Sunday, July 30, 2000
2:00 p.m., St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church
Present:
All Saints, Hillsboro: Jan Pedersen, Christina West (President)
St. Alban, Tillamook: The Rev. Ray Ferguson
St. Barnabas, Portland: Gary De Rouse, Nan De Rouse, Mark Mahon, Cynthia Reynolds, Pam Zollman
St. Bartholomew, Beaverton: Trish Carr, The Rev. Norm Crawford, Ray Hayes, The Rev. Roger Reynolds, Deacon (Dean), John Rockwood, Caroline Sullivan
St. Bede, Forest Grove Mies Monsantofils
St. Catherine, Manzanita: Bonnie Conger, Byron Melta
St. Gabriel, Portland Polly Bass, Debbie Falconer
St. James, Tigard: Marie Bates
St. John the Baptist, Portland: Kimberly Beck, Nick De Morgan, Joseph Schafer, Bud Furber
The meeting opened at 2:05 p.m. with prayer led by President Christina West.
Guest speaker The Rev. Steven Norcross, Chaplain of William Temple House,
presented a video about that organization (available to borrow for review by
parish groups), and ways each parish can help with WTH efforts: Volunteering
of time and talents, donations of funds and items for thrift stores, and
letting parishioners and others know about needs and available services.
WTH currently searching for executive director; publicity and marketing
efforts/questions may be directed to Phil Morris at WTH. Web-site being
planned, and parish liaison program will be revived in coming months.
Introduction and sharing highlights:
All Saints - Searching for a rector, second year of hosting Education for
Ministry (EFM) classes, looking forward to their annual church camp-out at
the coast during Labor Day weekend.
St. Alban - Providing Monday Night Suppers for those in need; local
Salvation Army doesn't provide meals on Sundays or Mondays.
St. Barnabas - Coming to the end of first year of providing youth activities
for 6-11 year olds; will review soon and would like to network and pool
resources with other youth programs within the convocation. Cynthia
Reynolds served on Diocesan Nominating Committee; Pam Zollman (St. Barnabas)
running for Legacy Health Systems Board of Directors. Golf Tournament ("St.
Barnabas Open") to be held in September to benefit Outreach; all are invited
to attend and participate. Vacation Bible School held during last week of
June; intergenerational event took place in the evenings. Parish picnic
being held in early September. Father Ted Rodrigues returns from vacation
this coming week.
St. Bartholomew - New assistant rector. Vacation Bible School took place
during evenings this year; new time slot generated more volunteers but fewer
youth. Rector (The Rev. Ken Dorsch) currently attending seminar on church
development at Seabury Institute; looking forward to his returning with this
information. Annual church campout, getting ready to gear up for fall
programs. Some members and clergy attended training in Salem for
ministering to 11-14 year-olds. Norm Crawford attended national convention
as a volunteer, reports that despite media hype, church is well-organized
and intact from top down.
St. Bede - Church campout taking place at coast this weekend. Parish focus
on Christian Education for teenagers in order to keep them involved into and
through early adulthood. Having (had?) a parking lot garage sale in order
to fund this effort. Wine tours have been a popular event for Outreach, but
looking for new ideas as well. Organist volunteered time and talents in
order build a new organ for church; anticipated completion date: Christmas
of this year.
St. Catherine - Holding a "Beach Eucharist" and potluck on August 16. The
Rev. Chet Falby (Calvary, Seaside), has agreed to serve as interim priest
during search process.
St. Gabriel - Have gone to one Sunday worship service at 0930. Looking
forward to summer parish campout. Now have a part-time youth pastor
ministering to Jr. & Sr. High youth, who meet both together and separately
(overlapping meetings) on Sunday evenings. This has worked out well as the
older kids are beginning to mentor the younger ones. The youth have formed
a worship band. Family parish picnic in September. A new parishioner with
a background in music (performing and instruction) has stepped forward as
new choir director; looking forward to the results of her efforts. Held a
"Time and Talent" fair to introduce members to ministry opportunities. Will
administer an Alpha program again this year (fall and winter); inviting
residents of new nearby housing development as well as other church
neighbors to participate.
St. James - Beginning interim search process; all participants have gone
through training. Vacation Bible School held during evenings this year; 68
youth attended, half of these were from St. James. Beginning another Alpha
season in September, coordinating efforts through Louis Palau program in
order to make this an ecumenical effort.
St. John the Baptist - The Rev. Anne Bartlett is now at Trinity in Ashland;
currently looking for an associate rector. Replacing sanctuary organ.
Outreach auction last fall netted $30K; committee's biggest task was
deciding on fund distribution - attempted to diversify between local and
global as well as different types of needs. Parish focus on ministering
(and holding on to) sixth and seventh grade youth as this is the age they
lose interest and stop attending. Held confirmation classes last spring for
eighth-grade youth (but many of them left anyway!).
Budget Presentation - Christina West: The Program & Budget committee's goal
is to meet with all congregations who have past due DPA by Pentecost 2001.
It is the Diocese's wish that such meetings will result in a personalized
plan for resolving the debt and preventing future debt.
Re budget (see separate email): Presentation carries a lot of weight with the
committee. Ministry conveners need to provide detailed documentation of
good stewardship of funds, and they need to present these items before the
deadline; detailed budgeting done on time gets results. However, no
ministry is immune to cuts, regardless of function or presentation. It was
brought out that new conveners do not receive training in either budget
preparation and presentation or administrative skills. There are, however,
resources of this nature that may be tapped into, upon the initiative of the
individual ministers.
Convocation recommendations (representing various voices within the group):
* Excess of $2600 back to Hispanic Ministry
* $2600 into Hispanic Ministry and Healing
* $250 from Episcopal Church Women (ECW) into Healing Ministry
* Eliminate ECW funding altogether (on principle that other programs
provide for their own transportation costs)
* Not eliminate ECW funding (in support of involvement at provincial
and national levels)
* Article about Hispanic Ministry in Oregon Episcopal Church News
(OECN) before convention in November, outlining personnel, program, history,
and numbers (financial and participants/beneficiaries)
Other items/summary:
Diocese Communications - watch your OECN and Diocese Web-site. Designate a
contact person for each parish ministry to avoid bottlenecking of mailed
materials. Make sure all parishioners are on OECN mailing list and aware of
Diocese web-site. (Provide copies of OECN on-site at each church?)
Convocation parishes are teaming up for inter-convocation sharing and
networking. Four areas in which this is happening is church audits,
understanding DPA, Alpha, and Youth Ministries. Several parishes expressed
a desire to get together regarding youth ministry and a meeting was
tentatively planned for sometime in August/September (before next
convocation meeting). Be sure to send e-mail to Roger and notify all Sunset
parishes of this meeting so that as many as possible may take advantage.
Also good idea to contact Judy Cato at Diocese (Youth Ministry Commission)
about this as an aid to communication as well as a resource.
Cynthia Reynolds (St. Barnabas) volunteered to develop and maintain a
web-site for the convocation.
Convocation boundaries - Still being discussed in some circles; one group
definitely desires to change because of geographical difficulties. However,
Sunset seems to be working well in addition to being agreeable regarding
meeting times and places.
Next meeting: Sunday, October 22, 2:00 p.m., St. Alban, Tillamook. Please
R.S.V.P. specifically as supper afterwards being tentatively planned.
(Note: Father Ray Ferguson has since indicated this date will not work due
to St. Alban Vestry Retreat, and suggests October 15. Please consider the
15th or 29th and let Roger know your preference.)
Meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m. with prayer led by Deacon Roger Reynolds
(Dean).
Respectfully submitted,
Cynthia Reynolds
St. Barnabas, Portland