Church Council News August 2021

 


Council meeting notes July 26, 2021:

Moderator Leslie Meehan brought the meeting to order at 8:35 am. Opening prayer was led by Rev. Melanie Weiner. Our Behavioral Covenant was read by Leslie. Minutes of the June meeting were read silently and approved unanimously.
 
Treasurer’s report:  Gerald Alonzo reported that income for June of pledges and a bit of the carryover will be adequate to cover June 2021. He and Anne Evans expressed some frustrations with trying to create a “new” fiscal year in QuickBooks. They will find a way. The report was approved unanimously.
 
Old Business:
There was no old business.
 
New Business:
The issues covered in the Minister’s News are covered as separate items below.
 
Vision and Assessment Ministry Team--
A Vision and Assessment Ministry Team was authorized in the revision of the Skyland Community Church Bylaws proposed and passed at the Annual Congregational Meeting on February 14, 2021. This team’s responsibility is both evaluation of Skyland Church’s ministry and minister, visioning for future direction and commitments of our church, setting goals, and communication with all parties. Implementation of this new team was approved unanimously.
 
Implementation was delayed until we had a year with our new minister and six months with the new structure in place. This is a small team, proposed to consist of the minister, the previous moderator and co/vice-moderator and one or two additional members. Authorization was approved unanimously to form the Vision and Assessment Ministry Team, with Jackie Seymour as team leader who, with Rev. Melanie, will invite others.
 
On-Site Worship--
On-site, outdoor worship was successfully held three Sundays in July. With increasing summer heat, complicated audio/video and other site set-up/take-down, and other logistical concerns, the return to in-Sanctuary worship happened on July 25th, to rave reviews by those in attendance and those using Zoom. Some pews were cordoned off to ensure appropriate social distancing, masks were in use, and except for Zoom participants, all after-service conversations were held outdoors.
 
Community Use and Access to Church Facilities--
Requests by local community-based organizations needing meeting space, requests for funeral and memorial services, and hopes to resume traditional Skyland Church activities have come forward.
 
A small team has been organized to review current California and CDC recommendations to create Skyland Church guidelines for indoor activities with both the Sanctuary and Whitaker Hall in mind. If you have thoughts on this, please contact Rev. Melanie to contribute to the wisdom. The hope is to create safety guidelines for groups numbering around or under thirty-five people.
 
A separate article in this newsletter addresses Harvest Festival and Re-Vision Teams activities.
 
--for the Council, Patricia Wood

Location: 25100 Skyland Rd, Los Gatos, CA 95033, USA

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