2019 October Stewards Minutes

SEEKERS CHURCH

 Stewards Minutes

October 13, 2019

Present: Marjory Bankson, Peter Bankson, Ken Burton, Joan Dodge (moderator), Elizabeth Gelfeld, Judy Lantz (dinner angel), David Lloyd (meditation leader), Sandra Miller, Trish Nemore (recorder), Brenda Seat, Keith Seat, Vincent Shepherd, Margreta Silverstone, Deborah Sokolove, Glen Yakushiji, Jacqie Wallen (dinner angel).

Absent:  Cynthia Dahlin, Michele Frome

Guest: Doug Dodge

Meditation: Considering recommitment, Dave read a passage from Joshua.

Housekeeping: Stewards will next meet on Sunday, November 3, 5:00 pm at the church.

Moderator: Deborah               Meditation Leader: Trish

Recorder: Margreta                 Angels: Elizabeth and Sandra

After some discussion, due to the unavailability of the building on the second Sunday in February 2020 (our usual Feb. meeting time), we agreed to have our February meeting on the first Sunday at the regular time.

Takoma Park Street Festival – Doug Dodge

Doug reported that our booth at the Street Festival was a success; Joan noted several points she felt important:  our water “ministry”; our coloring table “ministry”, our visibility and our sociability with each other.  There was some discussion of making space for more information about Seekers ministries, including greater visibility for Carroll Café, as well as, possibly, flyers for others’ events that happen in our space.  Doug welcomes all suggestions for improvements – contact him or other members of OMG – and recommends that we participate next year.

Budget – Marjory

Marjory passed out a three-quarter year summary of our income and expenses is attached to the minutes here:  2019_9_30 budget 3rd quarter summary  – and noted that we are basically right on track for this time of year.  She recommended, and it was agreed, that we move the Art Gallery from Community Life to Outreach; a similar suggestion to move Down the Road will be considered by the DTR team.  Mission Groups should get their budget requests for 2020 to Marjory by the end of this month.

Recommitment – All

Everyone present and absent is recommitting; five who will be absent next Sunday recited the recommitment statement at the end of the meeting, surrounded by the rest of us.

Ecumenical Council Report – Keith

The inclusivity statement adopted by the Council speaks to Seekers’ sense of inclusivity as well and we agreed to post our own version of it on the home page of our website and look for other places to add this language.  Here is the language:

“Seekers Church is an ecumenical Christian community, rooted in the radically inclusive teachings of Jesus. We believe that God created the great diversity of humanity to grow our souls through mutual commitment, worship, and service. All people are welcome.”

OMG will work on this and, in that regard, will explore the issues surrounding use of the word “inclusive,” which is not viewed positively by some people of color.  They will also explore, with the help of Erica Lloyd, the website www.ChurchClarity.org  that assesses how welcoming congregations are, in fact, with respect to their policies such as women in leadership and willingness to perform same sex marriages.

Some concern was mentioned in the Ecumenical Council minutes of the Festival Center and Potter’s House moving away from Church of the Savior.  Sandra and Marjory spoke to that as being a misleading statement since FC was never part of CofS and the Potter’s House is now moving toward becoming its own independent entity, as CofS ministries have been doing for decades.

Development – Dave

Dave walked us through the overall plans for the development next door and invited anyone to attend the hearing at Historical Preservation that will be either October 24 or October 31. He will not be able to attend. Check with Dave for details.  Seekers has not taken a position on this development.  Our concerns are 1) structural or other damage that might occur to our building in the course of the construction and 2) parking, which will beome ever more scarce when the building is completed and even during construction.  Peter will mention the former concerns when he talks with Nolan Smith.  The latter led us to our next topic:

Parking – Deborah

Time and Space spends a lot of time talking about parking.  In the wake of several recent incidents, T&S has amended the parking rules it gives to building users to state that no user can park in neighboring lots (we’ve had a falling out with Torchinsky’s over improper use of their lot).  As T&S continues to work on overall parking challenges, they are asking us Seekers, as an interim measure, to email Denise at dcleclair@gmail.com with our name, phone number, car description and license plate when we leave our car in the lot for something other than an event in the building.  Time and Space will inform the wider community of this new policy and will continue to update us as policy develops. To be clear, Seekers, like other building users, are not authorized to park in any neighboring lots at any time.

Pastoral Concerns

Two Stewards Sharing:  Jacqie Wallen and Marjory Bankson

Soul Talk

Submitted by Trish Nemore, October 14, 2019