Family of God Lutheran Church     ELCA

2024 Church Council

COUNCIL MEETING SUMMARY - February 25, 2024 

OLD BUSINESS 

Constitution Update - Committee is meeting to update the Continuing Resolutions. The Congregation approved constitution revisions have been sent to the Synod for approval.Quilt Update - Received a total of $1200 for the quilts. This money is designated for security or rekeying the church along with some funds from Ruth’s Circle.

Media – Proposing to livestream only Sunday services as it is a time-consuming task unless they have more volunteers in the rotation for helping with the live stream. Council members support first trying to recruit more volunteers as opposed to eliminating livestream of non-Sunday services.

Faith Practice and Neighbor Practice (FPNP) - Participants provided an update. The group is talking about different methods of worship and continued discussions on engaging neighborhoods. Identify what is going on in the community and figure out ways to connect and partner with the community. Purpose is not to build members, but to do God’s work in the community.

NEW BUSINESS 

Personnel Committee and Staff Support Committee - Need new members for each committee. There have been some volunteers who have agreed to serve.

Administrative Assistant Position - Amy has submitted her resignation with the end date having some flexibility. Looking for someone to fill this role. Please let Sandy know if there is anyone interested.

LGBTQ+ Next Steps Discussion - Meeting was held to see who was interested in taking some additional steps. First official meeting will be March 17th after worship.

Women’s Brunch - Two members would like to plan a Women’s Brunch event and see if there is sufficient interest on a Saturday to complement the Men’s Breakfasts which are planned. Looking at April 27th is the tentative date for the spring brunch.

TREASURER REPORT

2024 Final Congregational Budget - Rick provided some education to the Council on reading the financial reports. Goal for 2024 is to see that monthly giving covers our expenses.

Current budget - January’s giving was on par with budgeted amounts.

Motion: Moved by David and seconded to approve the treasurer’s report. There was no further discussion and the motion passed.

STAFF REPORTS 

Pastor Paul Highlights - Drama is currently in rehearsals and performances are quickly approaching in April. Lent services will feature faith testimonials during services from congregation members. 

Pastor Erin Highlights - Plant sale is back on for the spring. Held youth lock-in: hosted Author/Pastor Emmy Kegler; attended the Ministerium; led worship at St. Therese, Superbowl party, and more.

COUNCIL MEETING SUMMARY - March 21, 2024 

OLD BUSINESS 

Christ Chapel: A representative from Council and other liaisons will be meeting with Christ Chapel leadership on Sunday morning. A new rental agreement has been drafted with an effective date of June 1 that includes a modest increase in the rent as was discussed in previous Council meetings.. 

Administrative Assistant: Job posting information is being advertised in several places. If someone has interest in the position, inquiries can be directed to admin@fogchurch.org.

Faith Practices: This Synod group met on March 12th at FOG with support from the Hospitality Committee who did a really great job of hosting. Session included small group discussions followed by silent reflections to practice being more contemplative in situations before responding.

Blood Drive: Men’s Breakfast would like to sponsor this activity and potentially other types of activities to get more community involvement. Need to make sure that we have a minimum of 30 people committed before scheduling the drive. Waiting until after Easter before exploring further.

Women’s Brunch: Looking to create an opportunity for women who may work during the week to connect with others. Hoping that this brunch will lead to more future activities. Planning for the brunch on April 27th is well underway.

Media Update – Received interest in helping from a couple more people and they will be connecting soon to set up training.

LGBTQ+ Ministry Group - Selected the name of Rainbow Connection. Plans for a Bunco night on June 21st for PRIDE month for people of all ages from both congregation members as well as external participants. Planning another LGBTQ+ Bible Study for later this year.

NEW BUSINESS 

Continuing Resolutions: Asking all Council committee liaisons to help rewrite the responsibilities of their committee for the Continuing Resolutions document that supplements the constitution. Write ups will be added into the new Continuing Resolutions document to represent the work of current committees. Council members would like to create a list of all the committee participants for each group as many of the committee participants are unknown.

Personnel Committee: Will be meeting to create and update personnel files for staff. Discussed the Administrative Assistant replacement.

Property Committee: Request to purchase and install new folding doors for kitchen area that is the pass through to the Sunday School area (similar to the pass through to the Cornerstone Room). 

TREASURER REPORT

Current budget - February's giving was on par with expenses and budgeted amounts.

Financial Reports: Rick continued to do some training on financial reports created to help the Council understand the cash flow and how that impacts the Balance Sheet each month. Goal identified to have committees better understand funds designated and available for their group.

Motion: Moved by Rick and seconded to research options to improve financial returns by moving funds into a money market or CD and present a proposal to the Council which can be voted on and approved electronically. No further discussion and the motion passed.

Motion: Moved by Andrew and seconded to approve the treasurer’s report. There was no further discussion and the motion passed.

STAFF REPORTS 

Pastor Paul Highlights - Proceeds from the play will go to LSS for Ukrainian support efforts. The Brooklyn Big Band will be coming to FOG on June 30th. New member class is starting April 28th. Pastor Paul was a victim of being hacked and a spam email was sent out to several church members supposedly with Pastor Paul’s ask for funds or gift cards. Communications sent out to alert members that this is a scam.

Pastor Erin Highlights - Wrapped up Lent services. Much appreciation for all of the speakers that shared a faith story. They were great! Led a Bible study for Ruth Circle and helped with Tuesday Bible Study. Started working on summer plans. Egg hunt planned for Palm Sunday and Drop Everything and Read scheduled for April.