Parish Council Update - June 2023

Bible Reading

We took this time to share the ways we are being encouraged by the love of the saints. In particular, for those who are doing the work of Evangelism and sharing the gospel with others that they may become a part of our family. We have been encouraged by newcomers at so many services, the resumption of sharing meals together, the recent clean-up with so much achieved on site and so many in attendance, some new growth groups about to begin, and the beginning of planning for our annual Thanks Giving service.

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

The Rector led a brief discussion updating Parish Council on pastoral staff ratios across our congregations. As we begin to plan towards 2030, we will need to establish the areas where there is increasing pastoral need. Working across 5 main language groups means that this is a complex process as we look at smaller and larger congregations, 2 different sites to manage, administration needs and the pastoral needs of 10 growing congregations.

Equipment:

Our Parish Council are working on this area of ministry.

* Underway: Chairs - project #1 - is underway. $11,440 raised so far for Eastwood and another $1500 has now been raised for Ermington! Please consider giving $100 to buy a chair and help us reach the final target Chair fundraiser details

* In planning stages: buildings and meeting space - we are moving a few Sunday groups around to make more space for our growing kid's ministries. Further options are being considered for some extra meeting areas on Sunday mornings in particular. Of key consideration is relocating our Korean service into the Clanalpine meeting room at 11 am on Sunday, and also equipping the CMC with some better equipment for the groups/congregations meeting there each week.

Equipping:

Our staff team are working on this area of ministry.

Current needs

* We are establishing a few more growth groups and continue to pray for even more leaders.

* We have made some major progress with the site work thanks to the last clean-up day at Eastwood.

* Our term 2 training day was a great success and we are thankful for more people training in ministry.

Building Development team

The Parish Council accepted a motion 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.

After Covid, and after near completion of the stage 1 works at Eastwood, we will plan to relaunch the major development plans for Eastwood, as many newer members may not be aware of these master plans. $800,000 has been spent over the past 6 years on stage 1 development work such as the toilets, playground, car-park, fencing, paving and CMC renovation. Stage 2 however is a larger-scale development with much more fundraising and planning required.

Although a site plan has been developed for Ermington, a timeline now needs to be established to consider when and how we may enable the ministries at Ermington to continue to grow.

Works report

Ermington:

A Development Application has been prepared for Parramatta Council for a new shade shelter over the new playground (funded by a State government grant).

Road base is being investigated for the car park area.

Other needs are being investigated such as toilet issues and accessibility issues. We are also preparing the main building for better space for children's ministries.

Eastwood:

The tender documents for the detention tank and the car park are complete and we are currently discussing costs/quotes with tenders. With the increase in building costs over the past year, these costs are expected to be higher than early estimates.

Bells (Eastwood): We continue working on submitting a 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

Giving page

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 - April year to date:

• Income required:
  Year to date: $379,334
  Weekly: $17,196
• Current offertory:
  Year to date: $370,335
  Weekly: $16,833
• Shortfall: $8,999
  The current offertory is 97.6% of the budget (an upwards trend of 0.9% 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

Parish Admin changes

Parish Council noted the resignation of our office administrator, Tiff, after three and a half years of service in the Parish. Her final week with us on the staff team will be at the end of August.

It was noted by the Rector and Wardens of the particularly significant work undertaken by Tiff during the Covid crisis, alongside her husband Tim. We are indebted to them both for their service to our 10 congregations during this time in their work in moving most services online whilst also managing the integration of the Ermington Parish and the Indonesian ministry and the beginning of the Korean congregation.

It was noted that Tiff's work in administration has not only seen the week-to-week running of the Parish grow in functionality, but has also brought significant changes to increase the efficiency of our online management systems, including room bookings, database management, Sunday services, payment processes, onboarding of staff, liaison with our community, website development and training (with great thanks to Tim for building our new website!), and much more!

With great thanks, we wish Tiff all the very best for the road ahead, along with our prayers, and look forward to continuing to serve alongside her and Tim as they continue at St Phil's.

Thanks Giving 2023

Planning discussions have begun with the staff team for Thanks Giving 2023. Parish Council will continue with input into the fundraising needs for this year, in consultation with the Rector, wardens and staff teams.

Thanks Giving this year will be on September 3rd - Father's Day. We look forward to this great annual celebration where ALL services come together for one Sunday.

SAFE ministry report

The annual SAFE ministry report was received from Jason Smith (our SAFE ministry representative). In brief, the report notes that 15 WWCCs have been verified in the past 12 months, 21 people have undertaken SAFE ministry training, and 19 SAFE ministry checks have been completed by the SAFE ministry representative and the Rector.

All current policies are being followed and protocols are advised to all who work with children and youth.

Recommended changes to our procedures were received including the recommendation that we initiate discussions with staff to ascertain how best to communicate and educate our children and youth on protective behaviours. After these discussions, further actionable recommendations will be made to Parish Council. It is also recommended that we continue to work to improve registration and sign-in processes, particularly for Sunday mornings.

The report was received with thanks.

Prayer

The meeting finished in prayer at 10:00 pm.