Members Meeting MINUTES

Date: Sunday, 25 August 2013

1. Welcome Neil Ryan welcomed members and opened the meeting in prayer. 2. Apologies Apologies are recorded on the attached sheet. 3. Minutes Moved by Chris Gould passed by members that the minutes of the Members Meeting on 23rd June 2013 be accepted as a true and fair record. 4. Membership - Janette Reynolds was endorsed by Neil Ryan and accepted into membership through a show of hands. 5. Ministry Leadership Team Reports - Treasurer: noted that Kristen has taken over as treasurer. John, Trish and Heather continue their roles in the finance team; Pastoral Care (Allan Stanley-Smith): six residential care people are being looked after currently. The number of general care people seems to be increasing every day. Danny Page has been working on an insert to the Welcome Pack that will outline the different activities at Unley Park Baptist Church. Thank you to Bob Hunt for preparing the Welcome Packs. Acknowledgement and thanks to the team that assist with Pastoral Care. There was some discussion on whether it would be appropriate for people who want the congregation to pray for them to have their names published in the Link. Outcome was that individuals approach Allan if they want to have their names included in the Link for specific mention. LifeChurch (Gavin Jones): the leadership team has been spending time getting to the heart of what it is God wants from LifeChurch and the commitments required as part of the church family. The recent camp was very successful with a record number of participants. It was pleasing to see a lot of new members joining in. Youth Ministry (Seth Emery): the youth leaders have been stepping up and taking some more responsibility. Growth - both spiritually and in number of participants - has been positive. The trip to Papua New Guinea is approaching. A briefing for the team and their parents to be held soon to address some of the cultural issues and other aspects of the trip in preparation for departure. Childrens Ministry (Kathy Heath): playgroup is thriving despite some gaps in the leadership team, with an injury and another person travelling overseas. Volunteers sought to help out in the short term. 45-50 families attend on a regular basis. Note that a police check is required. More focus is being placed on playgroup being a Christian group. Creche is going well, with strong support from Cathy Taylor. Love In Action: 13 pairs of chickens and 3 water filtration units have been purchased. Next term we have a need for a helper in each of: a) Creche; b) Little Tots; c) 3+. Members asked to approach Kathy if they are able to assist. Spirituality (Ken Leembruggen): when we walk out of the church, we walk into society as a minority group, yet the conversations we have in church are pretty much the same as the conversations we have outside (sport, the weather, .). The MLT has been asking how we can stimulate more discussion about our faith. Some surveys will be circulated from next month covering a number of topics with 25-30 questions each. The aim is twofold: to

encourage people to think about their faith; and that the results will allow the MLT to get an overview of the beliefs held by the congregation and respond accordingly Worship and Advocacy (Chris Gould): regular meetings are being held to review the way worship is conducted on a Sunday morning. In terms of advocacy, last Sunday was successful and quite a few people have been giving positive feedback about getting a catalyst group together. Robin Carter (rep for Baptist World Aid) invited Chris to attend a meeting at Baptist Union for churches with catalyst groups, and this will help to generate some momentum for UPBC. Irene is putting on a fundraising dinner later in the year, details to come later. Prayer (Noelene Hunt): members are encouraged to join the prayer meetings each Sunday at 9:45 prior to the morning service. The next after-church prayer meeting is tentatively planned for 15th September.

6. Vision Trustee Team Report (Rob Waldron) - The role of VTT is to provide support to the senior pastor. The VTT has recommended that Neil take a sabbatical next year. There will, of course, be a gap during that period and members were asked to think & pray about how we manage that. - Our pastors terms and conditions are generally set by the Baptist Union and they have proposed that annual leave for pastors be increased from 4 weeks to 5 weeks. That has been considered and endorsed by the VTT. - Owen and Sarah Ames have been back in Adelaide for some weeks. They are doing a terrific job in Japan and they have been commissioned back for a further period. - Tim and Bronwyn Badger were due to be back in Australia a couple of years ago, but things have been held up due the adoption process for their two daughters. There has been an ongoing discussion with OMF as to what they will do on their return, and while things are not clear yet members were asked to pray for them until the situation is resolved. 7. Administration Team (Heather Waldron): 7.1. a team has been put together to look at church renovations. Further information will be available in time for the AGM. 7.2. Painting of the church building commences next month. 7.3. The new illuminated sign has been put up. 7.4. New cleaners commence on a two month trial contract. 7.5. Justin Walton will provide assistance on WH&S. 7.6. Acknowledged Kristen and extended thanks to Trish and John for their ongoing support on finance matters. 7.7. The new church directory will be issued shortly 8. Questions / Other Business 8.1. Rose Harris spoke to a number of initiatives taking place in the Womens Ministry. Some assistance may be sought putting up some fixtures for the bible study group 8.2. A question from the floor re the churchs financial position. While no formal report had been prepared at this time, UPBC is in good financial shape although offerings are running behind budget. A formal report will be prepared for the next meeting 8.3. A question on the manse: it has been leased to Baptist Care for a 6 month trial period and is on-going. A suggestion was made that information on Sunday services be put through the letter box from time-to-time. 9. Close The meeting closed in prayer.