STEWARDS MEETING
MINUTES
April 5, 2009
Worship: Margreta opened the meeting with a meditation on the poem “The Rest of Us” by Mark Smith-Soto.
Housekeeping: For the May meeting, Trish will moderate; Jane will take notes; Sandra will lead worship; and Aeren and Dave will serve as dinner angels.
International Giving:
Dave brought a recommendation from the International Giving Group that would require an increase of $2500 in the $30,000 allocated to that category in the 2009 budget that was approved by Stewards in December. Dave said that payment of two items totaling $2500 will be delayed until later in the year, one of which (for the Tumelong guest house) may not be funded if certain conditions are not met.
The International Giving Group did, however, request that Stewards approve the increase at this time. After discussion, Stewards agreed to increase the International Giving category by $2500, noting that an offsetting adjustment in the budget will need to be made later in the year.
(Trish pointed out that a similar decision had been made last year with respect to funding for the Peace Camp. Stewards had agreed to fund the camp and deferred finding an offset until a later time.)
Visit by the Artists Mission Group
Stewards welcomed members of the Artists Mission Group for a conversation about their life as a mission group. Their continuing joy as a group is found in being together and being known.
They reported that:
–They are open to new members;
–Spiritual accountability in the group follows the “faithful friends” mode of paired reporting;
–They experience some continuing tension between individual call as artists and their visibility as a group in Seekers;
–There are questions about the relationship of the group to other artists in the community.
There was much appreciation for the special projects the Artists have brought to Seekers Church, including our link to Bokamoso, strong support for InterPlay, and the art camp they have sponsored in the past.
Memorial wall update
Marjory reported that Living Water has discerned some guidance about the memory wall and how they are planning to handle additions to the wall.
1. Every year at All Saints Sunday, they plan to invite a ritual for any additional tiles for the wall. (That way we won’t be sticking one or two tiles up without a ritual.)
2. If there is a memorial service at Seekers, where someone is honored and the family wants a tile installed and blessed, that can be done at any time during the year. That person’s tile would also be honored with others on All Saints Sunday.
Living Water will be writing up the process and suppliers (i.e. where to get the tiles etched) so others can carry on this tradition. Seekers Church now owns enough tiles to complete the memorial wall down the back stairwell, so we won’t run into the problem of trying to match colors and textures in the future.
Sunday School.
Kate reported for the ad hoc Sunday school group (Kate, Brenda, Pat and Trish) on our needs for supporting Sunday School during this coming summer and next school year. This group, which has been holding our commitment to including children and youth since we moved to Carroll Street in 2004, has discerned that they are no longer called to the complete task of supporting our Sunday School program.
Beginning this coming fall the ad hoc group is ready to obtain suitable curricula and maintain a calendar for scheduling teachers, but not to recruit teachers or actively monitor participation by teachers who have made a commitment to teach on a given Sunday. The ad hoc group proposed that for this coming summer season Seekers Church support our Sunday School program as we have in the past, with each mission group invited to offer leadership for the children for several Sundays during the summer, and that this approach continue into the next school year. This would mean that each of our eight mission group would sign up to teach, or find others to teach, for 6-7 weeks during the year.
After a conversation that included information about the 4-6 children we have been teaching and the need for at least two, preferably three teachers, the Stewards decided to proceed with this plan. Mission groups are invited to sign up for teaching opportunities beginning in June. The mission group responsible for being with the children will be included in the worship listing on the Seekers web site. We will follow this way for a year, and schedule several reviews during Stewards’ meetings.
Spiritual Direction in Seekers.
Brenda led an initial discussion about how we are offering spiritual direction in Seekers and how we hope to improve in the future. Questions from a recent survey of Stewards are attached. We agreed to continue this conversation at a later meeting after the current class in the School of Christian Living is finished.
The meeting closed with prayer at 8:30 pm.
Peter Bankson
SEEKERS CHURCH
Spiritual Direction Survey Questions
1. In what form (written, oral, other?) and how often (weekly, biweekly, monthly, other?) do you individually get spiritual direction/companionship through your mission group/small group?
With someone in Seekers but not in your mission group?
With someone outside of seekers?
2. Describe a time when you felt the spiritual direction you received in your mission group/small group was helpful.
What made it helpful?
If you have not had a helpful experience in your mission group, please indicate that and, if you can, say why that has been the case for you.
3. What do you long for/hope for from spiritual direction now?
4. Is it important for you to have spiritual direction from within your mission group? Why or why not?
From within Seekers? Why or why not?
From outside of Seekers? Why or why not?
