BMC Leaders Meeting Saturday 26 October 2019 A BMC Leaders Meeting - - PDF document

BMC Leaders Meeting

Saturday 26 October 2019

1 | P a g e A BMC Leaders Meeting was held at Bryanston Methodist Church on Saturday 26 October 2019 at 9am. The meeting was chaired by Rev. Themba Mntambo

REGISTRATION

 Attendees: Refer to the Attendee Register.  Apologies: Eleanor Wardrop, Elaine Bezuidenhout, Kerry Wetton, Lisa Moseneke, Nadia Atkinson, Keith Hendry

AGENDA



Registration



Devotions (Dalene)



Attendance Figures (Ashley)



Financial Report (Jan)



Heart Talks Feedback (Themba)



Ministers Stationing Feedback (Dalene)

• Farewell



HR Report (Namhla)

• Report on Voluntary Retrenchments
• Restructuring & New Organogram (Brian)
• New Job Descriptions
• New Positions / Vacancies (Kedibone)



Notices (Stewards)

• Carol Service
• Christmas Services
• AGM



Closing

DEVOTIONS : Rev. Dalene Jordaan

Dalene read the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It is the difference between ego and

• relationship. The Pharisee was all about ego, about self and wanting to be praised. For the tax

collector there was a deeper understanding of his own need to be restored. As we deliberate on our issues, we need to ask ourselves “Are we in ego or are we in relationship?” If we want to be in relationship with God, we need to pray.

• Rev. Themba: Welcome to all.

The registration form has been completed. Apologies have been recorded.

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ATTENDANCE FIGURES: Ashley Roberts

[4 slides – attendance 2019 – 7h00 4 slides – 8h30 4 slides – 1015 4 slides 12h00 4slides – Children’s Church 4 slides - Youth] Graphs on slides show attendance figures over 4 years, service by service and quarter by quarter. The gaps in children’s church are because of holidays. There are a few positive year-on-year figures. [Total Adult Total Youth Total Children] Year by year is shown all in one graph. [slide?] New members - July 28, August 23 and September 18. Questions: Martin: Have you done a comparison done with other churches in terms of attendance. Might be useful methodology. Ashley: It is possible. If you could suggest churches you would like to see, I will wait a week for feedback and add those to the comparison. Dalene: I have chatted with some ministers: Randburg down in numbers significantly, Trinity is holding stable, Gracepoint down a little. Question: What about other Methodist Churches? Ashley: I can add those to the comparison. Thanks to Ashley: That was much more understandable. Themba: Report to be completed and submitted to the Society Stewards. A report can then come back to this meeting.

FINANCIAL REPORT: Jan Van Staden

[tithe YTD September 2019] Large loss YTD September because of retrenchments. The cost of the retrenchment packages is just under one million.

BMC Leaders Meeting

Saturday 26 October 2019

3 | P a g e Our expenditure is fairly stable. We still have large one-off donations coming through. These have been quite random over the past few months. We got approval from the last meeting to approach MCO to take from our Property Reserve to fund retrenchment packages. There will be a cost saving of around R150K per month due to reduction of staff. Still need to aim to increase monthly tithing by R200K/month. We are looking at maintenance of premises. We have done some Capex over the last few months but are keeping costs to the minimum. After using the property reserves, we looking at replenishing the balance. We are preparing the budget for 2020. This will be presented at the AGM. We have 3 ministers instead of 4 which will be a cost saving. [segmented deposits – EFT] EFT’s are stable for the year. We are looking at implementing debit order runs to further stabilise

• ur EFT income.

{Tithe YTD Expenses YTD] Staff costs are significant YTD due to retrenchments packages. [Balance sheet 2019] We have a good balance sheet at the moment. The property reserve is in decline due to retrenchment packages. Some cash in Rhona which can lead to income. Need to follow governance process. Keith Hendry leaving due to retrenchment at end of October. We have employed Keith Viljoen to assist with bookkeeping services on an ongoing basis. He will assist a few days a week. This will be a cost saving. Keith has experience with similar churches. Questions/Comments: Stan: Question asked around property reserve fund. Jan: The R1.6 property reserve is kept separate from our money in a money market account. Our bank account holds the R539 property reserve. It was clarified that we do receive interest on that money. Martin – to clarify cost saving impact. The aim is to achieve a R200K saving/month. We will achieve that by moving from 4 ministers to 3. We have the obligation of re-paying the fund. We have streamlined the organisation by restructuring – the next goal is to consider reducing ministers from 3 to 2 in the future

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4 | P a g e Q: My understanding is that circuit assessments are based on the number of ministers 2 years ago. That then is derided by the circuit and the various societies. As I see it, even though you reduce the number of ministers this year we will not feel the benefit until 2 years down the line. Jan: There is some immediate benefit in the reduction of allowances. Joan: Some of the staff were retrenched without a pension or provident fund. Now is the time to look at the lay staff pension fund. Dalene: Our entry level staff are on a fund - they are most vulnerable. For other staff it is voluntary, and it is available. Jan: Financial guidance with a financial advisor has been arranged with all the leaving staff to ensure responsible use of their money going forward. Maabo: I’ve been here 8 years, I have no pension fund and I’m being retrenched. Question: Taking into account the trends with the attendance and finances, what does this mean for us as a community? What about all the ministries that were ongoing and how are we going to sustain those? Themba: We will cover some of your questions with the HR Report. As regards professional ministry, we will need to consider extending our volunteer base quite significantly and moving tasks to volunteers. Themba: There is a bigger question here - how we can improve our giving. How we can encourage and inspire our members to give in order that ministries can continue? We should move away from the worry of not having money or robbing Peter to pay Paul. At a Stewards meeting we need to propose a more focused and deliberate focus on giving and tithing. Stan: If I own something, I will make sure that it is funded properly. We are a professional church and we as congregation tend to pay staff to do the work. If we own the ministry – we will pay for it. We need a far better PR within this church. Let’s have good stories and hear what’s happening so that we can feel part of what is happening. Martin: When we right sized that was one of the first things we looked at. Lay people are no longer involved in ministry except for feeding of the hungry which involves a lot of running around. The

• nly other structures that have been kept are gardening and hospitality. The ministers will now do

ministry – not lay people. Brian: The music ministry is entirely volunteers. We have gone from 40 to 20 volunteers. There are deeper issues – why do people not volunteer for the ministries that are available. There is something stopping people from volunteering. We need to have honest conversation around this. John: The two that are on my heart are the prison ministry, which we don’t hear much about, and

• missions. How we can support and know about them – there is not much information anymore.

Lula: I want to support Stan – we need some good PR to encourage people to volunteer. There is a lot talent and people who can contribute their talents.

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5 | P a g e Kedibone: We seem to be talking and not acting. It is important the we keep on announcing that we need volunteers. We must not leave it here. When will we come back to this and what is it that we need to do? Dalene: I would like to challenge the word volunteer. Volunteer means I go into a space which is not mine to give of my time. You part of a shareblock and in terms of giving one’s time you illustrate your ownership of where you belong. We are part of this family and everybody has to pitch in. We get fed because we give and sustain the house in which we have the privilege to worship. Joan: There are ministries run entirely by lay people. The ministers come in and do Communion and then go. I think of WA and the Father’s Group. The Seniors has had Gerhard and I want to pay tribute to him, he has been truly wonderful with the Senior’s group. We run without a budget. We are not volunteers, we are helpers and we are here to serve. Prison ministry – we need to pay tribute to Basil Fleetwood who has run Kairos ministries at the prison. Stan: Please let us know what is happening. We do a lot and we don’t brag. Tell the congregation so they can be involved. Question: Is Small Group a ministry? That is not taken always into account. Themba: We need to look at our reporting structures. Present a challenge for some people here to co-ordinate a focused volunteer drive. Is there someone who is challenged and called by the Spirit. Martin: Suggest that it should be a Society Steward portfolio. Themba: We can talk about it on Monday night and add it to the Agenda.

HEART TALKS – Rev. Themba Mntambo

This came up at our Leader’s Meeting on 7 July. It was felt strongly that we still carry hurt and pain from the past that needs to be addressed. The invitation went out to the congregation over several Sundays to have a Heart Talk. This would an opportunity for people to raise what was on their hearts with the assurance that everyone would be heard and together we seek solutions to matters that trouble us and that healing would begin to happen. Met on August 21, 2019. The cries were loud, but the attendance was not big. 31 attendees. The main question was what are the things that hurt us. People raised matters around finance, staff retrenchments, attendance, communication, Youth and Young Adults, Children’s Church, requests for Sermon notes, changes in communion, worship teams, ministers – their availability and stationing, suggestion for more celebratory services. We have responded to people who attended. How do we get others to know what happened and what answers we gave? If anyone needs the responses, we will send them on request. - contact Nadja, Kerry or a minister. Where do we go from here? Do we arrange another talk, or do we close? I would like to have another opportunity to have a conversation so we can move from hurt to how can we serve Jesus.

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MINISTERS STATIONING: Rev. Dalene Jordaan

We received a letter in September after CE to state that Lunga and I will leave at the end of year. A petition was sent to the Presiding Bishop from the Stewards to ask that Lunga remain. The response came on Monday from the Presiding Bishop that the CE decision stands. The minister from Rosebank, CT – Kamogetso Namoletse, will be joining Themba and Kedibone at the end of this year. He writes regular articles for New Dimension. 3 positions opened and I had an opportunity to look at Krugersdorp and Secunda. I made the decision to accept St Peter’s United invitation. I will know by the end of October what our removal dates are. My last sermons here are on 10 November. I have been asked to preach at all four services. Martin: I feel obligated as a steward to give more in depth feedback. This congregation has not had a say in the placement of ministers. We engaged with our Circuit stewards and Superintendent at the appropriate time this year. They were still in the process of doing the invites and making the listings when a decision was taken to move ministers out. It is this aspect that the Stewards have resolved to take further and seek higher authority and intervention. We still maintain that we as BMC need input and to have a say in the placement of our ministers. It seems that for the last 6 years, we haven’t had a say in which ministers were placed. Seemingly, there is a discord between our circuit stewards, superintendent and circuit placement. Maureen will be able to explain – the district was disappointed in the processes followed. At the moment we have sought council with the Presiding Bishop, and we wait for a date to meet with him. It all pertains to (and won’t affect Dalene or the uncertainty as to whether Lunga wants to go or not) the principles that our circuit stewards are battling with at the moment. Colin: I have been speaking to higher authorities in the church and I want to know if we are we entitled to put forward tenders for candidates? Dalene: It is supposed to be 18 months in advance. Circuits give names to the Bishop. The Circuit stationing consults with Society Stewards. The process is then one minister at a time. We are all under discipline – once the Connexional Executive have made a decision, you are not going to move

• them. Let us get it right from here onwards. You have 4 months before the Annual Quarterly

meeting next year to get your invitations resolved. Themba: Let’s not begin a debate here about the rules. I will allow Martin and Maureen to speak. Martin: Stewards got involved with circuit placements as early as April this year with our Circuit and

• Superintendent. It was placed in their hands where the authority lies for placements. During an

interview with a young minister we learnt the reputation of BMC is such that no minister wants to be placed at BMC because of decisions taken over consultations. That is why we are fighting so hard – we just want to emphasise that we need a say. Maureen: As part of stationing committee, I am not aware of any names that have been out

• forward. Can you give names to circuit stationing committee now so we have time to deal with it

before the end of next year. Themba: Whatever happens between now and the Presiding Bishop’s response, I’m due to retire end of next year and there is an opportunity to invite a minister for December 2020. You have until April quarterly meeting next year to conclude an invitation to a minister and put the name forward.

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7 | P a g e It is the Leader’s responsibility to begin the process with the Superintendent. You also need to consider that people who were appointed by Conference are here for 3 years. The conversation around Kedibone needs to start soon. The new minister has been appointed for 3 years. In the 2nd year of his tenure you need to consider an appointment with him or to invite another person. If we need to decide on ministers we have in this church, we need do it in advance. This is for your information; the stewards will do the work. KM: In terms of April quarterly meeting, I have seen a draft re the stationing so the sooner you get the names in the better- the first quarterly meeting is in February. It is the tradition in our church that when ministers leave, we do a farewell to recognise the work they have done. We are looking into that. We spoke at FINCOM last week and we need to clarify a few matters with the society stewards on Monday and then we will announce as to the how and when.

HR REPORT: Nomhla

Thanks extended from Themba to HR committee. Brief update on the HR process followed in last couple of months: the simple reality is that just because we are a church, we are not immune to what is happening in society and we have also hit tough times. We had to look at how we could effectively run the HR processes of the church. We agreed that we would look at a number of elements in terms of the restructuring process. One of the key things I need to highlight at this meeting is that one of the processes we had to undertake was to retrench a number of staff members. This has been a long and painful journey involving people and families. A number of staff members are in the process of exiting the church. The 1st left at end of September, some are leaving at the end of October and the last batch pertaining to the school, will leave at the end of November. We had to look at how we organise ourselves as organisation and a church going forward to provide the service required by the community. We have looked at job descriptions of the staff members, ensuring that the tasks of individuals leaving are handed over effectively to the people remaining. Clarity needed as to how and what work needs to be done. As we move forward, we look at revised performance management and contracts in line with new job descriptions. Questions/Comments: Maureen: Thanks for all your hard work. How many staff leaving and how many remaining? Themba: 11 people leaving and 18 remaining (not including ministers) Martin: That is a reduction from 48 over the last 5 years. [BMC organisational Structure]

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8 | P a g e Brian: Spoke to the rationale behind the new organogram.

• 1. to save money
• 2. to position ourselves to deliver the mission of the church. A year ago, we did vision and

mission survey. From all feedback we grouped the comments into categories. We asked

• urselves how this related to staff roles. We took the feedback and the priorities expressed

by the congregation and endorsed by the leadership and put this strategy together. When we take the pillars and translate them in to an organisational structure, we see this (refer to slide BMC Organisational Structure) It is important to note how we came to it – through thought and deep prayer. Themba: We are going to advertise some positions:

• 1. Worship co-ordinator (Ashley is leaving due to work commitments)
• 2. Operations/property manager: Geoff Slade has been assisting.
• 3. Receptionist/front desk co-ordinator: will assist with hospitality functions.

Adverts going out – we will consider staff first and then cast the net wider.

NOTICES

 Carol Service – 1 December – 18h00  Christmas Eve – 24 December – 23h00  Christmas Day – 25 December - 7h30 and 9h00  Sunday after Christmas - 29 December – 7h00, 8h30, 10h15 (no 12pm service)  New Year’s Eve - 31 December – 23h00  ASM - Monday 25 November - 19h00

CLOSING – Rev. Themba Mntambo

We thank God for what has been, and we trust God for what is to come. God will help us to step into future. Meeting closed with the Benediction. The next meeting is the Annual Society Meeting (ASM) on Monday 25 November @ 19h00 Ministry and organisational reports are available at: www.bmc.org.za/leaders or www.bmc.org.za/agm Minutes taken by Christine Wrathall