Agenda for the meeting of the board of trustees
Friday May 11th 2018 7:30pm
- Opening Prayer.
- Minutes of the last meeting.
- Reports:
- Pastor’s report (written)
- Treasurer’s reports (written)
- Lay delegate report (verbal)
- Associate pastor’s report (verbal)
- Pickle fund report (verbal)
- AOB to be scheduled in for this meeting?
- Safeguarding.
- Health and Safety.
- Working party to look at document wording.
- Data protection Act
- Trans Pride.
- Pride
- Brunswick Festival Sat 18/8/18
- AOB. Membership resignation, Networking Gathering
Our Vision
We call for a world where LGBTQ people live free from discrimination.
Our Mission
We are called primarily to empower and serve the LGBTQ community.
Our Core Values
We are a Christian church called to do justice and walk humbly with God. (Micah 6:8).
We seek at all times to be honest, transparent, and true to our mission in the world.
Minutes for the meeting of the board of trustees
Friday April 6th 2018 7:30pm at Keith’s home.
Present: Rev Michael Hydes (Chair), Keith Fish (Treasurer), Simon Markham (Secretary) and Dameon Loukas (Lay delegate)
Apologies: Rev Peta Evans (Associate Pastor), Sarah Barber (Safeguarding Officer) and Wendy Burgess (Board Member)
Rev Michael opened in prayer at 7:30pm
Minutes of last meeting: Keith had noticed some typing errors in the report, it should have read as follows: Pickle fund: Sarah had helped a homeless man in Lewes. Rev Michael and James had made one payment. The Soul Safari: Should be organizations rather than people. Proposed with amendments by: Rev Michael Seconded by: Keith. All in favour.
A.O.B for consideration: A paypal and outlook account to set up donate buttons – Thank you Chris.
Pastors Report: Keith thanked Rev Michael for his work. Rev Michael said he was going on the 100th Queersay program on Monday. Proposed by: Simon, Seconded by: Keith. All in favour.
Associate Pastors Report: Rev Peta not able to attend the meeting, had sent the report ahead of time. Proposed by: Rev Michael, Seconded by: Keith. All in favour.
Treasurers Report: Keith said collections were ok and standing orders are settling down. The £500 for Brighton in need had not yet been transferred out of the account. Proposed by: Rev Michael Seconded by: Simon All in favour.
Lay delegates Report: Dameon said he had represented the church at the B-Right-On festival. He said February had been a busy month for birthdays and would be needing more stamps soon. Rev Michael thanked him for his work.
Pickle fund: Rev Michael said he had made one payment this month. And last month both Sarah and James had made one each.
Safeguarding: We discussed a ongoing issue.
Health and Safety: No new issues.
Working Documents Party: No further progress.
Data Protection: Rev Michael to resend the email a final time. Over 90% had already responded.
Any Other Business: Rev Michael will talk with Billie of The LGBT Community Safety Forum about volunteer organization at this year’s Pride events and tickets for the Access section this year.
Dameon closed in prayer at 9pm
Pastor’s report for April 2018
After the Easter events at the beginning of the month the rest of April has been fairly quiet. Having said which, the usual lull in church attendance that has historically happened after Easter didn’t happen this year and on a couple of weeks we almost reached 30. There’s been a lovely Spirit in Worship and I’m so happy that Will is back with us as Musical Director. Over the month Robert, Stephen, and Peta all preached, (beautifully), which meant that I’ve had a bit of a break from the pulpit. We are so blessed to have such gifted speakers, and I especially enjoyed playing theological ‘tag’ with Rev. Peta over Lent.
During April I didn’t make any pickle payments, but did meet with three people to offer pastoral support and supported others on the telephone or via email. One person who lives in Blackpool commented on our online sermons, mentioning that Rev. Peta’s messages had really helped them. They commented on how much they enjoyed one of Sarah’s messages from 2016! It’s good to know that our words are out there supporting the community long after they are spoken.
On a personal note my regular job has been especially demanding and both of our dogs have been unwell, Pebbles with pancreatitus and Odie with a gash in his mouth. All our pets are getting old, Fred is 19, Pebbles is 14, Blinky is 12, and Odie is 11. They’re all doing well for their age but struggling a little. (Fred and Blinky are cats, Pebbles and Odie are beagles).
May’s LGBT Community Safety Forum public meeting went well. Thank you to Dameon who came along to offer support. There was an interesting presentation on HPV vaccines being available to boys. (It is now believed that most throat cancer in men, as well as many other cancers, are caused by the HPV virus. However, presently, inoculation is only routinely offered to girls and not boys).
I did four episodes of Queersay this month, one of which was the 100th program. It was nice to share the space with other community leaders.
Over April we saw some new folks visit the church and a few have chosen to stay. It’s been nice involving new people in our worship. Thank you to everyone who pitched in to cover for me whilst I took a weekend off to celebrate Chris’ parents wedding anniversary. We went to see Dean Friedman in concert and had a lovely evening.
There were six of us at the Tuesday evening group, and James, Charlie, and I are talking about a regular monthly bible study in place of the Queerying Christianity event we ran through Lent that was so well received.
Love
Michael
Apr ’18 Board Accounts for The Village Metropolitan Community Church
Opening Bal at 28 February 2018 £5032.50
Income
Collections Attendance
01 April 54.90 25
08 April 35.00 20
15 April 30.66 23
22 April 30.50 29
29 April 53.00 21
Standing Order 1036.50
Seder Meal 175.00
Global Justice 110.70
£1526.26
Expenditure
Rev Michael 450.00
Rev Peta 50.00
Ufmcc tithe 93.35
Costs /expenses 142.11
Rent Sundays 180.00
Gazebo (community Grant) 60.98
£976.44
£500 allocated to Brighton in need.
(conference transfer £50.00)
Balance in Account as at 30 April 2018 £5582.32
Forecast
Rev Michael 450.00
Rev Peta 50.00
Ufmcc tithe 113.06
Costs /expenses 66.00
Rent Sundays 144.00
Global Justice 110.70
£933.76
£500 allocated to Brighton in need.
£150 Film hire deposit refund due
forecast Balance available £4396.56
Keyboard fund £ 39.16
PickleFund £853.13
Sleep Safe £345.53
Community Works £201.52
Conference Fund £ 900.00
General funds Avail £2057.22