Highlights of Annual Congregational Meeting.

The annual congregational meeting was held following worship on Sunday morning.  Of course, we started with lunch.  
As I read through the reports I noticed that the Fellowship Committee has one of the longest.  Little wonder, since we like to include lunch in almost every church activity.  In 2017, according to the report there were ten special occasions marked with a full lunch or tea and cake. Thanks to the members of that committee for your mission of hospitality.
After breaking bread together, we got down to the business of passing motions and adopting reports.  In 2017 our long-time clerk of session passed away so this was the first ACM for Janet, our new clerk.  She ably took on the duties of secretary of the meeting.  With Irwin in the chair, all ran smoothly.

I was glad to see the report of the Pastoral Care Committee.  This group of volunteers aren't as visible as those serving coffee or singing in the choir, but their ministry brings such comfort to the twenty people of our congregation who are in care homes, hospitals or housebound. 

Finances is always of concern to the congregation.  Happily, we ended 2017 with a small surplus.  The budget for 2018 shows a zero balance.  Unlike corporations, we're not looking to create financial dividends for our shareholders.  The church seeks to spend its money doing good. In 2017 the congregation supported many missions, including substantial donations for relief in Syria, the South Sudan Famine, and the Fort MacMurray Fire (even after the flames were extinguished there was much work to do rebuilding the city.)

20/20 Vision asks, where do we go from here?  In fact, it asks the W5 questions of who, where, when, what and why.  It is always useful for a congregation to ask "why" we do something.  That way we make sure that the current programs are useful and possible, and not a relic of an outdated issue.  If you have any suggestions for what and why and who, talk to Roy.  He'd love to hear from you.

The formal business of the meeting ended, we moved on to thank yous.  There were so many, I can't list them all here.  In particular, Rev. Irwin mentioned session, the choir director, the church secretary, the volunteer groundskeeper, the Friendship Coffee volunteers and the Sunshine Lunch volunteers.  Finally, he commended us all for all the invitations we've extended for others to join us in the congregation, whether for worship or study or coffee.

As moderator of the meeting, Rev. Irwin couldn't say anything about his own role in the congregation, but here on the blog we're not bound by such modesty.  Thank you, Irwin, for encouraging, teaching, managing, praying, suggesting, noticing and empowering members of the congregation to give of their best to the work of the church and to the glory of God.

Let us see what 2018 brings to SPPC.