The Glen Waverley Uniting Church Congregation

Congregation data

There is a page of congregation history and celebration at ChurchInCelebration.

Address

The preferred address is "Cnr. Bogong Ave and Kingsway", but some computer systems do not recognise this.
Google maps recognises "10-12 Bogong Avenue" as being the church.
So does the Working with Children Check site.

Presbytery classification

The Presbytery codes for our congregation are:

Giving to Glen Waverley UCA

See GivingToGlenWaverleyUniting including banking details.

Statistical data

See CongregationData

Membership Rules

See ChurchMembership

Congregational Meetings

The congregation meets in council about 4 times a year, to discuss matters of import to the whole church at Glen Waverley, and to receive reports and decide upon key issues. The first meeting of the year (usually in March) receives the financial report of the previous year and may appoint a committee to select congregational outreach projects), the second meeting of the year (usually in about July) considers recommendations concerning distribution of proceeds of the annual fete, the third meeting of the year (often distributed) elects church councillors for the following year, and the fourth meeting of the year approves the budget for the following year.

Meeting Agendas and Minutes of past meetings of the Congregation can be found at CongregationMeetingReports page.

UCA rules and GWUC conventions governing church meetings and roles of officers can be found at CongregationMeetingRulesRoles.

Forms for the running of Congregational meetings and elections can be found on the CongregationalForms page.

It has been suggested that meetings of the Congregation should sometimes include discussion of current social issues. The purpose of such discussion would be sharing ideas and understanding different points of view (but not decision making). If there is interest in this idea, it would be possible to include 20 minutes or so in the first meeting each year. At least two people would need to be willing to lead the discussion with short presentations on different ways of looking at an issue. Ideas for discussion at Congregational Meetings are suggested at CongregationalIdeasForStudy.

Election of Church Councillors (2022) - Church Councillors for 2023

There are 13 elected positions on ChurchCouncil.

There are 5 vacant positions on the 2021 Church Council.

There are 6 of the 8 elected members of Church Council whose terms expire this year (2022).

There will be 11 vacancies to fill in the election for 2023 church councillors.

Normally, the election period will span 7 weeks: One week to prepare notices calling for nominations, three weeks nomination period, one week to collate nominations and prepare notice materials, two weeks notice of election. However for 2022, I propose to extend the nomination period to several months to allow more time for potential candidates to be approached. First call for nominations to be in mid-August. Second call for nominations to be 25 September.

August 14, 2022 - Start of call for nomination of candidates for Church Council. To be open for six weeks. Nominations to be submitted to the Church Office. Editable version of Election information is here. PDF version of Election information is here.

Six weeks later - September 25 - Second call for nominations.

Three weeks later - October 16 - Close of nominations. Church Office to collate nominations and prepare and materials for notice boards, bulletins and notice of ballot prepared during the week following the close of nominations October 16 - October 23 in consultation with the chair of meetings of the Congregation.

One week later - October 23 - Formal notice of a ballot for church councillors on November 6 accompanied by details of candidates. This gives the required two weeks notice. The Church office to put information about candidates on a board in the church foyer and publish information in a bulletin or Kingsway.

Between October 23 and November 6 - Church office prepares ballot papers - see BallotChurchCouncilElection2019 for an example ballot paper (from 2019)

Two weeks after formal notice of ballot - November 6th - Election of Church Councillors.

Dates are still under consideration, but one option is to hold elections in November on the same day as the meeting of the congregation that will be held after 11:00am worship to consider the 2023 budget. The election period in that case would start in early October.

Election of Church Councillors (2022 delayed from 2021) - Church Councillors for 2022

As a result of restrictions associated with Covid-19, it was determined in September that it will not be practical to hold elections for members of Church Council in late 2021. As was the case in 2020, the 2021 Church Council was asked to continue until early 2022 in expectation that an election will be possible. At its meeting on 20 September 2021, Council agreed to defer the elections, and DavidMorgan DanielSihombing SonySimanjuntak agreed to continue.

A date for the deferred election will be advised as soon as possible. The following dates are yet to be confirmed.

There are 13 elected positions on Church Council.

The following is the timetable for the election of Church Councillors in 2021. There will be seven positions to fill, noting that some retiring Church Councillors may renominate for a futher term.

September - Congregation provided with information about the timing and process.

February 6, 2022- Start of call for nomination of candidates for Church Council. To be open for three weeks. Nominations to be submitted to the Church Office. Editable version of Election information is here. PDF version of Election information is here.

Three weeks later - February 27 - Close of nominations. Church Office to collate nominations and prepare and materials for notice boards, bulletins and notice of ballot prepared during the week following the close of nominations Feb 28 - March 4 in consultation with the chair of meetings of the Congregation.

One week later - March 6 - Formal notice of a ballot for church councillors on March 20 accompanied by details of candidates. This gives the required two weeks notice. The Church office to put information about candidates on a board in the church foyer and publish information in a bulletin or Kingsway.

Between March 7 and March 18 - Church office prepares ballot papers - see BallotChurchCouncilElection2019 for an example ballot paper (from 2019)

Two weeks after formal notice of ballot - March 20 - Election of Church Councillors.

Election of Church Councillors (2021) - Delayed from 2020

The delayed election of Church Councillors for 2021 will be held on March 28 2021.

There are 13 elected positions on Church Council.

February 14: Start of call for nomination of candidates for Church Council. To be open for three weeks. Nominations to be submitted to the Church Office. Editable version of Election information is 2021CCInformation. PDF version of Election information is here. Editable version of the nomination form is 2021ElectionForm. PDF version of the nomination form is here.

March 7: Close of nominations. Church Office to collate nominations and prepare and materials for notice boards, bulletins and notice of ballot prepared during the week March 8-12 in consultation with the chair of meetings of the Congregation.

March 9: Formal notice of a ballot for church councillors on March 28 accompanied by details of candidates. This gives the required two weeks notice. The Church office to put information about candidates on a board in the church foyer and publish information in association with either the Weekly Bulletin or an edition of Kingsway.

Between March 10 and March 26 - Church office prepares ballot papers - see BallotChurchCouncilElection2019 for a sample (to be updated for 2021).

March 28: Election of Church Councillors.

The week following March 28. Election report wrtitten and published on the CongregationMeetingReports page on the Psalter wiki. Successful candidates advised. Notice of successful candidates printed in the weekly bulletin for April 4.

Election of Church Councillors (2020)

It was not possible to hold an election of church councillors in 2020 due to the rrestrictions on meeting associated with covid-19. Current Church Councillors agreed to continue until an election of new councillors is possible in 2021. (This election was held in March 2021.)

Election of Church Councillors (2019)

The following is the timetable for the election of Church Councillors in 2019. There will be nine positions to fill, noting that some retiring Church Councillors may renominate for a futher term.

July 28 - Congregation meeting provided with information about the timing and process.

September 1 - Start of call for nomination of candidates for Church Council. To be open for three weeks. Nominations to be submitted to the Church Office. Editable version of Election information is here. PDF version of Election information is here. Editable version of the nomination form is here. PDF version of the nomination form is here.

September 22 - Close of nominations. Church Office to collate nominations and prepare and materials for notice boards, bulletins and notice of ballot prepared during the week September 23-27 in consultation with the chair of meetings of the Congregation.

September 29 - Formal notice of a ballot for church councillors on October 13 accompanied by details of candidates. This gives the required two weeks notice. The Church office to put information about candidates on a board in the church foyer and publish information in the October monthly bulletin.

Between October 7 and October 11 - Church office prepares ballot papers - see BallotChurchCouncilElection2019

October 13 - Election of Church Councillors.

The week following October 13. Election report wrtitten and published on the CongregationMeetingReports page on the Psalter wiki. Successful candidates advised. Notice of successful candidates printed in the weekly bulletin for October 20.

Election of Church Councillors (2018)

The following is the proposed timetable for he election of Church Councillors in 2018. It is not yet confirmed. There will be four positions to fill, noting that some retiring Church Councillors may renominate for a futher term.

July 29 - Congregation meeting provided with information about the timing and process.

July 22 - Start of call for nomination of candidates for Church Council. To be open for three weeks. Nominations to be submitted to the Church Office. Editable version of Election information is here. PDF version of Election information is here. Editable version of the nomination form is here. PDF version of the nomination form is here.

August 12 - Close of nominations. Church Office to collate nominations and prepare and materials for notice boards, bulletins and notice of ballot prepared during the week August 13-17 in consultation with the chair onf meetings of the Congregation.

August 19 - Formal notice of a ballot for church councillors on September 2 accompanied by details of candidates. This gives the required two weeks notice. The Church office to put information about candidates on a board in the church foyer and publish information in the September monthly bulletin.

Between August 20 and August 31 - Church office prepares ballot papers.

September 2 - Election of Church Councillors.

The week following September 2. Election report wrtitten and published on the CongregationMeetingReports page on the Psalter wiki. Successful candidates advised. Notice of successful candidates printed in the weekly bulletin for 9 September.

Election of Church Councillors (2017)

The following is the timetable for he election of Church Councillors in 2017. There will be nine positions to fill, noting that some retiring Church Councillors may renominate for a futher term.

July 9 - Congregation meeting provided with information about the timing and process.

July 9 - Start of call for nomination of candidates for Church Council. To be open for three weeks. Nominations to be submitted to the Church Office. Editable version of Election information is here. PDF version of Election information is here. Editable version of the nomination form is here. PDF version of the nomination form is here.

July 30 - Close of nominations. Church Office to collate nominations and prepare and materials for notice boards, bulletins and notice of ballot prepared during the week August 1-4 in consultation with the chair onf meetings of the Congregation.

August 6 - Formal notice of a ballot for church councillors on August 20 accompanied by details of candidates. This gives the required two weeks notice. The Church office to put information about candidates on a board in the church foyer and publish information in the August monthly bulletin.

Between August 7 and August 18 - Church office prepares ballot papers.

August 20 - Election of Church Councillors.

The week following August 20. Election report wrtitten and published on the CongregationMeetingReports page on the Psalter wiki. Successful candidates advised. Notice of successful candidates printed in the weekly bulletin for 27 August.

Timing of Congregational Meetings (Update February 2018)

Recent experience has been that most suitable time for meetings of the congregation are late on Sunday morning following combined worship. Attempts will be made to hold meetings at such a timein March and mid-year. The November meeting will be held on a week-night evening to provide an opportunity for attendance by people who cannot attend meetings held on a Sunday morning.

While meeting dates planned long in advance are desirable, it is not always possible meet such a plan.

For 2017 and 2018 there will be four meetings of the congregation.

• March - To receive accounts and the annual report, to appoint Congregational Outreach Projects selection committee
• Mid-year - For approval of Congregational Outreach projects
• November - Approval of plans for next year and consequent Budget
• Late in the the year - Special split meeting to elect elders

Suggestions welcome.

JohnSnare - Chair of the Congregation

Timing of Congregational Meetings (Update October 2014)

Recent Community minutes have highlighted that some people do not understand the decision to only have one or two Communities or functions report at each Congregatinal meeting, and that these reports need to be comprehensive and forward looking. This arose as some members of the congregation expressed concern that too often these reports were just a repeat of what was in the weekly bulletin, Newview, on noticeboards and announced from the pulpit, and they asked for the process to be improved.

Further, there were comments in these minutes about the timing of Congregational meetings. The following comments are to help members of the congregation to better understand what was intended by these changes.

First and foremost, ALL Communites are welcome and encouraged to provide a written report to every congregational meeting. If there are matters in that report of concern to members of the congregation they can and will be discussed in General Business if they are not covered elsewhere in the meeting.

If however, there are any decisions required by the congregation on matters under the responsibilities of any Community, as they should have gone to Church Council first, the item and decison can form part of the Church Council report/presentation. If there is urgent business (not advertising of an event) that has not gone to Church Council, this can also be raised in any and every meeting.

What this means is that Communites can bring matters of importance to every Congregatinal meeting, but it is intended that it NOT be matters of advertising and event. If communites want to make their information further available to the congregation, every Community has a notice board provided and copies of their monthly minutes (with confidential information removed) can be displayed on their noticeboards. This will help keep the noticeboards fresh and interesting.

As to the timing of Congregational meetings, the feedback received was on two issues. Meetings were too long and why are they always at the same time, as this often prevents the same people from attending.

To enhance the inclusive nature of Congregational meetings, we are trying different meeting structures and different times to see if we can improve attendance and participation. This is the reason the November 2014 meeting is on a Sunday at 1:30pm, as the discussion is key to the future of GWUC and we want to try and maximise attendance.

I am more than happy to receive comments on these changes, but I ask people to give the changes an opportunity to work, and to respect that some members of our congregation have not felt past meetings were inclusive, they went far too long, and there was not a lot of participation.

WarrenGreenwood
Congregational Chairperson

CategoryCongregation

Timing of Congregational Meetings (Update July 2014)

A proposal was raised at the November 2013 meeting to move the meeting time to one that is more accessible to more members of the congregation. This was determined to be following a 10:00am combined worship service. In 2014, these service dates have become more flexible and so the dates shown above may not be achieved.

It is intended to continue with the Sunday meetings unless the majority of the congregation wish to change.

Broadly the dates will remain the same (March/July/November) in that there will be 3 meetings per year (unless an additional meeting is required) and the focus of these meetings will be as shown above, however they will be coordinated with the ministry team and preaching plan.

WarrenGreenwood
Congregational Chairperson

Timing of Congregational Meetings

At its meeting on 17 Mar 2010 (CouncilMinutes20100317), Council agreed to the following:

(This followed some recorded discussion regarding the proposal, see the CongregationalMeetingsDiscussion page.)

For the next five years, these are the nominated dates:

It should be noted that these are nominated dates, subject to modification by the Chair and secretary of the Congregation, who have the Constitutional responsibility to call meetings. In particular, the timing of meetings has been the subject of subsequent discussions.

Church Council

Constitution of the Glen Waverley Uniting Church Council was approved in July 2013 (see CongMeetingMinutes20130701). This was the result of a review of Church Structures (see ChurchFutureScProposal). The constitution of the Church Council was revised at a meeting of the congregation in July 2019 (see CongMeetingMinutes20190728) that approved a change from 10 to 13 elected members.

Church Council consists of:

• 13 elected members
• 2 co-opted members
• Ministers in placement.

Current members are: CouncilGroup

Elections for Church Councillors are held each year in accordance with clause 3.3 of the Constitution and Regulations of the Uniting Church (https://assembly.uca.org.au/resources/regulations).

Some History

In February 2013, Rev Rosemary Carter resigned her ministry at Glen Waverley Uniting, and set in train a significant restructure of operations at the church. Listed here are a number of pages relating to those events, and are recorded for future reflection. "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it." (Winston Churchill, 1948)

• ChurchDissonance - a reflection on the underlying rumour mill that surrounded the events of 2013

• ChurchLifeAndWitness - a chronicle of the process instituted by the Presbytery of Port Phillip East in response to RosemaryCarter's resignation.