Minutes of Elders’ and Deacons’ Meeting
held on Tuesday 1 September 2015
at South Street Church
Present: Elders - Richard Francis, Peter Green, Seb Latimer
Deacons – Mat Cooper, Cathy Ogden, Anne Francis, John Hoult, Will Mathers, Rosemary
Sherwin, Anne Strobel
Apologies from T Spelman
Chair: Mat Cooper
1.
Meditation and Prayer
Mat read from Matthew ch 4 vs 18-22. As followers of Jesus we should allow him to lead,
choosing the course and setting the pace. The meeting was then opened with prayer.
2.
Minutes of the Last Meeting
The minutes had been distributed were agreed as accurate and were signed.
3.
Matters Arising from the Last Meeting
a. Child Friendly Services
The Sunday School Teachers will discuss and offer some suggestions.
b. CAP Money Management Course
The first course is due to start on Wednesday 9 September. Only one person has signed up
so far but the course will still run with the possibility of others joining later.
c. Mobile Phone
Seb presented a number of options and prices. Agreed on a cheap contract with Vodaphone
for about £20 for 24 months. The phone will primarily be for contacts to ring in to Seb or to
a designated elder when Seb is away.
4.
Deacons Reports
a. Youth Work – Will Mathers
Lee Abbey youth camp went well.
Will hopes to present the Swaziland team to the church on Sunday for prayer and
encouragement.
Swaziland Garden Party arranged for Saturday 12 September at Mandalay.
The young people are planning a weekend camp at Hidden Valley the weekend of 5
September.
The Point and Will’s Group will both recommence in September.
The two older Sunday School groups will now combine for ages 12 – 16.
b. Children’s Work – Cathy Ogden
Sunday School is now back to normal after the summer break.
Several people have offered to help with Sunday School – Stella Ansell, Margaret Tayler,
Caroline Tucker. Debbie Spelman will share teaching the third class with Mat and Heather
Cooper.
There is a good core group of younger girls. The boys have been involved with the Lads and
Dads events over the summer and have bonded well.
A Baby Group will be starting on Tuesday Mornings for mothers and babies after the Toddler
Group. Toddler Group now have a face book page and details will be on the church website.
There is still a waiting list for Toddler Group.
c. Finance – Anne Strobel
Anne had circulated the accounts and agreed to publish accounts for this meeting 6 monthly.
Gift Aid has been claimed up to April. Anne now plans to put in a claim 6 monthly and
ultimately 3 monthly. Overall giving is down by about 14%. Several families have moved
away, and this issue will be raised at the members’ meeting.
Anne will look into getting a water meter to reduce water rates.
We now have superfast broadband from TalkTalk.
d. Care and Visiting – Rosemary Sherwin
All of the elderly on the visiting list had been visited in the last month.
Flowers and cards had been sent to Lee Mitton and Vi Wheeble and meals had been
provided for Lee and Vi.
e. Maintenance – John Hoult
John circulated an action plan.
John had repainted one of the benches at Christ Church but the other one he considered to
be beyond repair. He suggested that South Street could replace it for about £100, and this
was agreed. Almost all jobs had been completed.
Anne and David Strobel were thanked for cleaning the South Street church carpet and Ralph
had weeded the outside area.
f. Technical Support – Mat Cooper
Everything working ok. Will asked for a Youth page on the website.
g. Safeguarding and Housegroups – Anne Francis
All well at the moment. A housegroup leaders’ meeting planned for Sunday 13 September.
5.
Members’ Meeting
Arranged for Sunday 20 September after the morning Church Service. This will be a picnic
lunch at South Street at approximately 1.15pm followed by the Members’ Meeting. Nonmembers will be welcome to attend but will not be able to take part in the discussions at the
meeting.
6.
Agenda for Members’ Meeting
1. Administrator
2. Finance
3. Accommodation
4. Seb’s role
The substance of what would be shared at the meeting was agreed. Peter Green had
produced a draft letter. This will be amended slightly and distributed to members for
consideration for the two Sundays previous to the meeting.
7.
Any other business
a. Humanitarian Aid for Calais Refugees
Anne Francis brought to the notice of the meeting an email from Churches Together
about the plight of the Calais refugees. Grosvenor church are sending supplies and Anne
agreed to circulate details to housegroup leaders.
b. Sunday Evening Prayer Meetings
There was a request that these meetings should continue even if there are only a very
small number able to attend. It was of concern that the church needs these times of
prayer together.
c. Mission Co-ordinator
Rosemary Sherwin volunteered to co-ordinate the many prayer letters received from
those missions we support as a church, and to highlight one mission each month.
d. Hospitality for Speakers
There was only one visiting speaker needing hospitality in the next three months.
Hospitality arranged.
e. Contributors – Gifts
Cathy was concerned that more people should be encouraged to contribute, using their
various gifts. To be on the agenda for the next meeting.
f. Issues
Cathy suggested that the church should address topical issues. This will be taken into
consideration for future studies. We are planning to study Joseph next and it was
pointed out that there are also plenty of issues and politics in Joseph.
8.
Seb closed the meeting with prayer.
Date of the next meeting – Tuesday 6 October