Present: 278 members, according to the electorial register.
§ 1 Introduction
Dan Svanell, chairman of the congregation, welcomed the members. He thanked Ingrid Jonsson who has left her post as secretary of the church and welcomed Steve Armfield as interim pastor for the International fellowship. Dan Svanell held his farewell speech as he will resign as chairman of the congregation after this Annual meeting. Then the Annual meeting was declared open.
§ 2 Announcement of the meeting
It was confirmed that the meeting had been announced according to the statutes.
§ 3 Agenda
The proposed agenda was accepted, with the addition to pray for the meeting. Dan Svanell prayed for the agenda points and for the decisions that would be taken.
§ 4 Election of chairman and vice chairman of the Annual meeting
Anders Andersson was elected chairman of the Annual meeting and Agnetha Dalemark vice chairman.
§ 5 Election of secretary, tellers and reviewers
Cathrin Sjöström was elected secretary of the Annual meeting.
The following persons were chosen to count the votes at the meeting: Kerstin Mjönes, Claes Jonsson, Chul-Yon Yu, Malin Nordahl Elala, Irene Andersson, Kavitha Injamuri, Philip Jansson,, Ewa Widén, Christina Eriksson and Thure Thorgren.
The following persons were chosen to approve the minutes of the Annual meeting together with the chairman and vice chairman: Barbro Södersten and Thord-Ove Thordson
§ 6 Annual report
The Annual report has been sent out to the members of the congregation. An information meeting prior to the Annual meeting regarding finances and ministry was held on 9 April 2015.
With the help of picture illustrations Senior pastor Ulla Marie Gunner gave her comments to the report of the ministry of the congregation in 2014, as shown on pp 4–56 in Annual report 2014, enclosure 1.
She especially stressed the wide range of ministries of the church, the need of a good structure in order to work according to the vision of the church and the joy of seeing different groups grow. Ulla Marie Gunner closed her speech by reading the names of the members who have deceased during the year.
The subject was opened to the floor.
There was a question regarding the visison of the church, published at the beginning of the Annual report. When and how was it produced and is it still valid?
Dan Svanell answered that the vision was taken at an Annual meeting 2–3 years ago after a number of groups in the different fellowships had prepared the matter for a year. The vision was produced in close cooperation with pastors and staff. It is still valid and has been decided in a correct manner.
The Annual report was accepted and gratefully submitted.
§ 7 Administrative report
Anette Engkvist, administrative leader, gave a clear picture of the ownership and structure of the Company Immanuel. As thorough information about the finances had already been given at the meeting on 9 April 2015 she went through selected parts of the financial results of the company in 2014 with emphasis on the church. The figures are presented in the Administrative report for 2014, enclosure 1, pp 57–87.
Anette Engkvist presented the result of the Company before final accounts and taxes, where all the companies have made profits in 2014.
The result of the church is minus 4.9 million kronor, which in principle corresponds to the defaulted interest of the promissory note for the 4th quarter. The ministries have followed the budget well and Anette Engkvist thanked those responsible for this.
A big change in the finances of the church is that the promissory note between Probitas and the church has been terminated due to changes in the Swedish tax law which no longer makes this arrangement profitable. The terminated promissory note, which so far has given the church a secure interest of 19.7 million kronor per year, means that the finances of the church will now become more sensitive to the swings of the market. We will see bigger differences between the years. For Probitas the change means lower costs of interest and thus a better result, but totally for the Immanuel Company the change is negative.
Some questions to consider in order to meet this change are: do we need to reduce the costs in the church? Can we increase the dividends from Probitas? Can we increase the dividends from the securities portfolio, or increase the giving? Maybe a combination of all this is needed. Anette Engkvist concluded by saying that we need to pray for God’s wisdom in the decisions.
The subject was opened to the floor
There was a question when it will be possible to donate to the church by swish.
Anette Engkvist answered that our bank does not yet make it possible to do this from a private person to an organization. The bank is trying to find a solution and hopefully it will work from summer 2015.
There was a question whether the music school makes a profit or a loss.
Anette Engkvist replied that we don’t want to describe our ministries in terms of profit and loss, as all ministries have a cost. The head master post at 25% and a part time administrator are paid by the church. For 2014 the revenue was 1.3 million kronor and the cost 1.7 million kronor, including the staff cost. In 2014 the church has paid 400,000 kronor to this ministry.
Peter Eriksson, head master of the music school, said that the music school has followed the budget in the past two years but that this varies from year to year depending on the number of pupils. The ministry of the music school is reaching 225 pupils per week
There was a question how the changed VAT rules influence the church.
Anette Engkvist answered that these rules do not influence the church at present. There is another governmental investigation in progress regarding possible VAT on non-profit organisations but it is not yet ready.
The Administrative report, the Profit and Loss account and the Balance sheet were accepted and gratefully submitted.
§ 8 Audit report
Jonas Grahn, permanent auditor of the Immanuel church, presented selections of the Audit report for the annual accounting, company accounting and bookkeeping of the church, as well as the Board’s management in Immanuel church for the ministry in 2014, see enclosure 1, page 88.
The report was accepted and gratefully submitted.
§ 9 Profit and Loss Account and Balance sheet for 2014
The Annual meeting confirmed the Profit and Loss Account of the church and the company for 2014 and the Balance sheet as per 31 December 2014.
§ 10 Discharge from liability for the Board for 2014
The Annual meeting granted the Board discharge from liability for the financial year 2014. The vice chairman of the Annual meeting thanked the Board members with roses.
§ 11 The Nominating committee’s proposal
Stefan Nilszén, chairman of the Nominating committee, presented the committee’s proposals of delegates for the various areas of responsibility within the church, according to enclosure 2 and 3. Some changes and additions are shown in encl. 2. At the Annual meeting about 800 assignments are filled by about 500 persons.
§ 12 Election of chairman of the congregation for a period of 1 year
Marco Helles was unanimously elected new chairman of the congregation and the Board for a period of one year. A reservation against the fact that the decision was registered as unanimous was turned in later, see enclosure 4. However, this reservation does not change the decision.
There were comments that the criteria according to which the Nominating committee had been working in order to find a new chairman had been somewhat unrealistic. It was proposed that next time the committee should work according to more realistic criteria and also stress spiritual qualities.
§ 13 Election of Board members
More Board candidates were presented than the actual number of vacant positions in the Board: six persons were to be elected for two years and one for one year as by-election for Marco Helles. The nine candidates proposed by the Nominating committee presented themselves and 14 persons made pleas for them. There were no other candidates.
After a secret ballot with 269 ballot papers, out of which three were invalid, the following persons were elected:
Board members two years:
Patrick Amofah re-election
Stephen James re-election
Lina Mattebo re-election
Kristina Gustafsson re-election
Peter Dobers new election
Vida Afua Attah new election
Board member one year:
Malin Emmoth by-election
Until the Annual meeting 2016 the following persons remain as Board members: Göran Johansson, Johan Sahlén, Karin Pettersson, Sungha Wendin and Tove Janarv
Dan Svanell gave flowers to Board members Johannes Nilsson and Ingegerd Berg who have resigned from the Board and thanked them for their time and engagement. Karin Pettersson gave flowers to Dan Svanell and thanked him for the years he has served as chairman of the congregation and in the Board.
§ 14 Election of auditors and auditor substitutes
Jonas Grahn and Christina Gotting were elected permanent auditors for one year and Susanne Westman and Mats Bernö were elected auditor substitutes for one year.
§ 15 Election of members for other functions
Concerning election of members for other functions, enclosure 2, the Annual meeting decided according to the proposals of the Nominating committee, including the changes that the chairman of the committee had mentioned earlier in the meeting.
§ 16 Election group for Nominating committee for next Annual meeting
Ulla Marie Gunner presented her and Dan Svanell’s suggestion for an election group: Ingvar Kvernes (convenor), Lois Hemgren, Mikael Hovemyr, Inga Johansson, Sven Mannervik. These persons will have the task to suggest a Nominating committee for 2015/2016.
The meeting decided according to the proposal.
A question was raised whether it is the responsibility of the election group to make sure that not everyone from one language group in the Board will run for re-election at the same time. Dan Svanell replied that this would mean that we would always present straight lists but now we vote for individuals. However, he asked next Nominating committee to keep this question in mind in their work.
§ 17 Auditors and substitutes for Rådmanshemmet
Jonas Grahn and Christina Gotting were elected auditors for the Retirement home Rådmanshemmet for one year with Susanne Westman and Mats Bernö as substitutes for one year.
§ 18 Motions
In a motion to the Annual meeting Lalit Kumar requested the budget for mission and aid to be raised to l,0% of the annual budget of the congregation, enclosure 5A, and that this sum would be raised when needed after having been checked by the Board every second year. Lalit Kumar gave the background to his motion.
Johan Sahlén of the Board answered the motion by reading parts of the Board’s answer, encl. 5B. The Board is positive towards the Annual meeting stating a lowest level of 1% of the total budget every year to be given to international mission and aid.
Kjell Walfridsson, chairman in the Committee for Mission and Development aid, found that the Board has mixed up the figures in their response and thus missed the intention of the motion. He clarified that the motion is about percentage of the budget of the congregation, without considering gifts and offerings. His suggestion to the Annual meeting was to decide on an increase in the budget of 100,000 SEK to the Mission and Development aid Committee by at least 25% every year during a five year period.
The Annual meeting decided, according to the Board’s proposal, that at least 1% of the total annual budget shall be given to international mission and development aid. Kjell Walfridsson’s proposal was passed on to the Board for further discussion.
Rachel Norborg Jerkeby suggested to change the name of the committee in order to clarify what is international and what is national mission. No decision was taken regarding this.
§ 19 The organization of the church
For reasons of time, Ulla Marie Gunner suggested to postpone the subject of a new organization for Immanuel church. However, a decision about the third clause on the last page, (encl. 6) needs to be taken by the Annual meeting.
The meeting decided according to the proposal and also accepted the third clause. The new organization will be discussed at the Congregational meeting on 3 May 2015.
There was a proposal to include the music ministry in a clearer way in the work on the organization of the church.
The meeting decided according to the proposal.
§ 20 Immanuel Senior
Rachel Norborg Jerkeby informed about Immanuel Senior, which is a juridical person of its own within Immanuel church. Immanuel Senior was earlier part of Riksförbundet Pensionärsgemen- skap but left this organization in 2014. Immanuel Senior has about 300 members and about 30 meetings every year with great variation. She referred to the Annual report for 2014, encl. 1, pp 38–39, 50–51, 89–90.
§ 21 Any other business
Yasin Farhat shared how difficult the recent change in leadership has been for the members of the International fellowship and stressed that this must never happen again.
Kerstin Fränne stressed the importance of founding an Equmenia organization for the work among children and youth in the church.
Ulla Marie Gunner mentioned that two persons are working on this and hope to present something to the Annual meeting 2016.
The chairman thanked the Nominating committee for the work they have done in preparing for the Annual meeting.
§ 22 The Senior pastor – thoughts about the coming year
Ulla Marie Gunner shared some thoughts about the coming year – Immanuel church is made up of its members and has its wealth through its international spirit. She encouraged the members to at least once in the coming year visit another service than the one they usually attend. All of us need to widen our views.
Congregational meetings in 2015: 3 May, 27 May, 4 October, 18 November.
§ 23 Conclusion
Dan Svanell concluded by wishing God’s blessing on the new chairman Marco Helles and by thanking the presidium and the interpreters Mark Tatlow and Johan Ahlberg.
At last the chairman thanked the congregation for their attention and declared the Annual meeting 2015 closed.
Secretary: Cathrin Sjöström
Minutes approved by: Anders Andersson, Agnetha Dalemark, Barbro Södersten, Thord-Ove Thordson