Congregational Meeting Recap

​On Sunday, CGS had a congregational meeting. Here's what happened: 

• We updated our constitution with 2 new bylaws and a new continuing resolution. To see the updated constitution click here. We also held the initial vote on two new provisions. In January we will hold a ratifying vote on the provisions from September & November's meeting. We will publish that comprehensive list in the next couple of weeks. The full governing document can be found here.
• The Beyond the Building team has re-evaluated our plans going forward.  Our dreams are big, but the potential funding is limited, so we determined for now,  it would be prudent to focus our efforts on the critical areas – the bathrooms and kitchen.  We are searching for a design/build firm who can handle both creating plans and doing construction.  This has been a bit more challenging than anticipated.  CGS is considered a commercial space and therefore, we must comply with a number of regulations not required for a residential project.  We have been in contact with a few companies, but they all do mostly residential work so they did not work out.  If anyone has suggestions of potential firms, please let anyone on the committee know.
• Council reported that the survey about what we should do with the parsonage received 21 votes for renting it out, 4 votes for selling it, and a number of suggestions for what else to do including but not limited to: use it for an after school program, use it to house people in need, and put our pastor in it. Jerry Clark is continuing to gather ideas for research. Email your input to him by clicking here.  
• Council reported that they will ask the congregation to form a call committee in 2019 for the purpose of calling a minister of word and service (deacon). This conversation will continue in 2020 at the next congregational meeting. In the meantime, if you are interested to know more or be involved, email the council by clicking here. 
• A report of the 2019 finances was presented and can be found here. 
• Rachel Visscher, Jean Hope and Petra Menard were elected to council. Laurie Gaumer was re-elected as treasurer.
• A budget for 2020 was proposed and can be found here. This budget will be voted upon at the January 26th meeting. If you have changes, concerns, or questions please email the council by clicking here. 
• Council reported that our shift to Breeze is almost complete. For this fiscal year the Financial Secretary has been learning the new system and dutifully doing double entry. The new tools have so far proven successful. 
• The treasurer asked for volunteers who were willing to serve on the Finance Committee. This team is responsible for the financial strategy and execution at CGS. If you would be willing to serve on this committee that will begin meeting once per month in January, please email our treasurer here.