Mutual Ministry Committee

Notes from 10/02/2006 Meeting

 

Present: Rick Mann, Pastor Erik, Pastor John

 

The original plan for the meeting was to discuss Pastor John’s sabbatical plan.  It is still in rough-draft shape.  In addition, he received a reply from the ELCA’s Division for Ministry about whether it would be wise to proceed with a 2007 sabbatical in view of the fact that deadlines for virtually all grants have been missed (see #1 below).

 

Pastor John walked those present through some of the pros and cons for a 2007 sabbatical.  Pros: he needs it sooner than later; it is not expected to be an expensive undertaking on his side (no extended travel or expensive schooling planned); it has already been delayed one year; it will make Pastor Erik have to wait even longer for his.  Cons: we’ll have to fund it ourselves.

 

He reviewed his hopes for a sabbatical time: 1) personal rest and renewal and recreation; family renewal time; 2) creating what he calls an artificial vacancy as a way to remove from his “plate” those tasks which don’t need to be done by a pastor (or don’t need to be done at all), but which are hard to divest, and 3) a “project” that would be a thinking through and perhaps reshaping of the way we welcome visitors, instruct new members and do stewardship.

 

We discussed the implications for the congregation and for Pastor Erik.  Here are some of the ideas that started to gel:

·         ·         Obtain the services of a supply preacher or preachers for six or seven of the 14 Sundays Pastor John would be gone.  Cost for this would be approximately $1350 - &1575 (See #2 below).

·         ·         Use a fairly standard order of service for those three months, to lessen the work required to prepare orders of worship

·         ·         Expect the Church Council in general to be responsible for taking care of those duties that need to be done in Pastor John’s absence that have not appropriately been taken over by Pastor Erik

·         ·         More specifically, expect the Caring Committee to organize around increased visitation, especially of those ill or in the hospital and, via our Communion Ministers.

·         ·         Consider asking Marilyn (if she is willing) to shift her job description more toward Parish Administrator.  It was felt that someone who knew the place well would be best suited to handle some of the administrative tasks that have been handled by Pastor John, for example, Human Resources stuff, insurance, etc.

·         ·         To allow Marilyn to make this shift, hire a part-time person to assist with support by doing those tasks easily assigned (running errands, mailings, etc.).  Cost for this would not exceed $1500.

 

Total cost for the congregation would not exceed $3000.

 

The items concerning Marilyn have yet to be discussed with her.  Pastor John will do so soon.

 

Committee: Please respond to this at your earliest convenience.  I’d like to shape it into a more formal proposal and have it be part of the agenda at the October 10 Council meeting.

 

Thanks.

 

Pastor John

 

#1 - Dear Pastor Soyster

Thank you for your note regarding sabbatical information.  At this point, what is likely to be most helpful to you is a book and a website.  The website is http://www.cord.edu/dept/charis/  On that page you'll notice that there is link to "Sabbatical Sugggestions" and another to "Sabbatical Information."  The second link contains, among other things, a list of potential funders.

       The book that I'll recommend is "Clergy Renewal: The Alban Sabbatical Planning Guide."  I don't know how far you are in planning a sabbatical for summer 2007, but this resource really was written as a beginning-to-end planning guide for congregations and their pastors.

       Finally, I hope you'll allow me to push a question back in your direction.  Do you have to do your sabbatical in Summer 2007?  I ask for a couple of reasons.  First, my experience with many ELCA pastors who have taken sabbaticals is that they are spending minimally one year in planning before taking a sabbatical.  One of the other things that has emerged is that if a congregation or pastor have not been setting funds aside to pay any additional congregational expenses and the expenses for travel, etc., this becomes a great impediment (and can become a source of conflict).  And some of the most generous sources of support, including the Lilly Endowment (www.clergyrenewal.org), the Louisville Institute (http://www.louisville-institute.org/) and Wheat Ridge (http://www.wheatridge.org/Projects/Sabbatical_Resource/Sabbatical_Intro.shtml ) require a lead-time of more than a year in their granting process.  For example, the Lilly Endowment deadline for applications is May 15 of each year.  They just announced their grant recipients yesterday (so, almost five months after the application deadline) for those who will be taking sabbaticals in 2007 or 2008.  My concern, therefore, is that if you've already gone a long way in planning to take your sabbatical in summer 2007, you've likely missed opportunities to apply for grant funding.  And these are the only external (that is, outside of the congregation) sources of sabbatical funding of which I'm aware.

 

I hope that this information will help you in continuing your planning for sabbatical.  Please let me know if you have other questions.

 

Dick Bruesehoff

 

Pastor Richard Bruesehoff
Director for Lifelong Learning
Vocation and Education unit, ELCA
8765 W. Higgins Road
Chicago, IL  60631
773-380-2872
Richard.Bruesehoff@elca.org
www.elca.org/leadership/

 

#2 - COMPENSATION FOR PULPIT SUPPLY (from our Synod website)

The following guidelines are recommended rates for compensation for Pulpit Supply Pastors.  These guidelines represent fair compensation based on the amount of preparation time, number of services and travel.

Sunday Morning:

One Service:                                $125

One Service and Bible Study:        $175

Two Services:                              $175

Two Services and Bible Study:      $225

Three Services:                           $225

Mileage should be reimbursed at the current IRS rate $.44.5 per mile.

 

 

Mutual Ministry Committee Meeting

Tuesday September 5, 2006

Attendees: Gayle Johnson Herb Holler, Rick Mann, Kevin Churchill, Pastor
Erik and Pastor John

Meeting began with an opening prayer by Pastor John @ 7:10 pm

Two Meeting objectives:
1. Sabbatical policy for Mount Cross for approval of Church Council
(see attached document)
2. Pastor John's Plan for Sabbatical:
o Preliminary plan to present to council in September
o Final sabbatical plan to present to council in October

Herb Holler will chair the Mutual Ministry Committee and will present the
proposal of the new Sabbatical policy to the church council at the next
meeting in September.

Next Mutual Ministry Committee Meeting will take place on Monday October 2nd
at 7:00 pm

Meeting concluded at 8:45pm

Respectively submitted by Kevin Churchill




Meeting Notes

Mutual Ministry Committee

Monday, December 5, 2005

 

Convened: 11:15 AM

 

Present:  Gayle Johnson, Rick Mann, Bob Winters, Pastor Erik & Pastor John

 

Absent:  Jenny Christensen, Kevin Churchill

 

1.  Pastor John sketched the basic job description of the committee

        a) On behalf of the congregation and in conversation with the pastors, help them to shape their “Statement” for the coming year.  The Statement outlines the areas where the pastor will give special emphasis or attention in the coming year.  This Statement is supposed to be an agenda item at the Annual Meeting.

        b) Help the pastors develop their Continuing Education Covenant to be sent to the Synod Bishop.

        c) Provide the pastors a confidential sounding board for issues of personal or professional concern.

        d) Provide a forum where, on behalf of the congregation, the committee members might share concerns of the congregation about the congregation’s or the pastor’s ministry.

 

2.  Gayle added the two additional items for the committee to begin working on.

        a) There is a need for additional staffing at Mount Cross.  To best determine the right kind of person or persons to hire, the congregation should spend time going through some kind of congregational self-study or evaluation of its ministries. 

        b) Creation of a sabbatical plan for the pastors.

 

3.  Discussion first centered on how best to survey the congregation.  It was agreed that a long-term process, such as is offered through Natural Church Development is something the congregation should do, a shorter-term process seemed best suited to the current needs.  Pastor John will contact Bishop Nelson to inquire about using the Synod’s Mission Exploration Team (MET) to help us in this regard.  By the next meeting Pastor John will have the basics of the two possible approaches (NCD and MET) so that the committee can decide.  It was suggested that we ask Council for authority to decide this matter within the committee so as to expedite the process.

 

4.  Discussion followed about the sabbatical plan.  Pastor John handed out copies of the Synod’s recently approved plan (click here to see the policy).  It was asked whether this can be a Council action or needs Congregational Meeting approval.  Pastor John will inquire of the Bishop about this.  It was agreed that Pastor John prepare a plan for consideration at the next (January) meeting so that the committee/council/congregation will have something to begin planning toward.

 

5.  Next meeting: Monday, January 9, 7:00 PM in Pastor John’s office.

 

6.  Adjourned: 12:20 PM.