MINUTE FOR STEWARDS:

We as stewards or the finance committee as many know us you could say have ink on our hands from discerning how to spend the money you give and we receive from the outside as a church. But our work is more than just paying salaries and roof repairs or basement leaks. We as Stewards are called to look at the overall health of the church and us as God’s people. So while many of you might think our work with budgets for instance is only about the bottom line of deficits or surplus…it is much more than that. You see each line of the budget tells our story as the church family of Dunbarton-Fairport. We look at how we can fund how we worship, how we help form faith in our children, our teenagers, our adults. We look at how we can provide leadership both clergy and lay. We also look at how we spend our money on our building which also enables us to welcome outside groups and therefore become part of the neighborhood. We also look at how we can encourage everyone to prayerfully look at how much we contribute to support the finances of the church, to look to see if what we give has increased over the years, if we can give even more. Because we are not just about paying for the buildings…but for you and me, for all of us to be able to grow in faith and get our hands dirty as disciples. But this takes money, and this takes creative minds, and a willingness to do business differently and faithfully as a church. We would love to speak to people who might like to join us on this committee, for the love of our church family and for the neighborhood and the world around us. Amen!

MINUTE FOR SESSION:

We are tasked with looking after the spiritual needs of the church and trying to engage everyone in how that can happen. We work hand in hand with Worship, Christian Education and are excited to add Mission Outreach and Advocacy. Our role is not do-ers but to engage various groups and committees in discussion and concrete ways of deepening our lives as disciples. We have been involved in supporting the Affirming and Diversity group that led us through the Affirming process. We also are responsible for keeping the roll of members, approving baptisms, looking at ways we can better be visible in the community. We work in supporting the hopes and dreams of our congregation but also our world and how we can better be part of it. We have also been involved in challenging our congregations to look at the committees, of term limits, of encouraging members to share their gifts and talents and to know when a sabbatical from a committee is healthy for both the committee and themselves. We are currently working on the many wonderful responses you gave during the shared sermon at the AGM on Jan 31st and looking forward to seeing how they can move us forward. Our committee has taken on many directions over the years but is that not important to show that the committee is there to exist for the congregation and not for itself as a committee. We are always trying to find our way as disciples, as a congregation and a committee to grow in our faith and not remain stagnant. Dirty hands show a willingness as a church family to become part of one another’s story and respond with love. We are always willing to hear your ideas in how we can grow spiritually.

MINUTE FOR THE CE COMMITTEE:

Many of us, when we think of the C.E. or Christian Education Committee will think immediately of our children, from babes in arms to gangly teenagers, those young people who bring such joy and energy into our lives. Church School, Vacation Bible School, Mid-week groups, Rejuvenation Council, the Nursery are all wonderful examples of programs provided for that demographic. Just as our congregation is wider than our young people so is the purpose of the CE committee. It’s mandate to provide a variety of programs for all - all ages, all abilities, all interests. Bible study, family events, theme based workshops come to mind. We are all on this journey called life and have chosen to travel together on a journey of faith. Taking a journey can be a tremendous challenge. There are wonderful rewards but there will be very difficult and scary times. The good news: as we grow in faith through our Christian Education, we have the amazing opportunity to continually rethink, re-energize, reform and re-imagine the educational work of our congregation; the reward: Christian learning experiences that are positive, engaging, and impactful for each one of us. We invite you to join us on the journey, either as a member of the CE Committee or as participant in a learning opportunity.

MINUTE FOR THE WORSHIP COMMITTEE:

Some people probably wonder what the Worship Committee does… after all, the minister preaches, the director of music takes care of music… what more would be needed? The answer to that is “quite a lot.” In our monthly meetings, we review the past month’s services and discuss what worked well, what could be adapted to work better, or what seemed like a great idea in theory but maybe wasn’t in practice… The Worship Committee decides when there will be a Healing service or a Communion service and members of the committee are responsible for preparing the Communion elements and for cleaning up afterwards. Worship also looks at the special services (such as Holy Week or Christmas) and decides what format each service should use. The Worship Committee also decides the format of the regular Sunday service – where the hymns go, when the sermon is preached, even when you are all invited to stand or sit. Worship decides who will be asked to preach when the minister is away and also who will play when Dawn is away. While this may seem small, these discussions (and their implementation) are important jobs in the life of our congregation and how we worship together. The Worship Committee meets for 90 minutes once a month and we welcome anyone who would like to share ideas on how our services could be shaped.