Regional Council May 9, 2013 Minutes

Please click through to see the minutes from the May Regional Council Meeting

Minutes of the Regional Council of the Deanery of North Vancouver Thursday, May 9, 2013 St. John’s Anglican Church 

Attendance: 

Chair: Alison Watt
St. Agnes: Kathy Campbell, Stephen Muir
St. Catherine: Laurie Dye, Dora Harvey
St. Clement: John Stowe, Lynne McNaughton
St. John: Alison Brookfield, Patrick Blaney
St. Martin: Darlene Clarke, Sarah Tweedale
Gloria Dei: Jim Berger, Gerhard Preibisch
Mount Olivet:
NV Diocesan Council Representative: TBD
Deanery Curate: Laurel Dykstra

1. Welcome/regrets: Regrets from Christine Rowe and Pastor Katalin Janko, interim minister for Mount Olivet Lutheran Church.

2.   Opening prayer – Patrick Blaney

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

4.   Minutes - M/S/C that the Minutes of the April 11, 2013, meeting be adopted as circulated.

5.   Business arising from minutes:

5.1 Revised Terms of Reference of Regional Council

Alison Watt presented the revised Terms of Reference of Regional Council to be more inclusive of the Lutheran Church.

M/S/C that revised Terms of Reference of Regional Council be approved as presented.

ACTION:. Alison Watt will speak with Delayne Sartisan on the need for approval of the amendments by Vestries and report back at the next meeting.

6.   Reports: 

6.1 Youth and Adult Ministry 

Laurel Dykstra provided an update on the Regional Youth Ministry position. “Messy Church” does not need to be clarified further in the job description. The document will also be circulated to Mount Olivet for review. It was also recommended that the language in the job description be inclusive of the Lutheran churches eg. Change Deanery to Region. Phil Colvin, Diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator, has provided evaluation tools for youth ministry to be used for this position. Given the extent of the role of this part-time position, there needs to be some flexibility in the position to deliver on these expectations. 

 Laurel is still seeking a human resources professional in the Deanery to work with her on the hiring process for the position. With the timeline for hiring for a September start date, there is a need for the position to be posted in July or before. The hiring team will include Laurel, a lay adult and a youth representative. Future funding for the position was discussed, and that Deanery and Diocesan funding be a topic at a future Clericus and Regional Council meeting. The team was asked to provide a standard message for bulletins on how individuals can contribute additional funding to this ministry.

ACTIONS: 

Lauren Dykstra to request Delayne Sartisan to finalize the wording of the job description.
Worshipping communities to forward any names of human resources professionals to Laurel.
Lynne McNaughton will review this position with Rob Dickson and Douglas Fenton at the Diocese.
Lynne McNaughton to schedule a review at Clericus on the reporting structure for the position.
Laurel Dykstra will circulate the final draft of the job description to members of Regional Council to review with their respective parish councils for information and to request their final feedback.
Jim Berger is taking the job description to the Gloria Dei leadership for review for Lutheran participation.

6.2 Eco/Social Justice Working Group

Alison Watt presented the following Statement of Support for Regional Council endorsement as follows:

 “The North Vancouver Anglican and Lutheran Environmental and Social Justice Group stands in support of and solidarity with the Social Housing Coalition in calling for immediate provincial government housing action to solve the housing crisis in BC with commitments to these actions:  

• Build 10,000 units of good quality social housing per year.
• Prioritize social housing units for Indigenous Peoples, migrants, women, seniors, people with mental health and physical disabilities including HIV/AIDs, and vulnerable low-income people who are disproportionately at risk of homelessness and hidden homelessness.
• Save existing low rent housing by enforcing maintenance standards; maintain non-market projects whose operating agreements are expiring; freeze rents & don’t allow increased rents when tenants move; and close loopholes in the Residential Tenancy Act to stop renovictions.
• Protect tenants. Recognize tenant unions and their power to negotiate with landlords; Make all supportive & student housing fully covered by the Residential Tenancy Act.
• Include everyone who needs housing. End eligibility discrimination and make all BC residents eligible for BC Housing. Extend housing rights to temporary migrant workers by granting them permanent legal status.
• Fund social housing through taxation as a social responsibility of the government, and support residents of communities to develop and manage their social housing themselves.”

M/S/C that Regional Council endorses the Statement of Support for the Social Housing Coalition.

6.3 Ministry Team

Lynne McNaughton provided an update on the Joint Clergy conference with the Diocese of Olympia –Stephen Muir, Christine Rowe and Lynne McNaughton attended The speaker was Sharon D. Parks on Leadership and Clericus plans to use the materials provided.

 Lynne spoke about Anglicanism 101 being offered at the end of June in preparation for the Joint Assembly of Anglicans and Lutherans in July. Fifty people attended the Deanery Sexual Misconduct Policy training session on May 4th at St. Catherine’s. The workshop was very well received and another session will be scheduled in the fall.

 6.4 Neighbourhood Engagement Team

Patrick Blaney circulated a report on Community Engagement. The North Shore Youth Safe House Project will start next month. Other activities discussed:

Shannon Trevor-Smith is organizing an Emergency Preparedness workshop with the North Vancouver Fire Department on September 28th at St. Agnes;
Two Deanery events are being planned for the fall/winter and an Inter-faith service at St. John’s in the fall;
Discussions are on-going with Andrew Halladay for an amateur youth production on the North Shore in the spring;
Discussion with Dennis Joseph at the Squamish Nation on further developing an on-going connection;
The North Shore Welcoming Action Committee is hosting a Community Service Providers event on Thursday, May 23rd and Patrick suggested having a Regional booth at the event and Deanery representatives attending; 

ACTION: Patrick Blaney to connect with the Lutheran churches on their participation in the Youth Safe House project. Patrick is going to register both himself and Sarah Tweedale for the NSWAC networking event on May 23rd. Patrick is exploring the idea of having a Deanery Booth at more community events.

6.5 Lynn Valley Working Group

Lynne McNaughton stated that the group met and brainstormed about community groups in Lynn Valley. Stephen Muir has prepared a summary table of the groups. Further research is underway. The working group is seeking members from outside the Lynn Valley area. Lynne has met with Pastor Janko at Mount Olivet. Community garden plots have been installed at St. Clement’s.

ACTION:  Worshipping Communities to suggest names of additional representatives to the Lynn Valley working group.

6.6 Edgemont/Capilano Working Group

Patrick Blaney confirmed that a deadline at the end of May has been set for the working group to report back to the St. Catherine’s Vestry. Members of the task group are holding meetings with other worshipping communities to discuss options and potential mergers.

7. New Business

7.1 Regional Council nominations for positions on Diocesan Council

The Deanery is seeking two representatives for the Deanery–one for one year and one for two years. One of the representatives has to be a lay person.

Two clergy nominations have been received – Stephen Muir and Christine Rowe (for a one year term) and one lay nomination has been received for Ian Thomas at St. Clement’s for a two year term.

ACTION: Lynne McNaughton will send the nominations received to Heidi Brear for the Regional Delegates to vote on at Synod.

7.2 Draft Report to Ministry and Congregational Development Committee (MCDC) of Diocesan Council

Lynne McNaughton circulated a draft report for the MCDC for review. The Diocese requires a report given their funding of several positions in the Deanery.

ACTION: Regional Council members are to review the report to MCDC and provide feedback to Lynne McNaughton by Thursday, May 16th. Lynne will circulate the final report to Regional Council, Mike Nelson and parish administrators as Alison Watt will be away.

7.3 Quarterly report to Worshipping Communities

ACTION: Alison Watt will place this item on the agenda for the October Regional Council.

7.4 Eco/Social Justice Group Funding request

Alison Watt presented a funding request from the Eco/Social Justice Group for a grant of $200-$500 from the Regional Council in order to carry out the business of this group

Annual membership in Metro Vancouver Alliance  $200
Books related to Eco-Social Justice issues   $100
Posters      $  50
A/V rental (if required)    $100     Total $450

Discussion ensued on the need for a Regional budget for Regional activities. Registration fees have been charged for some Regional activities.  St. Agnes has offered to contribute the Annual Membership costs for the Metro Vancouver Alliance.

ACTON: Stephen Muir is going to make the arrangements for St. Agnes to pay for the Annual Membership for Metro Vancouver Alliance.  Lynne McNaughton is scheduling a discussion at Clericus on the need for a Deanery Budget to present to Vestries, and a discussion on requesting seed money from the Diocese for new ministries and matching funds with the Deanery. Clericus is going to provide advice on the process for individual parishes to contribute to new Regional ministries.

7.5 Purchasing PowerChurch software

Lynne McNaughton advised that the Diocese is seeking to get all churches to use PowerChurch – the Church Management Software adopted by the Diocese and a number of parishes.  The initial cost can create a hardship for smaller parishes. As three parishes in the Region are already using it, Lynne will pursue the discussion separately from the Region.

ACTION: Alison Watt to schedule a discussion about shared administration costs for the Region for the July Regional Council meeting. 

8. Information

Stephen Muir circulated a chart of the roles of Regional Council members and requested that updates be sent to him. It was recommended that the chart be appended to the MCDC report.

9. Other Business

9.1 Regional Dean

M/S/C that Regional Council expresses sincere appreciation to Christine Rowe for her contributions during her two terms as Regional Dean, and congratulates Stephen Muir on his appointment as Regional Dean.

9.2 Tools and Equipment

ACTION: Alison Watt to schedule a discussion on sharing specialized tools for maintenance at the next meeting in July.

The meeting closed with prayer and adjourned at 8:50 pm

Next meeting - Thursday, July 11th at St. Agnes (June meeting cancelled)
Deadline for agenda items - Thursday, July 4th  


IMPORTANT DATES COMING UP in 2013 – provide dates of events and meetings to Mike Nelson and Stephen Muir

May 16 - Ministry Team Day (Clericus) 12:30 to 2:30 pm, St. Agnes

May 26 – Deanery Worship at St. Catherine’s at 10:30 am

May 30 - Ministry Team building Day (Clericus), Location and time TBD

September 17-22 - Truth and Reconciliation sessions

September 22 – Walk for Reconciliation

September 28 - Emergency Preparedness workshop with the North Vancouver Fire Department at St. Agnes

October 19 - Regional Session on Discerning Gifts 

Minutes of the May 9th 2013 meeting were approved at the Regional Council meeting on July 11, 2013.