So What's an Annual Congregational Meeting?
In their book, “Resilient Ministry,” authors Bob Burns and Tasha Chapman speak of “the poetry and the plumbing of ministry.” The poetry of ministry, as Burns and Chapman describe it, is the up-front stuff, the powerful worship songs and moving sermons, the warm-fuzzies of rich and meaningful small group discussions or fruitful personal discipleship relationships. The plumbing is all of the administrative work—the scheduling of meetings, groups and retreats, the relationally-clarifying conversations that keep teams healthy, and the financial stewardship—that goes on, often behind the scenes to build a solid platform for the “poetry” to take place.
Often there is an assumption that only the POETRY is truly spiritual because the administrative stuff is just busy-work, but that could not be further from the truth. Poetry and Plumbing go hand-in-hand in healthy ministry, much in the same way as trellises help young plants to grow or walls of a house give shape to the spaces that lives and hearts inhabit with the warmth of home. Both are spiritual. Both are essential to healthy ministry. We need both.
Which brings us to the topic of the Annual Congregational Meeting. The Mission Cincinnati is about to have its FIRST EVER annual congregational meeting. So it is fair for you to ask and fair for us to spend some time explaining, “What IS an Annual Congregational Meeting and WHY are we having one?”
The Annual Meeting – What is It?
The Annual Meeting is a once/year occasion in the life of an Anglican congregation where the members of the church gather together to primarily do TWO things: 1) review the “annual report” from the previous year which shares the stories of what God has done in and through our life together as a church family over the past year, and 2) to elect new Vestry members…lay leaders who we believe God has raised up to serve our congregation with wise and skilled lay leadership to steward our church’s finances and advise our lead pastor on important matters of ministry and strategy. Since this is our first-ever congregational meeting, we will also be voting to approve the new Code of Regulations—rules that will give our church clearer organization and structures and will help us operate transparently, safely, wisely, and effectively. We will also present our annual budget for 2021, so that everyone in our church can see how we plan to steward our resources to further God’s Kingdom mission, make disciples, and share the love of Jesus with our city.
In normal times, an Annual Meeting would typically take place AFTER a worship service on a Sunday. Given the current strange realties of the pandemic, as well as our time constraints on our space usage at House of Joy, we have decided to place this year’s Annual Meeting within the context of a worship service. Thus, the service will begin as any service would: with a greeting, the procession of the cross, opening liturgy, a song of worship and a Scripture reading. Then we will have the actual meeting which will begin with Fr. William sharing the Annual Report of the past year as a sermon followed by Nelson Wesley presenting the 2021 budget, a space for questions from the floor, and a call for a vote to approve or disapprove the new Code of Regulations as well as the slate of Vestry Candidates. Following the vote, we will conclude the service with the saying of the Apostles Creed, sharing communion, and reciting the post-communion prayer and receiving a Benediction.
If you are a member of the church it is very important that you plan to be present for this meeting if at all possible. We need to have at least 50% of our members in attendance in order for the meeting to be valid. You can attend in-person at House of Joy OR via Zoom using the link in the Mission Minute. The Zoom option will be a live stream so both the in-person and zoom options will take place at the same time from 9:30 – 10:30 AM. We currently have 34 members of our church, so we need to have at least 17 in attendance.
Why Are We Having a Meeting?
Psalm 127 begins “unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.” One of the greatest promises in all of Scripture is that GOD promises to build His church. It’s not up to us. It’s up to God. But in His grace, He has dignified us to play a part on this work.
The Annual Meeting is one of the ways our Anglican tradition has learned that we can wisely participate in the Holy Spirit’s work of administrating the mission of God in and through the church. The church needs good, transparent, and accountable stewardship of its resources—financial and otherwise. The church also needs good leaders who are recognized and affirmed as such by other members in the congregation who can personally attest to the character of their lives. In the Annual Meeting, we make space to reflect on the ways God has been at work in our midst. We share our joys from the past year and chart the course for where—as best we can tell—the Lord is leading us next. We also open our finances to accountability. Those of us who have been faithful in our generosity to the church need to see where our donations are going. In this meeting, we show you where our money has been spent in the past year, what that investment has accomplished, and where we plan to invest our resources in the coming year. This practice is one of the ways our clergy and lay leaders seek to be good stewards who know ourselves to be accountable to the Lord in the way we spend the money that is truly His.
Furthermore, our work of “voting” to approve bylaws and vestry members is really a work of spiritual discernment. The “vote” is not mainly a political or democratic process, but much more the fruit of an ongoing spiritual work of God’s leadership and discernment in many lives over the past month and indeed year. Our Mission Council has labored for a year to bring forth these bylaws. Many of YOU—either as nominators or nominees—have participated in the Vestry Nomination process over the past 2 months that has yielded the slate of candidates we will bring before you on Sunday. In the meeting, you have the opportunity to voice your approval or disapproval of this work which furthermore helps us all to hear and follow the voice of God. Thus, every aspect of this meeting should be approached from a posture of prayer and humility before the Lord. Our church is HIS, it is not our own. And Lord willing at the end of the day on Sunday, we will be able to celebrate not only what God has done in our midst over the past year, but also how He has PROVIDED for us, specifically through the caring structure of new bylaws, and the skill and wisdom of good leaders from amongst us for us.
Do I Have to be a Member to Attend?
No. Anyone is welcome to attend our Annual Meeting, and we believe there will be great spiritual value in hearing these testimonies of what God has done and is doing regardless of whether you’ve been a part of our church for years or whether you are attending for the first time. Only members will be able to vote on the bylaws and vestry slate, but every other aspect of our worship is open for you to join in on. Perhaps, seeing the goodness of God in this meeting may cause you to wish to join the church as well, and next year, perhaps you may be a member and able to vote then.
What to Expect & How to Prepare?
Come expectant to see the movement of God…both in what God has done in our midst in the past year as well as how He is providing for us even now in terms of leadership, order, and care.
There are 2 things to do to prepare well : 1) Take a few minutes to read through the “Annual Meeting Document Packet” to familiarize yourself with the Code of Regulations, the Annual Report and the Vestry Nomination Slate. Gather any questions you might have and either submit them prior to Sunday via email to william@missioncincinnati.org, or bring them to ask during the space for questions on Sunday. 2) Pray for our church this week: our vestry nominees, our staff and clergy, and our congregation for protection, wisdom, and the leadership of God for our church on Sunday.
We can’t wait to share our first ever Annual Congregational Meeting with you this Sunday! Grace, peace and blessings on your week!