Reports:
The chairman was happy to discover the “table talk” concept in the international fellowship, arranged by the election committee directly after the service on 14 January. Those interested were invited to come to one of the coffee tables and receive information and/or become candidate for one of the many ministry tasks in the church, the election of which takes place at the Annual Meeting on 22 April. That same Sunday, it was announced that Marco Helles will not candidate for re-election as the Chairman of the congregation.
Senior Pastor Ulla Marie Gunner reported that the Portuguese/Spanish speaking fellowship will meet for worship in the chapel for the first time on Sunday 21 January. These worship services will be continued throughout the spring. She also discussed the development of skills and activities in a meeting with Trygghetsradet. Lastly, she reported that several applications were received, both for the position of Music Director in the International Fellowship as well as the position of Deacon.
The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a new EU regulation intended to strengthen and unify data protection for individuals. The congregation needs to adapt by adjusting the church’ digital tool “Aveny” and training the staff. This will require large resources. To facilitate the work, a GDPR group has been formed in the Probitas Concern and a lawyer will be consulted.
A small working group, consisting of Margoth Sonnebo and Hans-Olof Hagén, has continued to look further into the ministry at Löjtnantsgarden following up on an earlier report. The working group wants to prioritise younger (under 65 years old) candidates for rental apartments. The Board will discuss the question at the next gathering.
Equmenia Immanuel Stockholm reported that the Annual Meeting is now being prepared and that the election committee has started its work. The former SMU association will be formally laid down at the coming Annual Meeting and the Board decided that the funds belonging to the former SMU now are being made available to Equmenia Immanuel Stockholm. All communication will be in line with the congregation’s communication policy and strategy. However, the association will start its own Instagram account.
There is currently no interior design group, responsible for the main sanctuary and the church square. Such a group would need to have an integral approach and be able to co-operate with the church management. The responsibility befalls the church management until further decisions are being made.
The proceeds from the Christmas market are annually divided according to the following principle: two-thirds go to our sister churches and one-third goes to supporting the international work the Uniting Church in Sweden. A suggestion was made to also support Diakonia, but the Board decided against it.
The Communications Committee has assessed the signage found on the facades of the church as insufficient and believes that this makes the church building anonymous for passers-byers. The Board now instructed the management group to continue working on this, following proposals made in 2012, and report back to the Board in May.
The congregation’s Environment and Justice Group has sent a motion on climate to the Uniting Church in Sweden Church Conference 2018. The motives would like for the congregation to support the motion. The Board is generally positive about the spirit of the motion regarding the congregation’s policies and agrees that the congregation should consistently act in an environmental-friendly way. However, there are economic factors in the recommendations, which must be analysed, so that resources are not taken away from support to the church’ ministries. This feedback was given to the motives for further processing of the motion, which may be reviewed again at a preparatory meeting before the Conference.
The next board meeting will take place on February 15th.