Berkswich Methodist Church

Jottings from Church Council November 2010

Berkswich Church Council has a new look with a new structure! The organisation of the council is now based on teams:  Children and Youth, Finance and Property, Worship, Mission and Outreach, Administration and Communication, Pastoral and Social. Each team has appointed a person/persons to represent them and this person is known as a General Steward.  Teams can arrange to meet as and when the need arises. 

Church Council meetings have increased to six a year (from five) i.e. two each term, one full council meeting, and one general stewards meeting being held before the full council meeting.  Below you will find the teams, with the names of the General Stewards and team members, together with a short précis of the team reports which were reviewed at the council meeting on 25 November:

Finance and Property:
General Stewards:    Dave Frost, Alun Davies
Team: Ian Allred, Jean Harrison, Arline Wilson, Ian Fuller, Rosemary Cooke
Building work on the new kitchen is due to start in January 2011, pending a storage room being made available, and grant applications.  New chairs for the church sanctuary are to be purchased.

Children and Youth Enabling Team (CYET)
General Steward: Andy Ackroyd
Team: Max Reynolds, Jean Harrison, Debbie Bailey, Nicky Pennington
Kate Clarke has now resigned as Junior Church Superintendent.  Plans are afoot to find a successor and the name of the role will be changed to Junior Church Co-Ordinator.

Pastoral and Social
General Steward:      Barbara Goodwin
Team: John Stubbs, Shirley Ball, Hilary Reynolds, Judy Wood
Non Church Council members:  Sheila Lamisere and Helen Cooper
A re-organisation of transport to and from church is taking place.   The Berkswich “supper club” is a new venture. 

Mission and Outreach
General Steward:      Chris Cooper
Team: Rob Hitchins
The mission and outreach team aim to promote the service of Berkswich to the local community, to support overseas mission and to promote links with people from the church who are working abroad.  Together with the Worship Team they will form a steering committee for Berkswich’s 50^th Anniversary in 2011.

Worship
General Steward:      John Newby
Team: Joan Newby, Debbie Bailey, Eileen Joynes, Dan Hayward, Chris Nuttall, Lynne Westoby
The worship team had had two meetings and are currently in the process of finding preachers for specific dates, including the 50^th Anniversary celebrations which will take place in October 2011. 

Admin and Communication
General Steward:    Nicky Pennington
Team: Pam Powell, David Beadle, Margaret Hale
Noticeboards will be improved and a new hand-held microphone is to be purchased, together with improvements made to the audio system.