Missions Committee Meeting Minutes
Committee Chairperson, Leonette Slay, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and began the meeting with a prayer. The first order of business was for each person present to introduce themselves. In addition to Chairperson Slay and pastors, Mike Holly and Tom Duley, the following committee members were present: Elizabeth Davis, Sylvia Summers, Roy Shanlever, John Erwin, Ed Thomas, Bennie Vinson, Mike Patrick, Carole Armistead, Jack Armistead, Joe Kerns, and Georgia Pearson.
The next order of business was the elections of secretary and vice-chair. Bennie Vinson volunteered as nominee for secretary and Mike Patrick volunteered as nominee for vice- chair. Both candidates were duly elected to these positions by the committee. Leonette next gave some background information from the preliminary brainstorming meetings leading up to this meeting that she had with the pastors. These meetings brought forth some ideas about a possible mission focus for Bluff Park UMC.
The meeting was then turned over to Pastor Mike Holly to present the ideas coming out of the preliminary meetings. Mike shared that, early on after coming to Bluff Park, he faced the issue that many organizations request funding from this church. As a result he saw a need to have a focus and criteria to help determine which outreach ministries and organizations this church should support. He feels that this committee should be the one to establish a church-wide focus for missions. He reminded us that the church-directed missions have in the past primarily gone to VIM mission trips and a few others while special offerings like the Easter Love Gift have been the vehicle used to help fund organizations like Urban Ministries, United Community Center, etc.
Mike continued with an idea that came out of the preliminary meetings that maybe our church’s mission focus could rally around those ministries Jesus talked about in Matthew 25:35-36 of feeding the hungry, giving the thirsty drink, providing shelter for a stranger, giving clothes to the needy, caring for the sick, and visiting those in prison. He acknowledged that we are doing many of these things already through the Food Pantry, Under the Bridge, VIM, Kairos, and many more. Also, many Sunday school classes are supporting a variety of mission projects.
Mike pointed out that what we are doing is a lot already and trying to include all the ministries mentioned in Matthew 25:35-36 could be overwhelming and spread our mission ministry too thin to be effective. The idea he is presenting is that we can have a missions focus within the Matthew 25:35-36 framework that narrows (at least for now) to three of those mission ministry categories – Food, Water, and Shelter. If we focus on these three, we can be more effective and selective on funding requests we grant as well as having more impact on what we do support.
There was a time of questions and discussion among the committee members covering such topics as more accountability between us and the agencies we support; how has the Easter Love Offering been used in the past; establishing criteria for efficient fund distribution; using applications for mission aid to agencies; methods of church budgeting for missions; and creating logos and visuals to help the congregation understand the concept. Mike concluded by reiterating that Sunday school classes could and should continue supporting missions they want to independently; but, this committee can lead the church’s mission work by adopting the categories of food, water, and shelter as the basics for our missions and this can be the focus for all of us as we are led by the Holy Spirit.
Leonette asked if the committee wanted to take a vote on a proposal to be presented to the Board of Stewards. Jack Armistead made a motion that we vote on the proposal stated as follows: “The church adopts Matthew 25:35-36 as the framework of the mission programs of our church. Secondly, the church adopts three areas of focus within this framework. Those focus areas are food, water, and shelter”. Mike Patrick seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed. The proposal will be reported to the Board of Stewards at the January 26, 2014, meeting.
The meeting was then turned over to Pastor Tom Duley to report on the Mission Committee request to the Finance Committee. Tom reported the following responses to the Finance Committee 2014 Budget Input Form:
1. With the same funding level as last year, $3,000.00, we will use that funding again to support our domestic VIM trip. Such trip(s) will more than likely be defined by a weather emergency.
2. If new mission opportunities could be added this year we would take on a large project like a Habitat for Humanity home at a projected cost of $50,000.
3. If we have to reduce our budget funding there would be nothing to eliminate but the funding set aside for the domestic VIM trip. This is because there is only one line-item in the budget. All other mission funding beside this inadequate budget amount must come from other sources such as the Easter Love Gift, Pastor’s discretionary fund, fund raisers, and special gifts. The missions committee has set three priorities: 1. one domestic VIM trip per year; 2. one international VIM trip per year; 3. salary support for our covenant missionary partner in Chile, John Elmore. We would like to see these church-wide commitments funded through the church’s budget. The funding for these would be Domestic VIM for $15,000, International VIM for $25,000, John Elmore’s Salary for $3,000 for a Grand Total of $43,000.
The Finance Committee will meet on December 12, 2013. Tom said we will just have to see what they come back with. Leonette then moved on to other business. She felt the committee could function adequately by meeting four times a year. Since the passed proposal from this meeting is to be considered by the Board of Stewards, our next meeting should not be until after January 26, 2014, when the Board of Stewards meets. The committee agreed that Monday night is the best night of the week for the majority of the members and that meetings will probably be on the 1st early as February.
Leonette then shared with the committee from her reading some information about the theology of missions.
Pastor Tom Duley gave the benediction and the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bennie Vinson
Secretary
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