About 175 members were present.
§ 1 Dan Svanell, chairman of the congregation, welcomed the members and held a short introductory speech before he declared the Annual meeting open
§ 2 It was confirmed that the meeting had been announced according to the statutes.
§ 3 The proposed agenda was accepted.
§ 4 Johan Arenius was elected chairman of the Annual meeting. No vice chairman was elected as the chairman of the congregation was not chairman of this meeting.
§ 5 Ingrid Jonsson was elected secretary of the Annual meeting.
The following persons were chosen to approve the minutes of the Annual meeting together with the chairman: Madeleine Harby Samuelsson and Torbjörn Sundblad.
The Nominating committee suggested the following persons to count the votes at the meeting: Lars-Ingmar Jerkeby, Rachel Norborg-Jerkeby, Bo Olsson och Lars Tynnemark.
§ 6 With the help of picture illustrations Ulla Marie Gunner gave her comments to the report of the ministry of the congregation in 2013, as shown on pp 6-54 in Annual report 2013, enclosure 1.
The subject was opened to the floor.
The Social Mission is carrying out an extensive diaconal work and Agnetha Dalemark would have liked to see reports of this in the Annual report, not least as Immanuel church is one of the heads of the Social Mission.
The Annual report has been sent to the members of the congregation. An information meeting prior to the Annual meeting regarding finances and ministry was held on 2 April.
§ 7 The Administrative report for the ministry in 2013 was presented, enclosure 1, pp 57-58.
Anette Engkvist, administrative leader, commented on the Profit and loss account and the Balance sheet with cash flow analysis of the concern as well as Profit and loss account and Balance sheet with cash flow analysis of the church ministry, see enclosure 1, pp 59-79.
The good result of this year, plus 11,268 million kronor, is mainly due to the following: donation of three wills of totally 3,3 million kronor, sale of a flat 4,4 million kronor and capital gains of vended securities 3.4 million kronor.
For further information about finances and ministry, see the published Annual report for 2013.
Anette Engkvist concluded by stressing some challenges in the multiannual budget of the church.
From 2011 and onwards there is a lack of balance between revenues and costs as the costs increase more than the revenues. In the long run this will influence the ministry of the church in a negative way.
We still do not know how the new tax rules for non-profit organizations proposed by the government will influence the finances of the church in the future.
§ 8 Jonas Grahn, permanent auditor of the Immanuel church, presented selections of the Audit report for the annual accounting, concern accounting and bookkeeping of the church, as well as the Board’s management in the Immanuel church for the ministry in 2013, see enclosure 1, page 80.
§ 9 The Annual meeting confirmed the Profit and Loss Account of the church and the concern for 2013 and the balance sheet as per 31 December 2013.
§ 10 The Annual meeting granted the Board discharge from liability for the financial year 2013.With this the ministry for 2013 was gratefully submitted.
§ 11 Christer Zettergren, chairman of the Nominating committee, presented the committee’s suggestions of delegates for the various areas of responsibility within the church, according to enclosure 2. Some changes and additions are shown in encl. 2. In some cases the mandates of the councils and the relation to the staff are unclear and in other cases it has been difficult to find members for the councils. Last year the Board was asked by the Annual meeting to come back with a clear picture of the organization and the mandates of the different councils. This has not happened, but the Board promised that it will be done in the coming year. At the Annual meeting more than 900 assignments are filled by about 600 persons, suggested by the Nominating committee.
§ 12 Dan Svanell was unanimously elected chairman of the congregation and the Board of the congregation for a period of one year.
§ 13 For the election of Board members a written presentation of the six candidates, two of whom were first-time elected, was submitted, enclosure 3. There were no other candidates.
After a short presentation of the candidates the congregation was ready for election. The Annual meeting unanimously elected the following Board members for a period of two years Marco Helles (re-elected), Tove Janarv (first time elected), Göran Johansson (re-elected), Karin Pettersson, (re-elected), Johan Sahlén (first time elected) and Sungha Wendin (re-elected) The following members remain in the Board until the Annual meeting 2015: Patrick Amofah, Ingegerd Berg, Kristina Gustafsson, Stephen James, Lina Mattebo and Johannes Nilsson.
§ 14 The Nominating committee had suggested Jonas Grahn and Christina Gotting as permanent auditors of the finances of the congregation, and they were elected by the meeting. Mats Bernö and Susanne Westman were elected auditor substitutes.
§ 15 Concerning election of members for other functions, enclosure 2, the Annual meeting decided according to the suggestions of the Nominating committee, except for the election of Board and coworkers of Immanuel Senior.
As SMU is dormant, no board has been elected. During the year Johan Arenius has chaired a task force that has been investigating how the youth work of the congregation should be organized and renewed. He gave a report on the work so far and the plans for the future. From now on this question will be taken care of by the Board and the staff.
§ 16 The Annual meeting decided to elect an election group consisting of: Ingvar Kvernes (convenor), Monica Helles, Ingemar Hulthén, Inga Johansson, Claes Jonsson and Sven Mannervik to suggest a Nominating committee for 2014/2015. The suggestion should be ready so that the committee can be elected by a congregational meeting in September.
§ 17 Jonas Grahn and Christina Gotting were elected auditors for the Retirement home Rådmanshemmet with Susanne Westman and Mats Bernö as substitutes.
§ 18 In a motion to the Annual meeting Torbjörn Sundblad had requested that the concern of the church should offer work places and accommodation in order to help EU citizens from Romania, see enclosure 3. In the meeting Torbjörn Sundblad further explained the reason for his motion. Karin Pettersson gave a short comment to the Board’s answer to the motion, see enclosure 4.
The Board shares the view that the ministry among EU citizens is an important and urgent part of the diaconal work of the church but deems that the Annual meeting is not able to order the boards of the concern and the executive managements to make decisions regarding their daily work.
According to the Board’s proposal, the Annual meeting asked the management of the church to carefully follow the development among newly arrived EU citizens in order to see how Immanuel church could help this group
with support and accommodation.
§ 19 The Senior Citizens Fellowship Association, RPG, of Immanuel church is now called Immanuel Senior according to a decision taken at an extra Annual meeting on 4 March. Rachel Norborg-Jerkeby, chairman of the fellowship, reported that Immanuel Senior has about 300 members and that Tisdagsträffen has 100-120 visitors every week. The Annual meeting thanked for the information regarding the elections of Board and coworkers by Immanuel Senior, as per enclosure 2, pages 24-25, and wished the elected members God’s blessing and guidance
§ 20 There were no other questions.
§ 21 Ulla Marie Gunner shared some thoughts for the coming year. There will be an evaluation of the four prioritized areas of ministry, on which the congregation has already made a decision.
There are still some things to do with regard to the organization and structure of our church. The Board will review the mandates of the different councils and committees and see how they relate to each other and to the staff. There are discussions about a renewed confirmation ministry and this has high priority.
An urgent question is a new co-worker after pastor Chris Peterson who will conclude his term of ministry in April.
Sophia Hober is chairman and Ove Andersson secretary in the group that is planning a renewal of the church square. The following persons are members of the group: Anita Chun, Anna Ejeby, Magnus Helmner, Monica Helles, Sven-Evert Rönnedal and Vida Afua Attah. Ulla Marie Gunner, Camilla Mattebo and Martin Åsander participate inservice.
New “husmor” is Camilla Mattebo, who is employed for one year from 10 June.
Fellowship Sunday 7 September. After worship in the different worship groups some form of fellowship is planned, concluding with a joint service in 153-style.
Upcoming congregational meetings:
14 May: Discussions prior to the Church conference
17 September: Election of Nominating committee
22 October: Budget work for 2015
23 Novembe:r Information
24 January 2015: Election of delegates to the Church conference and Annual meetings
Ulla Marie Gunner concluded with some challenges for the future:
• External and internal communication
• The renewal of the church square
• How do we want to function as a church and contribute to the ministry
• Clarify the financial situation of the church and increase the awareness of giving.
§ 22 Dan Svanell thanked the presidium of the Annual meeting and Hanna Zuring Peterson, who translated the meeting into English, and presented flowers and a warm thank you to Andreas Linderyd och Camilla Mattebo who are now leaving the Board.
At last the chairman thanked the congregation for their attention and declared the Annual meeting 2014 closed.
Secretary: Ingrid Jonsson
Minutes approved by: Johan Arenius, Madeleine Harby Samuelsson, Torbjörn Sundblad
The Church´ Annual Celebration
The church had its annual celebration on April 13th and 14th. The congregational meeting, which 180 members attended, was held on Saturday. Together, we could rejoice over the tremendous commitment of volunteers as we elected over 600 people for different voluntary assignments during the coming ministry year.
We also expressed our gratitude for the commitment of our staff and all the people that work in / are involved with our hotel, retirement home and property company. During the worship service on Sunday, we remembered and thanked God in a special way for the past ministry year.
For those of you that would like to know more about the decisions taken at the annual meeting, please find the meeting minutes attached. On our website Immanuel.se, you can also find more about the vision, mission and approach that we strive for in the church.
If you have any questions, comments or thoughts, you are most welcome to contact Ulla Marie Gunner – ullamarie.gunner@immanuelskyrkan.se – and Dan Svanell – ordforande@immanuelskyrkan.se.
Kind regards from the Board