Present: About 20 members
§ 1 Introduction
Dan Svanell, Chairman of the Board, welcomed everyone and declared the meeting open.
§ 2 Election of minute reviewers
Anna Berndes and Johannes Nilsson were elected to review the minutes.
§ 3 Agenda
The proposed agenda was approved:
• Information regarding the Equmenia Church Conference
• Brief information about the work with EU citizens
• Any other business
• Conclusion
§ 4 Information regarding the Equmenia Church Conference
Ulla Marie Gunner gave some general information regarding the Equmenia Church Conference in Stockholm, May 29–31. The theme of the conference is “Roots and Wings”.
All discussions and church services will be held in the Filadelfia Church. During the conference there will be evening programs in various churches and Immanuel Church will host two cafe evenings and a choir concert.
760 churches are part of the Equmenia Church and the Annual Report for 2013 with reports from congregations and regions is a nice presentation of the Equmenia Church as a whole.
Ulla Marie Gunner gave a short report on the content of the motions to be dealt with at the Church Conference and the Church Board’s response to these. The motions involve Peace; Additional resources for peace- and sustainability work in the Equmenia Church; Climate, environment and adaptation; Reduction of deacon services from 100% to 50% at national level; Bible schools, and that Diakonia should resume its work in India.
The discussion about Faith, Baptism and Fellowship is moved to the Church Conference in 2015.
The issue of compensation for lost income for members in connection with Church Board meetings has been brought up again. Tomas Bjöersdorff from Kalmar and active member of the Västerport Church is proposed as new chairman of the Church Board after Ann Sofie Lasell who declined re-election.
All information about the Church Conference is available on the Equmenia Church website.
At the conference of the Swedish Covenant Church only administrative issues will be addressed and resolved. The Swedish Covenant Church as a legal entity will continue to exist but no more conferences will be held.
The representatives of Immanuel Church to the Church Conference have no tied mandates, but can vote according to their own conviction on various issues. Members have tied mandates only if the congregation is behind a proposal or a motion, which is not the case in this year’s Church Conference.
§ 5 Brief information about the work with EU citizens
At present there is not so much new information about the work with EU citizens. Ulla Marie Gunner reported that things are happening all the time and that there are ideas, but everything takes time and we need to cooperate with other churches and NGOs to get it all going. During spring, a group of Romani women have had the opportunity to use the showers at K3 one afternoon a week. Further activities are planned for the autumn and Ulla Marie will provide additional details when we know more. A set of rules that show what rules apply on the church square will be compiled by the deacons and others who work with the EU citizens. It is important that anyone visiting Immanuel Church will be welcomed with respect.
§ 6 Any other business
There were no other questions.
§ 7 Conclusion
The Chairman thanked those present for their interest and declared the meeting closed.
Secretary: Ingrid Jonsson
Minutes approved by: Dan Svanell, Anna Berndes, and Johannes Nilsson