GLEN WAVERLEY UNITING CHURCH

MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION

Held in the Church at 11:30am on Sunday 30th July 2023 - following the 10:00am Combined Worship service.

A printable version of these minutes is attached here.

Minutes

1. Welcome

The chair (JohnSnare) welcomed those members of the congregation who were present.

2. Prayer

NeilPeters opened the meeting in prayer.

3. Confirmation of Minutes of Meeting held on 5th March 2023

The minutes of the March meeting of the congregation at CongMeetingMinutes20230305 wrere confirmed

4. Reports and Recommendations

4.1. Ministry Team Report

NeilPeters described some recent highlights:

HoonYou recapped the work that he has been doing with congregation on Cultural Intelligence and introduce the forthcoming studies on our DNA (who we are) as a church, in the past, now and into the future.

4.2. Church Council Report

AlisonClarkson presented a report from Church council. In summary:

4.3. People and Culture Report

Although there was no formal People and Culture report, the chair advised that the position of our welfare coordinator has been advertsied and applications are being followed up.

4.4. Property Report

WarrenGreenwood reported on property matters.

  1. Car Parking management - it is important to check with the office before using the church car park for n on-church activities. Sometimes it will be OK, but sometimes it won't because it will clash with other activities associated with the church. Also on Sundays, please leave the disabled and office manager parking places for people with a real need. (The Office Manager spot is required for whoever brings BillMorgan.)

  2. Manses for our new placements - Warren advised that Neil and family and Alanee and family had left the manses in such good condition that money allocated for re-furbishment has been saved. Warren reminded us that rent we obtain for the use of our facilities, $68,000 per yaer, covers all the costs associated with operating and maintaining our property.

  3. Property Housekeeping. Warren advised that after 15 years, he is stepping down from being chair of the PropertyCommittee at the beginning of September. He will remain on the Property Committee. The Property Committee is looking for new and younger members of the congregation to provide new ideas and to help.

5. Congregational Outreach Projects

The chair drew attention to the background information that was provided in the agenda and included below.

As discussed in March, this year is unusual because instead of running a new Congregational Outreach Project selection process we have decided to fund previously recommended but unfunded projects. Next year, with a new Outreach Mission Group in place (and perhaps an updated Congregational Outreach Project selection process), outreach project selection shoudldbe more routine. Since March, two of the previously supported projects have been withdrawn.

The chair proposed the following resolution, that was approved unaimously.

Resolution:

This meeting of the Congregation of the Glen Waverley Uniting Church resolves to distribute the proceeds of this years fete as follows: GWUC Welfare $5000 (the amount requested), Friends of Ermera $4000 (the amount requested), any money raised in excess of $9,000 equally divided between Frontier Services and Uniting World.

Information from the chair.

There is currently no Congregation Outreach Project selection committee or Outreach Mission Group, so matters concerning outreach projects need to be directly considered at meetings of the congregation. I understand that action is taking place to establish a new Outreach Mission Group, so this may be only a temporary situation.

The March meeting of the congregation resolved to accept the 2021 proposed Congregational Outreach Projects for distributing the proceeds of this year's fete. However, since then the situation has changed with two of those projects being withdrawn and new rules for funding overseas projects have been introduced.

From now on, directly supporting overseas projects requires compliance with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission’s (ACNC) External Conduct Reporting Standards. This means that considerable due diligence investigation is needed on proposed projects and on projects during implementation. There is an associated set of special requirements for approval, record keeping, and reporting. See http://wiki.gwuc.org.au/gwuc/ACNCExternalConductReporting. We have been advised by Synod, that there are also due diligence and reporting requirements if money is send overseas through a registered charity.

It will not be practical to consider specific projects proposed during the meeting without prior notice, because it is unfair to ask meeting attendees to make such decisions without sufficient time to consider the options.

6. Worship Times Survey Outcomes

SachinRemson reported on the outcomes of the worship survey initiated by ChurchCouncil after the March meeting and presented the approach that ChurchCouncil has adopted (for information). In summary:

'The Council believes that the new ministry team will be in place in a few months time. It would be advisable to leave decisions about combining services to then. Also being mindful of the situation of parking, we would prefer to refrain from taking any such decision at this time.'

The full report is attached here.

In discussion, the observation was made that the survey was difficult to understand and complete.

7. Other Business

There was no other business.

8. Benediction

The chair closed the meeting in prayer.