July Update from the Church Council About Our Ministry and our Future

Church Council met Wednesday, July 16 and continued to do the work of managing our move, deciding about construction and furnishings and the future of our ministry. Progress is being made and additional spending has been confirmed.

• Update on the Faith Formation in the Home Ministry: Tom and Rev. Wendy are working with a branding consultant to choose a domain name for the web site; Tom is working with a web design consultant to insure the site is easy to work with, effective, simple to navigate and beautiful to look at. Tom has begun to acquire subscriptions and curricula to offer to the network and develop the social networks to which we will offer the product.
• Church council affirmed an updated spending amount for Construction, Furnishings and Audio Visual System for the church offices and ministry center in the amount of $ 60,000.00. The design of the secure, air conditioned and handicap accessible space includes: a small office for the pastor, a church office, a small hospitality area with refrigerator and microwave, a handicap accessible restroom, a large basement storage area, a multipurpose meeting/gathering space which will seat 40 in cushioned “church chairs”, and a high quality HD Audio Visual System. Details are available upon request. Further proposals will be addressed in August for a Keyboard for worship, exterior signage and computer and other electronic upgrades. Watch for an invitation in mid August to take a field trip to the new digs!!
• The By Law Team will do research through Mid August and meet to address a new church organizational model and a complete revision of our bylaws—with the objective of being completed by Sept 1 and voted upon at a meeting of the governing body on Sept. 14. 2014. Rev. Wendy will provide some “informational” documentation for the congregation regarding the philosophy behind the model being proposed in late August.
• Church Council was advised that the sale of the building is progressing and is still scheduled to complete on September 30, 2014. The process has been more challenging than has been expected, signatures for the P&S are planned for the week of July 21.

Reminder that as of Sunday, October 5, 2014 our 10 am Sunday Worship will move to the new ministry center at 458 High Street, Medford. We will continue to worship there on Sundays at 10 am until further notice. We will begin a deliberate congregational conversation about worship and music models that are called out of our vision, but will not try to complete that over the summer. That conversation will consider both the worship hopes and expectations of our current members, and those of the people who we seek to do ministry with who are not yet here; and we will prioritize the needs and preferences of those who are not yet here.