MINUTES
Lay Ministry Council
Metropolitan Community Churches
13-14 July 2006 ~
The Lay Ministry Council of
Metropolitan Community Churches met in Casita 5308 at the Fairmont Princess
Resort in
Members present: Guests present (at
various times):
Elder Mel Johnson, Chair
Rev. Elder
Nancy Wilson, Moderator
Bryan Parker, Vice Chair
Rev. Elder Darlene
Garner, Region 6
Shawn
Henderson Rev. Elder Lillie Brock, Region 7
Jan
Meils Rev.
Elder Debbie Martin, Region 1
Randi
Williams Melanie
Judy
Dale, Staff Connie
Meadows/Moderator’s Assistant
Julie Kruger, Board of Administration
Mel Johnson called the
meeting to order. Marsha Stevens-Pino
led in an opening prayer and members shared a brief personal update since the
last meeting.
A discussion with Rev. Elder
Garner began. She was later joined by
Rev. Elders Brock and Martin and Melanie Martinez.
Rev. Elder Garner doesn’t
know what the LMC actually does. She
would like to see us do resources … basic “how to” ones for use in new and
Church Revitalization (CRI) churches. They
are working on “Church in a Box”, a compilation of CDs, notebooks, downloads
that will interpret the Fellowship’s vision, mission, and culture to the local
church. It will provide the information
of how to create the infrastructure of a church community.
There is a need for
resources to explain how we “do” the priesthood of all believers, defining what
are the ministries of the people … how do we make people feel welcome, sample
welcome packets, sample bulletins, etc.
Marsha Stevens-Pino has some
of this type of resources from Upbeat! Available on DVDs and will share with
the Resource Team.
Concern was expressed on how
we make such resources multilingual.
Translation will have to be done for all resources, especially into
Spanish.
What is needed is material
to “train the trainer”. DVDs that can be
viewed by the core group of the church, who will then train others in the
congregation. There will need to be a
teacher’s manual and student manuals.
All of this will need to be very basic … to teach how to do MCC.
Since music is such an important
part of worship, music resources are needed … lists of various types of music
and where to find it, songs with the words already inclusified, tapes/CDs for
congregational singing, etc.
Rev. Elder Brock explained
that Rev. Dr. Sharon Bezner is doing the oversight work for all of the various
teams which are developing resources.
Melanie Martinez is also heavily involved in resources and the web and
Judy Dale’s job description includes resource development. She wants the focus to be on “resources”, not
on “lay resources” or “clergy resources”.
She believes that the LMC should help in developing resources, but the
problem is that there is no mechanism in place for accomplishing that goal.
Randi Williams suggested
that the LMC might want to revisit its role … focusing not only on what is in
the Bylaws, but on the ministry that we have been asked to do and how we can
best accomplish that, knowing that communication and expectation is vital to
our success.
Mel Johnson believes that
there is a need for all of the BOA, BOE, and LMC to meet together for
dialogue. He feels that is should be
representatives of each body, as well as some staff members.
It was agreed by all that
the LMC should stop whining and bringing forth complaints and that the BOE
should stop blocking what the LMC is trying to accomplish. Assessing needs is not the same as receiving
and sharing complaints. We need to
implement direct dealing when folks complain to LMC members.
Everyone acknowledged that
emails are difficult to interpret.
Announcements can raise all sorts of questions when there is no
background information for understanding.
People can write in one tone and yet the reader hears another tone. Questions are not necessarily complaints.
The BOE and BOA should
receive updates from the LMC on our goals, timelines, and progress. The LMC would like to do quarterly updates to
include the work of individual members, as well as the entire group. That information would need to be posted to
be available to everyone.
Rev. Elder Brock needs to be
kept in the loop, since she holds the Resource Portfolio. A visual would show her as the shoulders with
Dr. Sharon Bezner and Melanie Martinez as the right arm and the LMC as the left
arm. We all serve the same
constituents. It is not the old lay vs.
clergy.
Resource development needs
to be driven by the Strategic Plan, not by complaints from people or the
interest of a small group.
In summation, Rev. Elder
Brock feels that we need to reconcile, to designate a group of people to work out
the system, and then to put the system in place, tweaking it as needed. We need create a mechanism to move from
conceptualizing resources to bringing them forth.
Rev. Elder Brock asked that
one LMC person with conceptual ideas of resources for the entire denomination
be designated to work with herself, Dr. Bezner, Melanie Martinez, and Judy Dale
to develop a multifaceted approach to resourcing (hard copy, DVD, consultant,
virtual conferencing, etc.). The team
would discuss this in relation to needed resources and make determinations of
how to proceed. Bryan Parker will assume
this position for the LMC.
The LMC needs a list of
which BOE/BOA/staff members hold which folders and those people need to know
which LMC members have been matched to which fractal teams/portfolios. That information needs to be communicated to
the appropriate people.
Julie Kruger reported on the
BOA’s current focus of donor development.
They are seeking not only money, but also frequent flier miles, hotel
comps, and other intangible resources. Julie
acknowledged that the BOA has not leveraged the LMC to assist with donor
development in these areas.
Randi Williams pointed out
the frugality of LMC and how unrecognized it seems to be. Melanie Martinez said that “in kind” gifts
could be acknowledged if we turned them in and should be reflected in the
budgeting process.
The LMC needs to have
monthly conference calls added to their budget line. Mel Johnson is responsible for submitting
this to the BOA.
The LMC would appreciate it
if the BOA minutes would include all attachments. What is available is incomplete without being
able to read the reports on the consent agenda or otherwise referenced. Melanie Martinez said that all attachments
would be posted from now on.
The LMC will be presenting
their Lay Delegate Workshop at this Region 1/6/7 Conference. They need to be scheduled for the other
Regional Conferences as well. Bryan
Parker, Randi Williams and Shawn Henderson will be present for the Region 3/5
Conference, as will staff person Judy Dale.
Shawn said that he could go to the one for Region 2/7. No one is able to travel to the Region 4
Conference.
There will need to be a big
announcement about the JoNee Shelton Award later this year. It will need to include how to nominate
people and the selection process for the award which will be presented at each
General Conference.
LMC members began discussing
the proposed Bylaw amendments with the intent of either endorsing or not
endorsing the proposals. Because of time
constraints and other responsibilities, the discussion was never completed.
Melanie Martinez presented a
wealth of exciting information about what she is doing with the website,
resources, and the new MCC Online, which will allow individuals and churches to
update their own information and select which newsletters and other information
they wish to receive.
She is also creating a list
of all Lay Delegates, which means that the Lay Delegate quarterly e-newsletter
can now become a reality.
There is now an in-house
site on the web that we can access to learn more about what other entities are
doing and to keep them abreast of our projects.
In response to an earlier discussion, Melanie Martinez said that in two
weeks she will have a folder set up on our server that has all the staff people
and their responsibilities listed.
Clarification of the
responsibility of the Resource Review Board was provided. This group only edits old resources to comply
with the MCC stylebook, to ensure global inclusivity, etc. They do not review new resources. The five members remain anonymous since they
also make decisions concerning which of the resources on the old intranet will
be edited and moved to the new website.
They serve a one to two year term.
Interested persons should apply to Melanie Martinez.
She will create a page on
the web for the LMC which Shawn Henderson will update for us with pertinent
information, minutes, etc.
Bryan Parker led the group
in an excellent workshop concerning working remotely. We learned about each other’s working styles
and how we could communicate more effectively using email.