March 2013 Regional Council Minutes

Click through to see the minutes of the Regional Council meeting for March, 2013

Minutes of the Regional Council of the Deanery of North Vancouver
Thursday, March 14, 2013
St. Catherine's Anglican Church 

Attendance:

Chair: Alison Watt

St. Agnes: Kathy Campbell, Stephen Muir

St. Catherine: Laurie Dye, Christine Rowe

St. Clement: Robin Hinnell

St. John: Alison Brookfield, Patrick Blaney

St. Martin: Darlene Clarke, Sarah Tweedale

Gloria Dei: Jim Berger

NV Diocesan Council Representative: Patrick Donahoe

1.   Welcome/introductions/regrets. The new Regional Council was welcomed and introduced. Regrets from Lynne McNaughton-St Clement, Laurel Dykstra-Curate/St. Catherine, and John Stowe-St. Clement

2.   Opening prayer – Christine Rowe

3. Agenda - M/S/C that the Agenda be approved as presented.

4.   Minutes - M/S/C that the Minutes of the February 7, 2013, meeting be adopted as

circulated.

5.   Business arising from minutes:

Brief reports were presented from Vestry meetings regarding Regional Youth & Families Ministry position and other updates:

1. St. Agnes – Vestry is very supportive of the Youth & Families Ministry; however, St. Agnes is supporting the Regional curacy financially ($16,000 over 24 months) so they are not able to fund the position until their commitment to the curacy is done; need a clear idea of the Youth and Families Ministry position and need to consider other available programs.
2. St. Catherine – Vestry Motion passed to explore a merger with another church (full motion under Capilano/Edgemont reports section); passed a $3,200 line item in the deficit budget for the Youth and Families Ministry position.
3. St. Clement – Good Vestry meeting and very supportive of Youth and Families Ministry position; still working on how to come up with the money through Parish Council; there are a significant number of young families that could benefit from this position.
4. St. John – Positive Vestry meeting with 3 wardens elected to provide more leadership support; $2,000 budget line approved for 2013 for Regional Youth and Families Ministry position.
5. St. Martin – Positive Vestry meeting; Important to focus on children & families ministry as well as youth ministry; Vestry Motion supporting coordinator position for September 2013 with a budget of $2,260 contingent on further clarification of the position (full motion below); St. Martin’s currently pays for a youth leader in the parish.
6. Gloria Dei – Vestry report on budget was better than anticipated; Gloria Dei is responding to the Vestry motion passed by St. Catherine’s and would like to explore the possibilities.

6.   New Business

1. Circulation of Minutes:

M/S/C that the approved minutes of Regional Council be circulated in a timely manner to all Regional Council members and alternates, North Vancouver Deanery Parish Council/Church Committee members, and key diocesan staff (Douglas Fenton and Tasha Carrothers).

ACTION: Alison Watt

2. Email Groups:

The email groups for Regional Council will be amended to include a group just for Regional Council members and alternates. Mike has agreed to continue as the webmaster.

ACTION: Alison Watt to discuss the email groups required with Mike.

3. Regional Council Communications:

Circulating the minutes more widely will assist with communications. Routine and special summaries are important to send to all worshipping communities on a regular basis, perhaps quarterly.

ACTION: Alison Watt to B/F for May meeting agenda to review.

7.   Reports: 

1. Youth and Families Ministries Team – Alison Watt presented Laurel Dykstra’s report:
   The Youth Ministry Position Team will use the information from the vestry reports to clarify the plan, details, and timeline for the job description, hiring process and seeking diocesan funding for 2014. They will seek input and support from Phil Colvin, diocesan youth ministry coordinator, Lynne McNaughton as archdeacon and others to produce the best plan possible.
   
   In preparation for a regional youth minister, those currently working on youth ministry in parishes can take some concrete steps to prepare for regional ministry: improve communications, plan one or two spring/summer regional events, compile a list of adult volunteers.

There was discussion about this position, particularly on the scope of the position, is it youth, children and youth, youth and young families.

ACTION: Darlene Clarke will take back the information from this meeting on Vestry motions and budgets to the Regional Youth and Families Ministry Team. Regional Council referred the following St. Martin’s Vestry motion to the Team for review and recommendation back to the Regional Council meeting hopefully in April but no later than May:

That, as St. Martin’s Parish Council is enthusiastic about what an active youth ministry could mean to the Region,

1. We fully support the intent of this undertaking to strengthen the youth ministry on the North Shore beginning in September of 2013.
   1. We recognize clarification of the structures and supports surrounding this role are needed. This would include:

• Full position description, reporting structure and desired outcomes;
• Detailed hiring procedures and required applicant qualifications;
• Overview of incumbent’s relationship with, and access to Clergy in the Deanery;
• Proposed first –year deliverables, benchmarks with accountabilities, time lines and assessment points.

The above information should be available to each parish in advance of the position being advertised.

2. St. Martin’s include in the 2013 budget $2,260 for their contribution to the Regional Youth Ministry, and will reassess its budgeted support for this ministry in Feb., 2014 with the additional information available at that time.

2. Ministry Team:

Representatives are needed for the organizing committee for the Combined Deanery Worship on May 26, 2013, at St. Catherine's; a planning date will be set for April and each worshipping community is to name a representative for the meeting. Darlene Clarke and Jim Berger agreed to participate.

ACTION: Christine Rowe to coordinate an initial meeting: forward names to Christine.

3. Community Engagement Team:

Patrick Blaney circulated a report from the Community Engagement Team (attached).

At their meeting last month, they decided to split the focus into three areas: Outreach, Visibility and Communications, and Coordinating Programs. They brainstormed each area and listed priorities.

In particular, Patrick outlined the opportunity to assist the Youth Safe House in North Vancouver that serves youth aged 14 to 18. They have a need for simple items such as toothbrushes, socks, underwear, shampoo, sheets and towels. Patrick asked each worshipping community to consider selecting an item or items on the needs list that they could commit to providing for a year and Patrick will deliver the items to the Safe House each month.

ACTION - Each Community Engagement Team representative is to review this project in their worshipping community and contact Patrick to let him know the contact person and items for the project. Each worshipping community is to bring their initial offering to the next Deanery service.

4. Lynn Valley Working Group:

The group (Lynne McNaughton, Patrick Blaney, Stephen Muir and several members from St. Clement’s) will be setting a meeting date soon. They continue to look at ideas on what can be done in Lynn Valley to achieve a long term Anglican presence. It was suggested that Mount Olivet Lutheran be approached and included in this initiative.

ACTION: Jim Berger is going to contact Greg Vriend, Chair at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church to be in contact with the Working Group.

5. Eco/Social Justice Working Group:

Alison Watt reported that the group is meeting after Easter to review several issues. One relates to the need for social housing which will probably be brought forward to the next Regional Council meeting. The goal is to encourage the issue of social housing to be raised with prospective MLAs before the provincial election. The topic of a Living Wage is under discussion with a possible workshop being held in later spring. The film “On the Line” about pipelines has been shown at St. Clement’s, St. Catherine’s, and Gloria Dei, and will be shown at St. John’s on March 17.

6. Capilano/Edgemont Task Group (aka St. Catherine’s Vestry Motion Committee):

St. Catherine’s reported the following motion from their Vestry meeting:

M/S/C that Parish Council strike a committee to explore the possibilities of the amalgamation** of our congregation with another Anglican or Lutheran church in North Vancouver, or, renting space from Highlands United Church; and that this committee report back to St. Catherine’s at least one week prior to a facilitated Parish meeting to be held before June 1^st, 2013.  

** revised at a subsequent meeting with the words “a merger.”

An initial meeting of interested persons took place on Sunday, March 10^th and 15 people attended. Patrick Donahoe also attended and provided some excellent notes. Parish Council has now formed a Committee (Vivian McGie, Chris Trendell, Elaine Van Horn and Patrick Blaney) to start work on the Vestry motion. Jim Berger mentioned that Gloria Dei is interested in exploring possibilities.

8.  For Information:

1. Action Minutes to be recorded by Alison Brookfield.
2. Document Management and Archives to be managed by Stephen Muir so that the Regional Council documents are readily available in electronic format. Paper copies will continue to be kept at the office of the Regional Dean.
3. Regional Council Meeting dates and locations below were approved. Each host community is asked to provide refreshments as well as the Opening and Closing prayers for the Regional Council meetings.

2013

Thursday April 11 at St Clement
Thursday May 9 at St John
Thursday June 13 at St Martin
Thursday July 11 at St Agnes
Thursday August 8 at St Catherine
Thursday September 12 at Gloria Dei
Thursday October 10 at St John
Thursday November 14 at St Martin

Thursday December 12 at St Agnes
2014
Thursday January 9 at St Catherine
Thursday February 13 at St Clement

9.   Other business:

Patrick Donahoe provided an update on the last Diocesan Council meeting with the Diocesan budget as the agenda item. The presentation of the budget materials was excellent and the budget passed with further clarifications pending on new development funding.

10. The meeting closed with prayer and adjourned at 9:00 pm

Next meeting - Thursday, April 11 at St. Clement. 

Deadline for agenda items - Friday, April 5^th  

IMPORTANT DATES COMING UP – provide dates of events and meetings to Mike Nelson and Stephen Muir

Monday, March 25^th at noon - Lori’s Lunch for seniors with will be held at St. Martin’s

March 27^th at 6:30 pm Robyn Allen, the economist, will be speaking on pipelines in Burnaby at Confederation Centre, 485 Albert Street in Burnaby.

April 6, 2013 - Stewardship Leadership Skills: Models & strategies & actions.

May 4, 2013 - Screening in Faith Session for all people working with vulnerable individuals - children, youth, elderly.  This includes all Church school teachers, Youth group leaders and volunteers, Pastoral care members etc.

May 26, 2013 – Deanery Worship at St. Catherine’s

September 17-22 - Truth and Reconciliation sessions

October 19, 2013 - Regional Session on Discerning Gifts