The Church Boards . . .
What do
the boards do? Who are the talented folks who have
volunteered to serve on the boards? And why would
anyone want to serve??
As you may or may not know there are 15 hardworking
volunteers who meet on a regular basis to take care of
the business of the church. These volunteers are elected
by the congregation and serve on three boards:
Administration, Trustees, and Deaconate.
As we're in the beginning of a new year, and in an
effort to help us understand all of the nuts and bolts
of what it takes to keep the church going... we will
share a bit about what each board does in this and the
next two newsletters.
If we have not answered all of your questions, please
contact the Board
directly, or write the newsletter with your questions,
comments:
editor@suquamishucc.org.
Deaconate
This
month, we are including information about the Deaconate
Board whose members are: Suzanne Perry, Michaela Balkus,
Jeannene Hill, Allen Burt, and Mel Haug.
Suzanne
Perry is the contact person and has served in this
capacity for the past year. Suzanne serves this board
because she wants to serve the church and this
opportunity presented itself when Carrie Gentile moved
to Colorado.
She says: the thing she enjoys the most is, how
cooperative and caring members of the Deaconate are. The
most challenging part for her is: keeping all of the
responsibilities of the Deaconate in focus -- It’s a
very big job with lots being done by lots of people.
Other comments from Suzanne: "Suquamish UCC Is a
wonderful community that allows me to be who I am and do
the things I'm good at and love."
Michaela
Balkus is responsible for
Family
Fellowship/Hospitality which includes:
Coffee Hour
Soup and Something Simple
Family Game Night
Movies
Memorial Services
Michaela
has been on the board for the past year.
Michaela says the most challenging part of being on the
Deaconate is knowing that the decisions we make impact
the whole church.
Jeaneane
Hill is the Education person along with Debe Nelson
and is responsible for: Adult Ministry; Children's
Ministry; Youth Ministry.
Jeaneane has served on Deaconate for the past year. She
loves being on the Deaconate board and helping figure
out projects that are interesting yet don't take a lot
of time, but at the same time will have a big impact in
people's lives, such as switching our church coffee to
Organic Shade grown coffee "Grounds for Change" which is
helpful to the coffee farmers in South America and we
benefit by selling the coffee as a fundraiser.
The next project is "Change for Change." We want to
work with the Heifer International project by collecting
our pocket change and sending it to Africa, where they
can use the money to buy animals and sustain
themselves. Jeaneane heard a missionary from Africa at
the last Pacific Northwest Conference talk about how
little money it takes to help the African people in a
big way.... i.e., our "pocket change" of nickels, dimes
and quarters can go a long way to make a Big
Difference!!
Jeaneane says: Start digging out your pocket change or
those jars of coins in the back of the closet and bring
them to church! Maybe the youth will even help us count
it all!!
Jeaneane
is also the Liaison to the UCC Pacific Northwest
Conference and really enjoys attending the meetings to
bring back ideas that we can implement in our church to
help others. She also works with
GLBT
(gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender) church-wide
and has graciously created and provided the little
rainbow hearts for everyone.
Allen Burt is responsible for the Head Usher,
including Greeters, Ushers, Sound Technicians, and
Communion Servers.
Mel Haug is the newest member of Deaconate and is
responsible for the Worship Team:
Arts
Music (choir and
instruments)
Children's story reader
Order of worship
Monthly worship theme
He
attends Worship Team meetings and reports to Deaconate.
Mel is
also responsible for
Community Concerns, which involves: the Bainbridge
Island/North Kitsap Interfaith Council, World Ministry,
Earth
Stewardship, Community Outreach Programs, Holiday
Food Baskets (Thanksgiving and Christmas), and Harvest
Dinner.
Mel says: I thought it was time to get into some
committee work and something that wasn't too difficult,
but now it seems more challenging than I realized. It
does allow me to become more acquainted with others in
the church and learn about them which is helpful to me
and I'm learning there's more to a person than just
their face... they're interesting and they're doing good
in helping others.
Barbara
Balkus is the Church Clerk and is appointed by the
Deaconate. She is responsible for attendance records;
letters to visitors and members; and official records of
transfers, weddings, funerals, confirmations, baptisms
etc. (Note: These duties can be delegated by the
Clerk.)
Barbara has been Church Clerk for the past 6 or 7
years. Barbara says she enjoys being clerk because
she's a "detail" person and likes to keep track of the
records. The most challenging thing about the job is
training others to give her the information she needs to
do the job.
She
hopes to work out some of these issues in an upcoming
meeting.
Charlene Snyder is a liaison to the Deaconate for Called
to Care which includes Pastoral Care, Visitations
and Prayer Shawl Ministry.
Deaconate Fund-Raising Programs include:
Special Offerings; Christmas Bazaar; Easter
Tulips; Rummage Sales; Education Fund-raising;
Grounds for Change Coffee purchase; and the Script
Program.
The General Responsibilities of all Deacons
include:
-
Annual review of members records
-
Annual review of all Deaconate policies and
procedures
-
Annual Review of the ministry plans and processes
-
On-going review of Deaconate policies
-
Recruitment of new Deaconate members for
recommendation to nominating
-
Monthly budget review
-
Budget oversight on all Deaconate budget items and
activities.
Meetings: The Deaconate meets on the 3rd
Sunday of the month
Where? Usually in the Robe Room
Time? After Coffee Hour
Open meetings? YES -- all are invited
:-)
Style of meetings... how are they run? "We have an
agenda with opportunity to add or delete items. We
try to reach consensus whenever possible."
Accountability:
The Deaconate is accountable to the Congregation
Vision or Goals for this year:
Continue the exciting approaches with themes, music,
sermons, member participation in service. Make the good
even better!
