Church Council News May & June

May 2009

The new council has met for the first time in May. The new council consists of Chaplain (Francis), Warden (Peter Atkinson), Archdeaconry  Synod Representatives (Jan Waterschoot and Ruth Steketee), other Clergy (Barbara Noordanus) and 8 council members (Elly Gabeler-Miedema, Lynn Sadok, Saith Amboko, Manju Daniel, Nico Koolsbergen, Jeyakumar Albert, Henry Amuasi and Rogér Maatje), 13 people in total. Thank you to Lynne who has accepted the role of Minutes secretary to free all council members to be involved in discussion.

The new council began in prayer with receiving the news that the Oase would no longer be available after the 1st July.

The following positions were assigned: Lay vice chair Peter Atkinson (Francis as Chaplain is always the Chair of every church meeting unless he wishes to hand this role over to another assigned person), Child Safety officers – Pamela and Andrew Armstrong, Correspondence Secretary Ruth Steketee, Treasurer Elly Gabeler-Miedema, all council liaison areas – see the Outlook article about these.

The following areas were dealt with:

  • Good meeting conduct was outlined and council functioning discussed. 
  • •Council agreed upon means for financial reporting to the council and to the church through the Sunday Sheet.
  • •The general meeting for consideration of the budget was prepared for.
  • •Venue search progress was outlined – commercial properties and conference facilities are being looked at further.

Council will meet on the second Tuesday of every month except August and also for a BBQ with their families in July.

June 2009

The following areas were dealt with in our June meeting:

  • •Feedback from the camp was shared along with liaison area news.
  • •Financial and venue issues and progress were discussed and these matters have been reported in the Sunday Sheets recently
  • •It was decided to set the Distant Missions amount for 2008 at €10,000 and the first €3000 allocation was made to support Masters in Divinity studies for Mohamed. The Distant Missions committee will be expanded to include Elly from Council and another member of the congregation.
  • •€300 was approved to purchase a better laptop for worship purposes
  • •The provisions of the Chaplain’s stipend were studied and it was outlined how it is a ‘Living’ set by the Church of England and only able to be altered by General Synod.
  • •How we can ‘maintain the unity of the Spirit’ (Ephesians 4:1-5) was discussed.

If you have any questions please ask any council member. Our next meeting is on July 14th.

TCE Council Liaison Areas 2009  

Council’s main task is to ensure that the ministry of the church is provided with the means to happen. This includes especially ensuring a venue, finance and equipment are provided by the good stewardship of the resources God provides. For the council to do this effectively the whole council needs to know what is happening in every area of church life, mission and ministry. Therefore each year Council members are assigned areas of church life and especially ministry teams with which they are to have a special relationship – their Liaison Areas.

What this means for you:

If you are involved in any ministry or activity within the church there is always someone on council who will hopefully be taking an interest in what you are doing, how it is going, what council can do to facilitate or grow that area of our church’s life, encouraging and praying for you. If you want to let council know about anything then contact the liaison person for your area of involvement and they can bring this to the attention of the whole council.

Liaison Area Person(s) assigned
Créche Manju
KidZchurch Jan & Henry
1Tim4Twelve Barbara
Child safety Jan
Welcome and Coffee team Saith & Peter
Setup Team Jeyakumar
Sound Team and sermon recording Manju
Projection team Jeyakumar
Sunday sheet production Nico
Outlook team Jeyakumar
Website team Elly
Directory Nico
Publicity Jan & Lynn
Practical helps team Manju
Financial matters = Treasurer & Warden Elly & Peter
Legal matters = Warden Peter
Property matters = Warden Peter
Distant Missions team Lynn
Church social events e.g. Camp Roger, Elly & Lynn
Alpha and other outreach programmes Nico
Cell Groups Barbara
Young adult’s activities TIFF (other than GRO cells) Saith
Young Families Manju & Elly
Informal Worship Team Henry
Formal Worship Team Saith
Services administration Ruth & Jan
Prayer ministry team Henry 
Intercessory prayer Henry 
Synod and archdeaconry relations = Synod reps. Jan & Ruth
Raad van Kerken Nico 
Archives Ruth 

We hope that you will be aware of our support, encouragement and prayer in your involvement in Trinity Church, it’s mission and ministry. Council members’ knowledge and contact with these areas of church life will contribute greatly to council connectivity with the body. Hopefully council members shall soon be hearing of the joys and excitements of their discoveries as they walk alongside all whom we serve.

We pray that this will help us to serve Trinity church and all its members better.