Church Council Minutes – 2.21.21

CUMC Church Council February 21, 2021

Attendees:  Sara Turner, Dave Lanzer, Charlie Moore, Mary Beth Holly, Hilary Ann Golder, Vicki Duane, Russell Flowers, Barb Julian, Stan Cardwell

1. Meeting began with prayer and devotion at 12:32pm.Difference between being a believer in Christ and a follower of Jesus Christ. Following Jesus requires movement/motion. Doesn’t rely on gifts or strengths of our mind, but the willingness to move forward.   Four movements:
   1. Restoration- power of Jesus is about restoring, not destructing, dividing or separating, He seeks to heal us and restore us to our full capacity
   2. Liberation- call to be freed from something, not freedom to do something. To be freed from brokenness, illness, sin.  Jesus frees us from selfish patterns of destruction, selfish thinking that is destructive. 
   3. Communion- Jesus models a need for communion, first with God, to lay down our burdens, feel renewed, and find a greater sense of patience to offer to our neighbors and ourselves.  Seek union with God and with others.
   4. Onward/Moving forward- Jesus calls us not to get too comfortable. Keep moving on and reaching others.

Examples of these four movements found in the story beginning in Mark 1:29

1. LLDC- Stan brought forward names to serve
   1. Nicole Mathisson – for member of CDC board
   2. Charlie Moore- for Vice Chair of council
   3. John Holly-for LLDC to bring total committee size up to 3, plus Stan.

Council discussed these nominations, Stan made a motion for approval of these nominations, Barb seconded, and council voted unanimously to approve all three.

1. Hilary and Vicki provided an update on their thoughts/plans for Christian Formation.  Did some feedback meetings with various formation groups (Mike Gorman, Ginny and Kim, youth leaders (Dave, Emily, Kate, Sara B), Michelle C.)  -still need to talk to leaders of FISH group.  
   1. Short term goals: all groups want improved communications, more alignment between groups and coordination of activities/themes, how to move forward post-pandemic as we transition to in-person fellowship/worship. 
      1. Planning for activity after Easter with Surprise the World by Michael Frost. Planning a monthly book club.   
      2. Children’s formation- have twice monthly pre-K group and once a month Kids in Action.  Hard to find regular leadership (teachers) for these groups. 
         1. Limited children’s ministry- how do we grow this?
         2. Parents of children are already busy, difficult to fill the leadership roles 
      3. Hybrid Camino activity-walking groups /prayer walk
   2. Long term goals: “Community is the most overpromised and underdelivered part of the church”
      1. Develop a discipleship pathway- form a team to focus on mission/vision
      2. What do we mean by making disciples of Jesus?  Are we disciples? If so, how do we develop disciples?

Group Discussion: Attendance is down from around 120 to 75 weekly (online).  We lost some families with young children when we began the online worship.   Care calls are still happening.  

Good group of pre-schoolers participating in virtual Sunday school. Post-COVID- will families return?

Churches with strong small group ministries are weathering this season better, than churches who have put all their energy into worship.

1. Hilary gave update on Communications/CDC support- CDC and staff have been set up with CUMC.net accounts, revamped CDC Facebook page (still in progress).  CDC Website is now integrated within the Church website.  Still having conversations about updates/improvements.  Main focus now is to help Beth get information out about enrollment.

1. Homecoming Council update- 

1. Current policies are fairly applicable (previously approved in Nov 2020) but a lot has changed recently. 
2. Russ asked the homecoming task members to review the guidelines and see what may need to be updated
   1. Does the seating chart align with our capacity restrictions?
   2. Based on previous survey more than 50% of the 71 respondents would likely want to return (now that school is back, vaccine is being rolled out)
3. Will review on Monday and set up to meet with the group to discuss procedures, reach out to other denominations in our community who have returned to in-person worship

Discussion: 

-Invite people to attend the 9:30am service.  

-Can we find a way to have children’s activities in person now that schools(private), daycares are open. Reduce kids/families screen burnout.

-What is the timeframe after potential exposure (Can we go back to 10days?  Exceptions for vaccinated?)

-Consider outdoor services again as weather improves? Outdoor service can’t be streamed.

– Huge variety of in person worship protocols.  Based on space, ability to spread out.

-Find ways to rebuild the community together.

– If we have policies and people to enforce policies in place we can return 

– Need to advertise by noon on Tuesdays, so signups can be completed by Friday and information can be passed to the usher team.

Goal to start in person worship by March 7th.  Need time to clean up sanctuary and set up process.

1. CDC advisory board- discussing with Joe D. the current structure of the board, not all positions are filled, not super effective from a communication standpoint.  

-New board would be responsible for reviewing by-laws and making recommendations

-New board would consist of chairperson, director (Vera/Beth), pre-K parent (Cheryl Cook), school age parent (Jonathan (last name?)), children’s and family ministry,

church member parent and church non parent, director/supervisor (pastor)

– finance, trustees, and staff parish, attend meetings as needed to make critical decisions quicker (or option to be a part of every meeting?)

Director attends board meetings quarterly

-to connect our church structure with CDC structure and eliminate the red tape 

– can use email to communicate with teams and vote by email

-may be good to invite Susan Myers to the board meetings 

Current Safe Sanctuary policy has financial implications, can we relax the 2 responsible adults per room requirement?  Perhaps during beginning and ending of the day when there is hallway coverage, classroom doors are open.  Need a proposal for SPRC to review.  Need for periodic monitoring of single adult in charge of a room?

ACTION ITEM: Barb will go to Beth to iron out a proposal   

1. Paul Doughty has given his resignation effective in June 2021.  One thing this has brought to our attention is the need to discuss what our worship programming should look like
   1. No current worship chair
   2. Reach out to Guest Worship to help with search
   3. Need to take the pulse of the congregation and see what their preference is
   4. Online worship presence will likely continue
   5. Time and effort spent on communication for both services
   6. Can services be integrated?
2. 41 members completed the 360 questionnaire required for our application
3. Resolution to change signors on the CDC bank account- Joe DaSilva, Beth Ryan, Vera Stewart, and Dale Dodd- Approved by council vote.
4. PPP2 application update- filed late January, going through process with BB &T.  Loan application is under review and should hear something in next 10 days (hopefully!) Unsure what the payment requirement is and if the loan can be forgiven.
5. State of Maryland also has grant funding for pre-K or CDCs.  An application is in progress.  Susan is working with Beth.  Potential of up to $60K.  Due in early March.
6. General Conference scheduled for August 29th, Annual conference end of October, Jurisdictional conference(bishops elected/appointed) end of November.    Still awaiting decisions on if general conference can be held in person. May hold virtual annual conference earlier.  A lay member to annual conference has not yet been identified.
7. Charlie recommends PBS series on History of Black Church in America (2 parts-4 hours) (Stream on Amazon Prime or from PBS)
8. We have a new District Superintendent Sarah Sweichart (sp?)