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Vestry Minutes Grace Church Vestry Meeting May 16, 2013 (includes notes from the Advance on May 4)

Grace Church Vestry Meeting

May 16, 2013   5:30 p.m., Finnerty & Stevens

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Present:  Rev. Francie Hills, Kathy Clausen, Geoff Perkins, John Cheek, Susan Gray, Ian Booton, Sally Brooke, Sue Gore, Rick Gore.

Away:  Dindy Anderson, Louise Robitaille

The meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m. Chaplain Geoff Perkins led us in Dwelling in the Word.  The minutes of the April 21 meeting will be available to approve at the June 20 meeting.  The clerk read a letter from Rick Haylon, Chair of Ben’s Lighthouse Fund in Newtown, CT, thanking Grace for its donation of $150.  St. Paul’s, Stockbridge, was also involved in the donation.  The clerk will send a copy of the letter to Tom Damrosch.

Treasurer’s Report: Geoff Perkins distributed the financial report for January through April, as well as a report on Grace’s cash assets, comparing year-end 2012 with the first quarter of 2013.   After discussion it was agreed to break down the “Schwab” funds into “restricted” and “other”.  Under “Trustee” accounts it was agreed that “Building-related” and “other” would be divided into two categories:  restricted and unrestricted, so that the parish could have a clearer idea of what it has to work with, both for the possible purchase of a building and modifications to it.  Geoff said he would have the asset sheet available in its new format for the May 30 Executive Team meeting.  The financial report was accepted as presented.

Other figures which will be made available to the parish on a weekly basis, both in the church bulletin and Tuesday’s Child, will be information on annual pledges, income from the week’s pledge and plate amounts, and attendance.  The counters will be given a sheet to write down the pledge & plate, which they will give to Francie for listing.

Committee/Other Reports:  

Property/building committee:  Rick Gore reported that the committee will be looking at a house on Route 7 on Monday.  Other properties are also being investigated.

May 4 Missional Advance Day was discussed.  Among the topics were: the need to discuss plans with other church wardens in the area;  the need for a “nimble” group to discuss a three-year plan;  what to keep, what to let go,  and who to partner with from the congregation.  The importance of listening and noticing what is around us was discussed.  We have a nice set of notes from the day, and they will be attached to these minutes. Francie recommended that we read, absorb, and pray about what was revealed at the meeting, and discuss it again. She said that a focus for Grace’s work was needed.  She will be attending a meeting on homelessness on June 6 and will report on it at the next Vestry meeting.  Gideon’s Garden was mentioned as a “natural fit” – something that arose from the children and the contacts and initiative of a member of the congregation.

Web Page:  Kathy Clausen will have a meeting with those interested in developing Grace’s web page.  She mentioned the focus will be on the “external”, outreach aspect of Grace, rather than on the “internal”.  Visitors to the site should be able to find out about what we are doing now, rather than where we came from.  The Sunday bulletin and Tuesday’s Child will be the internal communications vehicles.

Rector’s Report:  Francie thanked everyone involved for helping on the May 4 Missional Advance meeting in Sheffield.

The confirmation service that took place at St. Stephen’s was a moving event.  Nineteen parishioners from Grace Church were in attendance to celebrate with Ian and Mary Booton and Rob Clausen.

The first “Second Sunday” supper at Sullivan Station in Lee was a success.  Seventeen parishioners attended and reported having an enjoyable time.  Tom Doyle and George Raymond are researching where the next one will take place.

The Year-round Stewardship Team will meet Friday May 17 with Bruce Rockwell.  The team consists of John Cheek, Nancy Cobden, Tom Doyle, Viola Bagnaschi and Francie.  John Cheek will report on the meeting to the Vestry.

The Altar Guild will be holding a training session;

The Rota will now include coffee hour hosts and counters;

Don and Charlene Peet will renew their marriage vows at the Sunday, June 9 service;

On May 31 there will be a “Hispanic conversation” with the Deanery, clergy, lay people, the Bishop and the Canon of the Cathedral;

The Great Barrington Historical Society may be able to archive St. James’ records.  Francie is in the process of filling out the last Parish Register of St. James.  Francie, Doreen Hutchinson and Sue Gore will meet with Gary Leveille about inclusion of St. James’ as well as St. George’s records in the Historical Society archives.  Any genealogical questions would then be handled by the Society rather than the priest.

Francie is also working on contacting all those with ashes of a loved one in the columbarium and those with niches so that they can choose how they wish to proceed.  She will also be meeting soon with JohnToffey about final edits to the history of St. James he has written.

Wedding plans:  Francie said her marriage to Marc Britt will take place on October 12.  Wardens and Bible Study groups will be the only parishioners from invited from either church because of space concerns.  Grace will have a reception for Francie and Marc on October 20.  All parishioners and friends of the parish will be welcome to attend and celebrate. On the 27th of October they will be at Marc’s church in Maryland for a reception there.

New Business:  Rick Gore and John Cheek will head a storage shed “work party”, to be organized to sort through and clean out what has been stored both by St. James and St. George’s.

Sue Gore suggested that a summer potluck picnic for Grace, St. Paul’s and Christ Church Episcopal and Trinity Lutheran be organized.  After discussion it was decided that it would take place mid-day on Sunday July 28, and include a service beforehand.  Sue will talk to the VFW in Great Barrington about space availability, and will be in touch with Annie Ryder and Tom Damrosch about it.

Pastoral Report:  Francie reported that Pat Pixley was in Fairview Hospital recovering from an infection, and to keep her in our prayers.

The meeting closed with prayer at 7:13.

Respectfully submitted, Sally N. Brooke, Clerk of the Vestry

(Notes on May 4 Missional Advance meeting on p. 4 – SNB)

Notes on Missional Advance Day of Reflection and Planning, May 4, 2013

Attending: Dindy Anderson, Ian Booton, Sally Brooke, John Cheek, Kathy Clausen, Pennie Curry, Rick and Sue Gore, Susan Gray, Francie Hills, Doreen Hutchinson, Geoff Perkins, Dutch Pinkston  Facilitator: Bill Coyne

How might we re-state the Five Marks of Mission, in our own words, to fit the culture of Grace?

1.  “To proclaim the good news of the Kingdom”:  articulation, incarnation.  Step up to the plate, articulate the love and call us into action.  Showing God’s love to the world, otherwise what’s the purpose of the church?   Love in action.  “You are loved”.  It’s all about grace.  The Kingdom of God is now.

2.  “To reach, baptize and nurture new believers”:  How do we welcome and share?  A church beyond four walls.  We are called to listen first.  Gather in.  All are welcome.  Jesus welcomes everybody.  No exclusion.  Come as you are.

3.  “To respond to human need by loving service”:  Congregation members need to be reaching out.  Where do we go with what we hear?  How do we respond?  What can the congregational role be?  No process for that.

4.  “To seek to transform unjust structures of society”:  This is a tricky place.  Open up a discussion?  Conversations to bring on conversations?  There is a Diocesan agenda for conversation.  How are we being called to handle this?  Maybe pick one area, i.e. abuse of children.

5.  “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth”:  The trustees (of the Diocese?) will be having a conversation about divesting in fossil fuel stocks.  One resource Grace can dwell on:  water.  Live the mission, teach youth respect for each other, earth, water and agriculture.  Have Gary Happ talk one morning about the green-ness of Crissey Farm.

Bill Coyne:  The “Silver Tsunami” is upon us.  What are Grace’s resources?  Clergy compensation in future?  How do we re-conceive and be nimble whether or not we have a building?   Where are we going?

“Technical” vs. “adaptive” missional challenge.   “Technical” involves a situation in which you know the answer and can put resources towards it.  “Adaptive” involves having no answer at the time, and no expert to advise.  It involves the people and the community being flexible, “nimble”, and adapting over time.

Themes and issues:  What are our resources?  Where are we long-term (3 years)?  Who do we want to work with in the community?  What are our needs?  What is “local”?  We have parishioners from all over.

How will Grace define itself as we look for new clergy?  Things change rapidly – in the next few years there will be some changes in the dynamics in South County Episcopal churches.  Stay nimble!  We need to begin conversations among the wardens, priests of two other South County churches, and include the Diocese.  We are now where the other two churches will be in a few years.

How shall we use what we have to take care of one another?  A deep sense of loving neighbors and ourselves.  Going out into the community.  “Holy eavesdropping”.  Listening is healing.  We must continue to build and to partner.  Continue with relationships from before, listen to where we are needed, and act.

Notes from what people who were called and the people in the room wanted regarding a new “building”:

In the end we came up with this draft of our new missional challenge:

As Grace Church we will continue to build on the partnerships we have, and listen for where we are needed, so we can use what we have learned to create new partnerships to put God’s love into action.