Meeting details
Meeting conducted on-site in the Clanalpine Meeting room.
Present: Mike Lum, Chris Chandler, Chris Stretton, David Mayes, Michael Gold, Yvonne Hall, Lee Beeston, Tse-Ruey Low, Naomi Reichardt, Darrel Causbrook, Rev. Bruce Stanley (chair)
Apologies: Amanda Haywood
Next Parish Council meeting: Tuesday, August 8th at 8pm
Bible Reading
Acts 6:1-7
1In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”5This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
As we consider again the changing needs of our church, this passage helps us to recentre and think about how our structures need to keep evolving as we care for not only the people in our church congregations but also our wider community of Eastwood,m Ermington and a little bit more. The main considerations moving forward will be our administration and pastoral needs.
Vision 2030
Please pray with us as we plan for the next 7 years of growth, as well as develop a strategic investment and financial plan for Eastwood and Ermington.
Pastoral staffing
We are beginning preparations for the 2024 budget, considering where staffing increases and changes will be required as we continue to grow.
Equipment:
Our Parish Council are working on this area of ministry.
* Chairs - project #1 - is now COMPLETE! The chairs for Eastwood have been ordered and with the surplus, further needs of the War Memorial Hall are also being addressed. New side doors are to be installed soon and a new chair trolley is to be purchased. More chairs for Ermington have also been ordered. It is wonderful to see this need met so quickly!
* We are still in the planning stages of moving our Eastwood Korean service to the Clanalpine meeting room, which will require some changes in sound equipment and live-stream set-up.
Equipping:
Our staff team are working on this area of ministry.
Current needs:
* We have one more growth group beginning soon and another planned.
* The Thanks Giving service will help us reach some new targets for further equipping our site for ministry.
* Term 3 will see another week of training, with a special event for our music teams also.
Building Development team
The Parish Council accepted a motion last month to appoint a small team, to be known as the Building Development team, to report to Parish Council on developing an approach plan for the stage 2 building works at Eastwood (major development work), as well as assessing the possible future development needs at Ermington.
We are now in the process of putting this team together.
Ermington Church Committee
In order to better understand and serve the needs of our Ermington congregations and site, Parish Council have voted to form a sub-committee to be known as the "Ermington Church Committee" - a small group that will meet and report monthly to Parish Council to keep us updated specifically on the site, finance and ministry needs for Ermington.
Works report
Ermington:
We await the results of the Development Application submitted to Parramatta Council for a new shade shelter over the new playground (funded by a State government grant).
It was also noted that there are works needed for the toilets and roofing of the Ermington buildings which will require attention soon.
Eastwood:
The tender documents for the detention tank and the car park are complete and we are currently receiving a few more quotes/tenders. With the increase in building costs over the past year, these costs will be higher than earlier estimates (2018)
Bells (Eastwood): We are a step closer to submitting the Development Application for Ryde Council.
Tax Deductible Giving
If you would like to make a tax-deductible gift towards the ongoing building work, details can be found on our website.
Bank: Bendigo Bank
Account: St Philips Anglican Church Eastwood School
BSB: 633 000
Account Number: 162 749 097
Description: Please enter “Bldg” and add your name if you require a receipt
Tax receipts can be issued by the wardens on request. For more information or to request a tax receipt, please email our wardens: wardens@stphils.org.au
Finances
Our 2023 budget includes a 12% increase from last year.
Details for online banking can be found on our website here: Giving page
Budget summary 2023 - June year to date:
- Income required:
Year to date: $453,270
Weekly: $17,196 - Current offertory:
Year to date: $439,280
Weekly: $16,895 - Shortfall: $13,990
The current offertory is 96.9% of the budget (a slight downward trend of 0.7% from last month)
We continue to be thankful for the generosity of our members. This regular giving enables the daily ministry to continue at St Phil's and St Mark's. We ask all members to be prayerful in their giving, regularly considering how God has equipped them to financially support his work both here and throughout the world.
Other business
Correspondence in
The Parish received notice of a bequest from a previous faithful member of our church, Norma Creighton, who passed away last August. Norma generously provided $20,000 in her will to the parish for ministry. The Parish Council will discuss at their next meeting how we might best put these faithfully given resources to work.
Thanks Giving 2023
Thanks Giving is approaching on September 3, when all congregations come together for one service. It is also a time to give generously for special projects, missions and future planning and growth. The 2023 giving projects are being finalised now and we will launch the Thanks Giving plans on Sunday 23rd and 30th July. Please mark the date in your diary - September 3rd - don't miss this great day of celebration!
Prayer
The meeting finished in prayer at 9:30 pm.