Annual Report of Council to Congregation, Nov 2011

1. Council

Council met on 13 occasions during the year, including 2 extraordinary meetings.
DeanMann took over from BeverlyMcGlead as Deputy Chair. My thanks to Dean for taking on this responsibility so willingly, and for acting in my stead during 3 meetings when I was unavailable.
My thanks to both DavidMorgan and LynneBoyer, Secretary and Deputy Secretary, for the huge assistance they render in making the council run smoothly.
MarjorieBedford has resigned
The following Councillors terms of office have been completed, and they are not seeking re-election:
Nominations were called for new Councillors, but to date, only returning councillors
- AlisonClarkson
- DeanMann are seeking re-election. A new call for nominations will be issued in the new year.
Council thanks all its councillors for their dedicated service to Council, and particularly wishes to record its gratitude to the retiring and retired councillors. David is also standing down as treasurer, and we record our appreciation for his willingness to serve in this role. We wish them well in their new undertakings.
EvanLaidlaw continues as a coopted member of Council.
Council now includes a minute to record the passing of any church member, prompted by the sad loss in Feb of Brian Clarkson, a dedicated council member who was active in many spheres of church life.

A mini-campaign was held during the month of October. To date, revised pledges are slightly down on last year, but we have had less than one half of pledgers return their pledging forms. Please, if you are one of the missing ones, return your form to the Church Office, even if you do not wish to change your pledge!
We expect to work to an increased time allocation for the ministries of Seniors, and Childrens and Families. These are to be increased to 20 hours per week.

We farewelled Ineke Gyles on 30 Jan, and welcomed RosemaryCarter on 8 Feb. The ministry team have been working with both Elders and Council on various themes exploring our understanding of the role of Glen Waverley Uniting Church.
DebbieDavey stood down as Childrens and Families pastoral worker, and her role has been filled by the two Belindas, Belinda Chung and Belinda Clear. Council has endeavoured to raise the profile of the C&F worker, and is expanding the hours of this ministry. We will be advertising for a permanent C&F Pastor in the new year.
Before Debbie left, she wrote a comprehensive report on the C&F ministry, and Council and the Ministry Team (through the C&F committee) have been working through the recommendations that Debbie made.

The 9:30 worship has been running as an interactive service throughout the year, and some issues have arisen as a result of experience gained with the service. These were canvassed by the Faith Development Group through a survey of congregation members, and their report has been received by Council. Recommendations from this report that: council approve the move of the 9.30 service to 9.15, maintaining the creative style of the service and re-including time for notices. Other services to remain unchanged.
Other services (8am, 11am, 4:30pm, 7pm) have continued more or less as previously.

The CommunicationsCommittee has made a number of changes throughout the year, notably with Bulletin layout and presentation (cutting back on weekly content, and moving it as possible to a monthly Bulletin).
NewView has been restarted under the editorial eye of RobinPope, and we are pleased with the new image that Robin brings to the NewView.
The question of a new Notice Board has continued to be discussed - hopefully in the new year CC will be able to bring forward a recommendation.

We still have not got a 100% response to our call for annual reports from Church Groups. If you are a group convenor, please complete a simple report form (see AnnualReport2010 for the information required) - it helps Council in its planning!

The Chinese Church from Box Hill are now running regular saturday evening services in Cantonese in our buildings. GWUC offers our buildings at a reduced rental for this group.
Parking has again been an issue, with no clear resolution of the problem.

We have now completed two years of On The Way Together mission group activity. While these groups report elsewhere on a regular basis, it should be noted that Council is mindful of making sure that the structure of these groups still meets the vision we hold for GWUC.

After 5 years as Office Manager, WendyWyatt's contract came to an end. It was thought appropriate to review the position description for the office, and a new position of ChurchOfficeAdministrator was created. This new position was advertised, and after due process, HeatherHon was appointed to the position. Heather's position will be part-time, 4 days per week in the new year.
Council is very grateful to BelindaClear who has been filling in for the days when Heather was not in the office. Belinda is employed on a sessional basis.

An audit of the church database, ChurchInfo, was held during May and June. Out of 1444 entries in the database, there are still 534 people who have yet to return their database forms. Please attend to this if you are one of the 534!
The outcome of the audit was a greatly enhanced accuracy for the names and classification of people in the database. It is intended to hold these audits once every 5 years. The database is now being used for most office tasks requiring access to people's details, and the "one-stop-shop" will ensure that communications with church members will be far more accurate, and meeting people's needs.
There are 87 groups identified in the church database and 1444 people, of whom 887 are identified as confirmed members