Present: Erica Fraser, Ken Willms, Janice Block, Gil Klassen, Anna Robinson, Joel Dyck
Staff Present: Reg Toews, Kevin Wiens, Jason Bryans
Guests: Galen Heinrichs, Jodi Kozan
Reg shared from Luke 11:29 and following. This passage has Jesus speaking fairly harshly towards the Pharisees saying “Woe to you…”; the Pharisees ask for a sign despite already seeing Jesus heal and cast out demons, etc. Reg attended Young Adults on Tuesday and they were discussing heaven and hell. God is a loving God but he is also holy and some will be excluded from heaven. We need to hold both of these truths in tension with each other. Time was spent in prayer. The Covenant of Collaboration was read.
Motion #1 – to accept the agenda – MSC
Motion #2 – to accept the January 10, 2023 Council Meeting minutes– MSC
Joel and Janice met with Chandra, Kendrew and Kevin on January 17, 2023. Their report has been circulated. Chandra has invited Council to meet with the Youth Ministry leaders sometime in the next couple of months.
Facilities: There are increased costs that are not in the budget due to vandalism that has occurred at Attridge and North Site. This has resulted in security expenses to reduce the risk of further vandalism. There are many maintenance issues to address that will be costly as well. He and his team are working on a maintenance plan for the next 5-10 years. Jason feels is not unreasonable to allocate $100,000.00 per year to the budget for the next 5 years to address these needs. Jason is recruiting new volunteers to join the Facilities team.
The need to allow specific lay leaders to access the database on Planning Center was shared. This will help decrease the administrative load for the Children’s and Youth Ministries staff in particular. They would not have access to any financial information but to a significant amount of personal information. There is already a privacy/confidentiality protocol that would be followed including signing of a confidentiality agreement. Jason will investigate if there is any way that we could track who is accessing information and when with in Planning Center. In the interim, they will have people track themselves – the date, where they are when they access the database and for how long.
Motion #3 – To change the Privacy Officer of Forest Grove Community Church from Susan Enns to Kevin Wiens – MSC
Motion #4 – To allow a limited number of lay people access to the database as approved by the Privacy Officer – MSC
Motion #5: – To approve the January 2023 Financial Report as presented – MSC
Discussion occurred regarding the upcoming meeting on January 31, 2023 with North Site Lead Team and on February 2, 2023 with The Gathering Lead Team. The Transition Conversation report from Reg and Brenda Toews will be shared with both Lead Teams and Attridge staff as soon as possible so they can process the information in preparation for the meetings with Council.
The Attridge Lead Team will lead an Attridge Congregation meeting on Feb 4, 2023. The Congregations Meeting will be moved from March 5 to March 19, 2023. Reg wants to have a Pastoral Search Team set up to recommend to the membership for this meeting so the search for a new Lead Pastor can start as soon as possible after this. The final Transition Conversation will be moved from Feb 2 and 4, 2023 to March 2 and 4, 2023. Kevin shared a draft format for reporting on the Strategic Plan to Council. The aim is to have a report to share with the congregation by March 2023. Kevin is planning to set up an elective at Attridge in April/May 2023 around biblical sexuality.