Page 738 AGASSIZ PRESBYTERY EXECUTIVE MEETING MINUTES June 19, 2018 Trinity United Church, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba Attendance Chair Chair Elect Past Chair Conference Minister Education & Students Equity & Diversity Life Committee Music United Nominations Pastoral Relations Pastoral Oversight Property Stewardship & Mission Treasurer Secretary & UCW North Member at Large Guest Harold Kenyon Sarah Bruer Joan Jarvis Margaret Scott Kristin Woodburke Sandra Rex Carol Zacharias Claire Ommerli Ken Thomas Regrets: Heather Lea, Chuck Ross, Julie Baker, Lloyd Baker, Lynne Sanderson Call to Order: 1:05 pm - meeting was constituted and quorum was noted. Harold Kenyon called the meeting to order saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ, the only head of the Church, and by the power entrusted to us as followers of Jesus, we gather at the table and open this meeting of the Agassiz Presbytery Executive for such business and ministry as shall come before it. Acknowledgements: We acknowledge that our Presbytery resides on Treaty One and Treaty Two Land, which is also home to Dakota Tipi and Dakota Plains First Nations which are not part of the numbered treaties but are recognized as having used this land. We celebrate that our presbytery is an Affirming Ministry within the United Church of Canada Vision statement Agassiz Presbytery strives, and is called to be a welcoming and affirming regional court of the United Church of Canada. Our purpose is to carry out the responsibility of providing oversight and support to our congregations and ministry personnel. Following Jesus' example of radical inclusivity regardless of differences such as ability, age, culture, gender identity, race, sexual orientation and socio-economic status, we seek to emulate his teachings and love in our ministry to and with each other.
Agassiz Presbytery Executive meeting - June 19/18 Page 739 Opening prayer We opened our meeting with prayer led by Harold Kenyon. Approval of Agenda: MOTION # 1098: M.Scott/K.Woodburke that the agenda be approved as presented. CARRIED Receiving and Approval of Minutes: MOTION # 1099: C.Ommerli/S.Bruer that the minutes of the Agassiz Presbytery Executive meeting held March 20, 2018, Pages 721 to 724, be approved, and that the minutes of the Agassiz Presbytery meetings held April 21, 2018, Pages 725 to 733, and May 26, 2018, Pages 734 to 737 be received for information. CARRIED Business Arising: It is noted that we have not heard back from Bob Gilbert on the status of Jordan Basso and whether he can represent us on the Board of Rock Lake Camp. We understand that he is still a member of Winnipeg Presbytery. Harold is to clarify this information with Jordan. Correspondence: List of correspondence received from March 13 to June 16, 2018 was circulated to all executive members prior to the meeting. Item noted as received on June 4 should be omitted as it was meant for Agassiz North Presbyterial Letter and certificate from David Armour, Director of Philanthropy, thanking Agassiz Presbytery for donating $325,367 in 2017. A copy will be sent separately to all Presbyters Certificate of Trustees Asking Consent of Presbytery for the sale of Swan Lake United Church and also a copy of the minutes of a congregational meeting held June 7, 2018 Certificate of Trustees Asking Consent of Presbytery for the sale of Altamont United Church, copy of the minutes of the Board of Trustees and congregational meeting held June 10, 2018 and the Manitoba Certificate of Title Will Worksheet Compilations sent by Beth Kerr. Sarah Bruer gave us more information about this Worksheet. This will be attached to these minutes and discussed at the September meeting. A transition checklist for United Church Courts was updated in May 2018 and will be sent separately to all Presbyters New Compensation Model will be sent to Linda Sharpe and ask her to send to all Treasurers in the Presbytery (Harold to send this)
Agassiz Presbytery Executive meeting - June 19/18 Page 740 Transition Commission Report Ken Thomas presented the following report. The Transition Commission met by conference call and Adobe Connect on June 8. I also attended the annual national meeting of CIES conveners last week in Toronto. Although the main focus was matching iterms and learning sites, there were update on the Candidacy Pathway implementation, which included updates on the Office of Vocation, which will assume responsibility for candidates and learning sites. Although we are forging ahead we cannot announce anything officially until the remits are approved by GC42. The Office of Vocation is currently interviewing ministers and is working towards being fully functional by end of November so they can act on issues and requests effective January 1. Future learning sites will be for 2 year appointments for graduate ministers mostly, so we need to advise potential learning sites of that. Under the new funding formula the region receives an operating grant. The TC has prepared a draft budget for 2019. Although much of what our CPM has done will move to the OV there are still a lot of pastoral relations matters that will continue in the region. We have completed a job description and have begun the process of hiring a pastoral relations minister. The new staffing model will include regional staff and shared staff with regions 2 & 4. We have identified some staff that will be regional and are hoping to negotiate shared staffing on some other administrative areas. There are also some proposals for nationally shared services but we are not sure about some of that. We have appointed two people to lead the discussions with the other regions. We are aware that there are some expenses that were funded by Presbyteries that will be passed up to the regions. Travel for Presbytery meetings and events will no longer be required, but mileage for pastoral charge supervisors, oversight visits, be they scheduled or special, meetings for camps, other boards, etc. The treasurers will be contacted, if not already, to provide estimates on expenses that may be required by the region. Each region will continue to receive an M & S grant which is to be used by the region at its discretion. Most of this money has been used to fund a Mission Support minister and to fund the community ministries in Winnipeg. However, we are aware that Presbyteries have funded camps on their own. It is our intention at this point to continue those grants through the M & S grant. Therefore Rock Lake needs to get an application into the conference M & S committee by August. We are asking the current M & S grant committee to stay in place until the new council is formed to administer the grants. We may do that with some other committees as well. We have also begun initial planning for the first council meeting in the spring. Our Executive Secretary is responsible for three regions so they cannot meet at the same time. As well it would be good for her and her admin support to have at least one week between the meetings. We may also have to consider alternative times for celebrating ordinations. We have chosen some dates and are investigating a possible location. We also have been discussing possible options for choosing a name.
Agassiz Presbytery Executive meeting - June 19/18 Page 741 Meeting and dates for 2018: Presbytery Meetings: September 19, Wednesday, Rock Lake Camp November 17, Saturday, McKenzie United Church, Portage la Prairie Executive Meetings: Wednesday, September 5 at Trinity United Church Wednesday, October 17 at Trinity United Church Setting of Quorum MOTION # 2000: M.Scott/S.Bruer that the quorum for our meetings be set at 1/5 of the members entitled to vote with at least 1/3 members present being ministers and 1/3 members present being lay people. CARRIED Financial Report The following financial reports were presented: Budget for 2018 Presbytery Allocations for 2018 Committee Reports: Pastoral Relations Sarah Bruer reported that Ross Bruleigh is now in Killarney hospital following a car accident in May. Harold said he was planning on visiting Ross this week. MOTION # 2001: S.Bruer/C.Zacharias that Agassiz Presbytery appoints that Allison Halstead be appointed as pastoral charge supervisor for Cartwright Pastoral Charge until the end of August 2018. CARRIED Equity and Diversity Kristen announced that Sarah Bruer would attend the Affirm United Church Conference in July 2018 on behalf of Agassiz Presbytery As Kristen will be relocating to Oak Bluff Pastoral Charge, Bonnie McRae will be the contact person for this committee Pride Parade will be held in Portage la Prairie on July 7 Kristen said that just because our Presbytery was an Affirming Presbytery does not mean that the new Region will be Affirming.
Agassiz Presbytery Executive meeting - June 19/18 Page 742 Nominations MOTION # 2002: K.Woodburke/C.Zacharias that James DeBeer be added as a member of the Equity and Diversity Committee. CARRIED Representatives to Conference Executive Harold Kenyon and Sarah Bruer will be our representatives to Conference Executive with Lloyd Baker as an alternate. Property MOTION # 2003: S.Bruer/S.Rex that Agassiz Presbytery consent to the listing for sale of certain Real Property, the legal description of which is Lot 4, as shown on a Plan of Subdivision of part of the Village of Altamont, in Manitoba registered in the Morden Land Titles Office as No. 27 (Block 39), municipal address of which is 54 Empress Avenue, Altamont., pursuant to an agreement between the Board of Trustees of Altamont United Church, a congregation of the United Church of Canada and part of the Miami Pastoral Charge. CARRIED MOTION # 2004: S.Bruer/M.Scott that Agassiz Presbytery consent to the listing for sale of certain Real Property, the legal description of which is Lot 26, Plan 66 E/S of 4th Street, Swan Lake, Manitoba, pursuant to an agreement between the Board of Trustees of Swan Lake United Church, a congregation of the United Church of Canada and part of the Miami Pastoral Charge. CARRIED Closing Prayer was led by Harold Kenyon. The meeting adjourned at 3:50 pm Chair: Harold Kenyon Secretary: Claire Ommerli
Will Worksheet Compilations Summary There appears to be consensus on transferring the Jubilee Fund as is to the Region There appears to be consensus on giving Rock Lake Camp a portion of the funds (amounts suggested range from $7500 to $30,000) to allow them to plan for not having us as a source of funding Several groups suggested forwarding some or all of the money to the Region Several groups wanted to allocate some for training for clergy, LLWL, lay people, etc. with various amounts and descriptions of what that would be for Two groups were interested in having some seed money set aside for Clusters Other ideas proposed by one group each include: o Congregational support o Pastoral relations/pastoral oversight staff and expenses o Youth work or YAAY o Communications o Archives o M and S o Setting up a trust fund and only spending the interest o Have a big party o Give everyone mugs o Healing Fund, TRC, ANCC o Affirm United o Indigenous Book Gift o Ecology Project Detailed Results by Table Group (please note table group number were added by me and will not reflect the actual table group numbers at the meeting) Table Group 1 RLUCC Regional Council? Jubilee Fund RLUCC 30,000 as a 3 year allocation advance and assist RLUCC in accessing funds to be selfsufficient Regional Council 20,000 Transfer Jubilee investments to the Region Nothing Table Group 2 Pastoral Relations/Pastoral Oversight staff? And expenses for our region
Congregational support Jubilee fund remain transfer as is A portion sent to the region LLWL Support/Education RLUCC RLUCC 10,000 $25,000 for pastoral relations/ pastoral oversight that might fall through the cracks (seed $ to regional council) LLWL $5000 Transfer Jubilee investments to the Region as is Want to mitigate burden on congregations for whatever supplemental allocation might be needed from the region (beyond denominational allocation) Table Group 3 Allocate to establish/maintain communication e.g. technology, paper, wifi Support to youth and YAAY Rock Lake Camp Support Forward to Region to continue their work Support to education of ministers (both students and congregations) including LLWL, internships Transfer Jubilee investments to the Region Don t get hung up on small stuff. Remember where the $ came from. Support the concept of UCW bursaries because not every church has a fund raising UCW for such bursary Trust account set-ups to accrue $, not spending the principal like a Foundation We need to be mugged Table group 4 Outreach including Rock Lake Camp, Healing Fund, TRC, ANCC Funds to support future means/ways of staying in touch/education/retreats to check in Mission and Service Fund Archives OR hand over all the financial resources to the Regional Council in trust for the Foundational Mission and Values of the United Church
$5000-6000 for travel and start-up expenses related to a retreat $5000 for Rock Lake Camp Transfer Jubilee Investment to the region 20% of remainder to archives Remainder to region Have a big dinner and dance party to give thanks, celebrate and honour what has been as we move forward to a new place Table Group 5 Transition costs Rock Lake camp Jubilee Remain Cluster/collegial events Not sure Limited resources Local support who handles money? Table Group 6 Jubilee Fund Rock Lake Camp Affirm United M and S Ecology Project SEED On-going education of lay and ordered Indigenous book gift Jubilee Maintain current amount Rock Lake maintain current amount $5000 plus extra $2500 Affirm membership and Rep (approx.. $1000) The amounts don t matter as much as the funds being established Table Group 7 A portion for Cluster support 10-20%
Training for leadership development Technology training Support for Indigenous ministry (Sask. Conf. Model) Rock Lake Camp Jubilee Fund to continue! Rock Lake 10-20% Clusters 20% - Nothing