Three Things from Church Council

Church Council had their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday March 10, 2010. Here are the three things you need to know from Church Council:

• We adopted a "Safe Church Policy" and Kathy and John have accepted the roles as our Response Team. All of that will make much more sense once we finish the final edits and make the Safe Church Policy available to the church. For now, just know that we have policies and procedures in place to make the Encanto Community Church a safe, welcoming, vibrant place for ministry to take place.
  
  
• The Transition Fund has raised $27,918.22 as of the end of February. We will continue to accept donations into the Transition Fund in order to assure a worry-free transition period.
  

• Church Council will organize the Maundy Thursday Soup Supper for April 1. Remember the Soup Supper begins at 6PM on April 1 with the Maundy Thursday Worship Service to follow at 7PM.
  

Three Things from Church Council

Church Council had their regularly scheduled monthly meeting on January 13, 2010. Here are the three things you need to know from that meeting:

1. The All Church Workday is scheduled for Saturday January 23 starting at 8:30 AM. Bring your work gloves, your work ethic, and a snack to share as we declutter, rearrange, and make the church beautiful from top to bottom.
   
   
2. We have installed Church Windows as our database software on the church computer. This suite of programs will allow us to keep digital records of the church's members, track visitors, keep up with expenses, payroll, pledges and more. We will have a training event on Saturday February 13 at 1PM for any folks interested in volunteering to learn to input data and information into the program.
   
   
3. I am proud to announce that the Encanto Community Church will be helping out with the UCC Habitat for Humanity build here in the Valley of the Sun. Our friend Ron Caputo is organizing the build and we will be partnering with the Church of the Beatitudes, First Congregational Phoenix, Shepherd of the Hills, and Shadow Rock (as well as two Catholic Church joining the coalition) to build a house in downtown Glendale. We will need volunteers to help out on the worksite and provide meals/snacks for the work crews. Look for the sign-up sheet in the Fellowship Hall or see Rev. Brian for more details.
   

Three Things from Church Council

Church Council had their monthly meeting on Wednesday, December 9 at 7PM. Here are the three things you need to know from that meeting.

1. Church Windows database software has been ordered and will be installed on the church computer within a week. This new program will allow us to keep up with finances and payroll, membership trends, and new visitors. Hurray for Church Windows!
   
   
2. We have scheduled our first All Church Clean-Up Day of the New Year for January 23, 2010 starting at 8:30. Trustees will begin preparing the list of things that need to be done -- please see a Trustee if you have anything to add to the list!
   
   
3. After much prayer and deliberation, Rev. Brian submitted a letter to the Pastoral Search Committee indicating that he will not be submitting his name for consideration as the settled pastor at the Encanto Community Church. There is still much good work that we will do together during this interim time, and Rev. Brian will continue to hold the Encanto Community Church in his prayers and hopes you will hold his ministry in yours.
   

Three Things from Church Council

Church Council met Monday September 21 for their regular monthly meeting. Here are the THREE THINGS you need to know from that meeting:

1. The Pastoral Search Committee is putting the finishing touches on the Ministerial Profile. They will be meeting with our Conference Minister, the Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer, and submitting copies of the profile to Church Council before next month's meeting. Once the Ministerial Profile is officially submitted they will begin receiving packets of information from potential pastoral candidates.
   
   
2. We agreed to place an order for Church Windows and begin using it as the church's database management software, pending a larger conversation on finances.
   
   
3. Rev. Brian will be switching his day off from Wednesday to Monday. As such, Church Council and Trustees agreed to move their meetings from the third Monday of each month to the second Wednesday. Our next meeting will be Wednesday October 14.
   

Three Things You Need to Know from Church Council

Church Council met on Monday night, March 16, 2009. Here are the three things you need to know from that meeting.

1) The Budget has been constructed and Cindy will lead the Budget Presentation on Sunday March 22nd immediately following the worship service. Given the loss of income from the building rental to the Academy (now that they have officially closed) and the current economic situation it is going to be a challenging budget, but with faith in God and the commitment of the church we can make it happen!

2) The Stewardship Letter is being workshopped and will be mailed following the Budget Presentation. As such, Loyalty Sunday (when we turn in our pledge cards) was officially set for April 19th. Service will be followed by an ice-cream social that day. So bring your pledge card and get an ice-cream sundae!

3) The nominating committee was (more or less) finalized and will have their first meeting on Sunday March 29th after the worship service. You can look forward to hearing from them in the coming weeks!

Three Things from Church Council

Church Council met Monday February 16, 2009. Here are the three things you need to know from that meeting:

1) We are working on job descriptions for all church staff members. The Music Committee will prepare job descriptions for our Choir Director and Organist and the Church Council will prepare job descriptions for our Secretary, Treasurer, and Custodian. We started this work at February's meeting and will take it up again in March.

2) The church will be co-sponsoring the Conference Open and Affirming Resolution at the annual meeting in April. Check out the next post for more details.

3) Church Workday is THIS Saturday from 8:30 to Noon. We put together a working list of things to accomplish on Workday, and now we need your help to get it all done! See you Saturday morning, and don't forget to bring cleaning supplies and/or tools.

Open and Affirming Resolution

In the fall of 2008, the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ asked all of their Open and Affirming Congregations to consider crafting a resolution that they would co-sponsor at the 2009 Annual Meeting formally declaring the Southwest Conference as an Open and Affirming Conference.

At our February meeting the Church Council reviewed the proposed document, agreed to sign-on as a co-sponsor of the resolution, and asked that I submit the following letter to the Southwest Conference Office. The letter was mailed Tuesday morning, February 17, 2009.

Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ
4423 N. 24th St.
Suite 600
Phoenix, AZ 85016

Greetings!

On Monday evening February 16, 2009, the Church Council of the Encanto Community Church on behalf of the members and friends of this United Church of Christ congregation voted unanimously to co-sponsor the Open and Affirming Resolution that will be presented to SWC Board of Directors on March 14th and then brought before the entire Southwest Conference at the Annual Meeting in April 2009.

As one of the ONA Churches in this Conference it is with great joy and overflowing hope for the future that we endorse this resolution and ask that we would be included as one of the co-sponsors.

We look forward to sending representatives from our congregation to the Annual Meeting in April, and if we can be helpful in any additional ways in seeing this resolution through please do not hesitate to let us know.

Peace,
Rev. Brian Frederick-Gray
Interim Pastor

Three Things You Need to Know from Council

Church Council met on Monday January 19, 2009 and here are the three things you need to know from that meeting:

1) We met with representatives from the Phoenix Mar Thoma Congregation and the Orthodox Church of India (both Indian congregations here in the metro-Phoenix area who are looking for a place to hold their weekly worship services). After receiving presentations from each group, Council agreed to allow both churches access to our building for their worship services with the Orthodox Church of India meeting here on Saturday evenings and the Phoenix Mar Thoma Congregation meeting here on Sunday evenings, for the fee of a regular offering made out to Encanto Community Church.

2) The All Church Clean-Up Day has been rescheduled for Saturday February 21, 2009 beginning at 8:30 AM. Council will put together a list of things to be done at our next meeting, and if you have particular ideas please let us know!

3) The Annual Budget Presentation has been scheduled for Sunday March 22, 2009 immediately after the morning worship service. That means that all budget items and requests should be submitted no later than March 1, 2009.

Three Things from Church Council

Church Council met Monday December 15 at 7PM in the Fellowship Hall of Encanto Community Church. Here are the three things you need to know about that meeting.

1) We had a very fruitful conversation about the presence of previous pastors at memorial services at the church. I will update this post later with the official language of the resolution that Council passed, but the general thrust of it was that previous pastors who have served this congregation may be attendance at memorial services for church members, provided that they inform the current pastor that they are planning on attending. Further, at the request of the family and with the direction of the current pastor, previous pastors who have served the congregation will be allowed to participate in memorial services.

2) Council has agreed to make January 2009 History Month at Encanto Community Church. We have a wonderful plan for a really fun way to tell our story and dive into our own congregational history over the course of the month of January. More details to follow in future newsletter articles, pulpit announcements, and blog posts! But please start collecting any pictures (particularly older pics) that you might have of the church, church events, or church people.

3) The next All Church Work Day will be January 24th.