Manager Homelessness with Uniting Care Harrsion. Harrison are the largest provider of support for youth homelessness in the state and they are keen to develop a partnership with our congregation. There are ways that they could support our welfare work. Harrison are tendering for a Youth/Young person housing program in Glen Waverley. It is working in the area of student housing and homelessness. They want to link with this congregation so that they can link any interested young people to our youth/young adult programs for support, a sense of community and where they could explore faith/spirituality in a safe place. CC endorsed me sending a letter confirming our interest in this partnership.

These are exciting times. We are currently developing our links with three Uniting Church Agencies. In the recent past we have also supported Wesley Mission.

Briefly in Children’s and Family ministry

Monday 21 Dec 2015 we are running a kids Christmas outreach program. We are not calling it Christmas Alight because this is a new beginning. We are supporting Nancye to get this off the ground. We need children to attend and volunteers to help.

Recently there was a small group met for a visioning session for Children’s and Family ministry. We want to see this area of ministry growing.

8. “On The Way Together”: Missional and Support Group Reports

Presented by MiriniLang.

(24 Nov 2015 Congregational Meeting)

This report addresses what the Faith Development Group has done over the last 12 months to help the congregation achieve the

8.1. Retreat

8.2. Bible Study

8.3. Cross Cultural Seminar

This was held on 23 Aug 2015, with a talk given by Hoon You – about changing our mindset to see us as equals on a common journey, create links with people of all cultural backgrounds and having them as integral part of the church and services.

Recently, as a way forward on Cross Cultural ministry, the faith development group met with Apwee Ting (National Director for Multicultural and Cross Cultural Ministry; in our Port Phillip East Presbytery) discussed where we go from here. He recommended starting off by approaching people of different cultural backgrounds in our congregation and identifying whether there are areas of faith development or worship which they miss from their own culture. This may be a Bible study in their own language or a tradition which can be incorporated into a worship service. Apwee Ting is happy to walk with us along this cross cultural journey

8.4. WOMP Board

The White board on the FaithDevelopment Noticeboard is to stimulate faith discussion within our community with anyone writing questions/answers on the board. It hasn’t worked so well this year.

Morning tea questions on the tables at times, again to stimulate faith discussions. This is something many of us are a bit shy about but it is an important part of our lives.

Plan

8.5. Retreat at Easter/Lent

We welcome feedback from people who went to the recent retreat to ensure future retreats can be even more meaningful and helpful for people.

9. Other Business

9.1. Unfilled Presbytery Representative

9.2. GWIC – Glen Waverley Inter-church Council

9.3. Church lighting

9.4. Church Rosters

9.5. Role of Chair for Congregational Meeting

10. Next Meeting

Next meeting Sunday 6 Mar 2016

11. Benediction

NeilPeters ended the meeting with a prayer.

CongMeetingMinutes20151124 (last edited 2016-07-08 04:51:45 by JohnHurst)