GLEN WAVERLEY UNITING CHURCH

MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION

Held in the Church Hall at 11:30am on Sunday 29th July 2018 - following the 10:00am Combined Worship service.

MINUTES

1. Welcome and Apologies

Apologies: HeatherHon, WendyPepper, EvelynFleming HerbFleming, BeverlyMcGlead, LynnPeters

2. Prayer

The chair opened the meeting in prayer.

3. Confirmation of Minutes of Meeting held on 4th March 2018

The minutes of the December meeting of the congregation are at CongMeetingMinutes20180304. The minutes were approved without change.

4. Matters arising from the previous Minutes

There were no matters arising from the minutes that are not covered elsewhere in the agenda.

5. Correspondence

There was no correspondence.

6. Reports and Recommendations

6.1. Congregational Outreach Projects in 2018

6.1.1. Project Summaries

Details of the proposed projects are in the COP Brochure

6.1.2. Discussion

VidaFoo introduced the proposed projects and funds allocation. She explained that the Congregational Outreach Projects selection committee had given priority to projects that help communities help themselves.

RobinPope expressed concern that this approach disadvantaged projects that aim to help disadvantaged people directly.

CliffBaker expressed his view that the Cheltenham Cat Rescue Inc. project did not satisfy Congregational Outreach Projects selection criteria because funds were directed towards animals and not people. Some others in the meeting took the view that rescued cats can directly contribute to the well-being of lonely people.

CliffBaker proposed an amendment to proposed resolution 2 with the effect of reducing the supported projects to 10 and reallocating funds initially proposed to go to Cheltenham Cat Rescue Inc.

While there was considerable support for CliffBaker's proposed amendment, there was a significant minority of people who did not support it. The Chair was of the view that it would be difficult to achieve concensus or agreement to it.

Some in the meeting suggested that a large meeting like this was not the right forum to commence a reallocation and that we should accept the work of the Congregational Outreach Projects selection committee who had considered the matters raised during the process of formulating their recommendations.

The chair asked CliffBaker if he could live with the recommendation of funding for the Cheltenham Cat Rescue Inc. project so that the resolution enabling it could be perhaps supported by agreement (but not unanimous concensus). CliffBaker agreed that he could live with this approach.

RobinPope requested that the meeting take action to have the provisions and procedures associated with selection of Congregational Outreach Projects revised. The meeting accepted this idea and resolution 6 (below) was drafted to implement it.

The meeting acknowledged the hard work of the Congregational Outreach Projects selection committee and thanked them for their work.

6.1.3. Resolutions

1. “The congregation resolves that all profit from the 2018 Fete is to be distributed to Charity" - Approved by concensus

2. “The congregation resolves that the 11 charities listed in the distributed COP brochure shall participate in the distribution of 2018 Fete profits" ' - Not unanamous, but approved by agreement.

3. “The congregation endorses the Distribution of the 2018 Fete profits as shown in the COP Brochure for Profits of $20,000, 25,000 & 30,000" - Approved by concensus

4. “The Congregation resolves that the COP Committee be authorised to allocate profits intermediate to, or beyond those now approved" - Approved by concensus

5. “The Congregation resolves that the COP Committee is to advise the Congregation of the final allocation to all 11 charities, in the first available Bulletin after the Fete profit is finalised” - Approved by concensus

6. “This meeting resolves to request that the outreach committee seek submissions from the congregation with a view to reviewing and revising the provisions and procedures for selection of Congregational Outreach Projects and associated allocation of funds.” - Approved by concensus

6.2. Ministry Team Report

AlaneeHearnshaw presented the ministry team report. She reported how thankful the ministerial team had been of all the help and support they had received while Neil Peters was unavailable recovering from surgery. She acknowledged the offers of assistance from many people to help with the many aspects of keeping the congregation operating while the ministry team was short handed. She also said how excited the ministry team are at the prospect of NeilPeters returning to the team.

6.3. Church Council Report

GlynHowells presented a report from Church Council. His theme was to acknowledge and thank the leaders of mission groups, function groups and church council. He noted that a lot of work has been done by the people who came before us in the past and the people who now continue to work in so many ways to make our congregation a safe, welcoming, vibrant, warm, hospitable place.

Glyn observed "no one knows how all this works - God alone knows how it all works". Glyn introduced the meeting to many of the leaders to both acknowledge their contribution and help the congregation get to know them. He also acknowledged the work of the ministry team noting encouragement from NeilPeters to be gracious to each other, even if we don't get everything done.

6.4. Finance Report

Ashley Irvine presented the following finance update.

The budget is in good shape with income slightly ahead of projections and expenses slightly less than anticipated.

6.5. Property Report

There was nothing specific to report. A representative of the PropertyCommittee was be available if there were any questions. There were none.

7. Other Business

7.1. Planning for the election of Church Councillors

The chair reported that it is proposed to conduct an election for church councillors on September 2nd. This year there are some current Church Councillors whose terms are expiring. While some may renominate, there will be five vacancies to fill.

As has been the practice in the recent past, it is proposed to allow voting following each worship activity on the designated election Sunday. Details of the procedure will be available on http://wiki.gwuc.org.au/gwuc/CongregationalPage.

The chair advised that he would be travelling in August and September and unable to supervise the election. It was therefore proposed that the congregation appoint another person to supervise the election of Church Councillors on September 2nd. WarrenGreenwood agreed to make himself available for this task.

7.1.1. Resolution

The congregation appoints WarrenGreenwood as chair of the congregation for oversight of election of Church Councillors on September 2nd.' - Approved by concensus

8. Benediction

The chair closed the meeting in prayer.