Greetings Members of Hillcrest Church,
Thank you so much for your long history of service to the Lord, here in Medicine Hat, and all around. I am so grateful to become a part of this community.
This letter is to bring the members up-to-date on several matters. There will be a similar letter going out to the whole community in the next day or so, but there are important details for members in this letter. First I want to talk about our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and then I’ll give you a preview of some of the things that are happening as we re-convene.
Annual General Meeting
The AGM will be on Sunday, June 7 at 6:00 pm and it will be held online. The Ministry Council met on Monday night and confirmed the Agenda for our Annual General Meeting and it is now official. You can find the agenda here.
Polity
It would be helpful for all members to review our governance model. Click here for an overview of the polity. I would like to highlight a couple of things in particular:
The Ministry Council is directly accountable to the official membership. The official membership is generally accountable to the Lord, the rest of the congregation, and to the community. All of these groups—the staff, the lead pastors, the Ministry Council, and the official members are responsible to make sure Hillcrest stays true to our calling and to steward our legacy for the sake of the future that God has for us.
The AGM is one of the ways that the Ministry Council demonstrates accountability to the membership.
Going forward, the Ministry Council as a whole will be taking greater ownership over the AGM in order to make sure that it is a shared time of listening for what the Lord is doing in our midst. You will see some of that this year and even more in the future. This is not about taking up congregational governance, rather it is about providing more opportunity to demonstrate accountability to the members and for the congregation to share responsibility before the Lord.
In the current practices:
There are three main orders of business at the AGM:
receiving reports from the church staff
receiving the annual financial reports
receiving the approved budget for the following year
In our polity, “receiving” means gathering members in quorum who will affirm that they have received the above.
We are asking as many members as possible to join us for the AGM at 6:00 pm on June 7th. We need a quorum, but more than that we need you to hear the reports and affirm what you are hearing so the Ministry Council can continue to lead with confidence that the congregation is supporting the Lord’s work at Hillcrest.
We will also be encouraging wide involvement from the congregation during the AGM and I’ll be sending out a pastoral letter inviting everyone to join with us.
Process
We will be using our Church Online app to host the meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, we will send out a form for people to register their presence and whether or not we have a quorum of members. You’ll also have a time to greet each other on chat. You can practice for this by joining our Sunday morning services using our website. Click here, before 8:45, 10:00, or 11:20 to connect in with one of our services.
We will be using a different connection during the AGM and the link will be sent out to you later. If you are having any trouble connecting, please contact the church office before June 3rd so that we have enough time to get you set up.
During the meeting, the chair will ask for questions or comments and we will send out other forms for you to give those questions. There will be a moderator who will read off the questions. We will try to make sure that all appropriate questions are asked during the meeting. We won’t be able to answer all questions: some questions might be too specific or more appropriate for a pastor to answer. If you leave your contact information we’ll be sure to get back to you.
After the question and answer time another electronic form will be sent out so that people can note their affirmation. Again, this is not a vote, but it is an opportunity for the members and congregation to indicate their support of the work of the Ministry Council. As per above, we are encouraging wide involvement from the congregation and for this reason we will permit congregants to affirm decisions, but the Ministry Council will be caring most about the affirmation from the membership. As well, we will be giving priority to member questions during the question and comment time.
Throughout the AGM time, Pastor Steve and I will be doing some vision casting for the year ahead. We will post that to the web-site some time next week and we’ll let you know when that is up. This is another reason why it is important for as many members as possible to be signed in for the AGM. The Ministry Council needs to know that you have witnessed that they have been responsible for the work that has been given for them to do. As well, Pastor Steve and I need to know that the members and the rest of the congregation are ready to support the direction we see the Lord is leading us.
If you have a question or comment or would like to practice using forms ahead of time, please click here.
Let’s Talk
I’ve been trying to schedule a Let’s Talk for members before the AGM and I just haven’t been able to put it together. I’ll plan one for afterwards and now that we’re in Phase 1, we should be able to have the meeting in the Worship Centre. Watch for more details on that.
Re-convening
As you may have heard, we are starting to re-convene in the building. We had two life groups meet on Monday night. The processes and space seem to be working, so we are going to start expanding on that. A couple of overall comments.
We expect that we will continue doing online services only, until the end of August. We will re-evaluate and communicate new information as we have it.
We are setting up the building so that we can follow all Alberta Health Services guidelines. We recognize that there is some confusion and over-reach in these areas. We will make sure to safeguard both the health and the privacy of our congregation.
Starting June 1 (subject to AHS guidelines) we will start using the church space for more life groups and Bible studies.
Pastor Jamie will be working with our Facilities team to make sure that more life groups can meet at the church. Expect to hear more details from your life group leader.
We are excited that our youth and children’s pastors are starting to unfold plans for events and meetings in and around the church. Please watch and pray with us.
Starting this Sunday (May 31) people can come to the church building Sunday mornings for Hub Time. People can use the coffee hubs to gather for prayer and socially distanced fellowship. This will be first come first served in a come and go style starting at 10:00 am and continuing to about 1:00 pm. Because this is the first Sunday we are doing this, we will be keeping under the maximum number permitted to gather (50) by AHS. If all goes well, we will continue to expand the numbers until we have reached 50.
As the AHS raises the number of people allowed in the building in the next phase, we are anticipating more opportunities. We will communicate more as new information comes available to us.
We will need volunteers to help make this happen. If you are willing and able to help host, please fill out this form.
Prayer
The pastors and staff need your ongoing prayers during this time. We’re tired and there’s decision fatigue. In many ways, this transition is harder than the shut-down. There’s so many competing needs and demands from all quarters—people are experiencing so much uncertainty. Please be patient and know that the Lord is at work. As we reconvene in the building we will be cautious and caring, we will be prayerful and discerning. As we look back over the last months, God is doing something new—here in our congregation and across the land. We want to stay in tune with that and make sure that whatever happens going forward that we continue to minister God’s love to a hurting world.
In His service,
Pastor Glenn
NOTE: Please feel free to use the Comments Feature at the bottom of this letter.
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https://open.alberta.ca/publications/covid-19-information-guidance-for-places-of-worship