• The finance sub-committee reported on the need for strategic decisions to be made during the autumn to help balance the church’s finances. Amongst other things, income from wills have not been realised in line with budget and the costs of the music school are higher than budget.
• The Communication- and Fundraising sub-committee is being formed to help stimulate greater fundraising in the church, in collaboration with a slew of other stakeholders. The importance of increased offering via Swish was discussed, as was the need for feedback to the different language fellowships concerning previous weeks’ offerings and collection.
• The personnel sub-committee is working with the calling of a lead pastor to the Swedish language fellowship. Discussions are ongoing with the Swedish fellowship council which will continue throughout the autumn. It is likely that there will be a vacancy period before the position is filled.
Work to map all the positions in Immanuel Church will now be started. The personnel group of Immanuel Church has remained stable since 2012. There are 27,4 FTEs in Immanuel Church, which are distributed across 41 people.
• The Head of Administration reported that income and expenses are largely in line with budget up to June this year. There is one exception, where shared operations costs have exceeded budget, due largely to the need for new media in the church, in particular a new telephone exchange and IT.
Over two hundred students attend Immanuel Church’s music school. The Music School does not however cover its costs as was previously decided. The Board therefore has tasked the Head of Administration and the rector of the music school along with a member of the Music School Committee with developing a plan for how the budget goals can be met, which are a self-sufficient music school aside from the 25% FTE costs for each of the rector and the administrative assistant.
The Board also requested the group to investigate the relationship between the Music School and the congregation as the question is not merely a budget question but is of strategic importance to the Church.
• A day of meeting, discussion and reflection is planned for November 10th, 2018, between the Board and each of the fellowship councils. The day will be designed to look at opportunities, challenges, transparency and ways to increase involvement in Immanuel Church.
• A working group has been formed within the Board to develop different scenarios for the further development of Löjtnantsgården. The task involves coming back to the Board with proposals for future strategies for Löjtnatnsgården from the point of view of the congregation.
• A motion concerning how Probitas distributes apartments was presented and discussed at the annual meeting of Immanuel Church this year. The annual meeting rejected the Board’s response to the motion and sent the motion back to the Board. It was decided not to change the way in which apartments are distributed. It was further decided to ask Probitas to come back to the Board addressing the question of the need for greater transparency in how apartments are allotted.
• At the March meeting of the Board, the need for more appropriate display and signage was raised. The Senior Pastor reported on the progress of the work addressing this issue, which is now ongoing. The lion’s share of the work (a sign on the balustrade towards Birget Jarlsgatan) will be a question for the 2019 budget.
The Senior Pastor reported from the 40th celebrations of the Korean fellowship, which was a large celebration. The Senior Pastor also reported from the Group for Greater Involvement and Democracy that work is ongoing to try to improve routines for the annual meeting and congregational meetings as well as how the meetings are executed. More frequent congregational meetings would go a long way towards bringing us closer together as a congregation with greater familiarity, leading to more lively and vital discussions.
• The Board was informed of the acquisition of the postal facility building on Odengatan by Probitas. Furthermore, the Board was informed that the planned building on Västmannagatan/Dalagatan has been tabled awaiting the result of the general election. In addition, the Board was informed that a threatened leasehold fee of 50 million crowns landed on 11 million crowns in the end.
• The election committee, which elects the nominating committee, will soon complete its work. A congregational meeting, where their work will be reported, will be held on October 7th.
The annual meeting for 2019 will take place on April 28th 2019.
• The coming meetings of the Board will be held on September 27th, October 18th, November 22nd and December 12th.
• One point of other business was raised. The Swedish fellowship is right now in a downward spiral in terms of the numbers of people who celebrate worship on Sundays. Middle-aged people are under-represented and this part of the nucleus of Immanuel Church may be dying out. The question was raised if we should simply administer this trend or if we shouldn’t now invest in a new phase of the life of Immanuel Church? If ”yes”, then a lot of work needs to be done to understand what it will take to be a church of relevance today. We need to look at our core values and understand the societal changes that we are in the midst of. The question was raised if we shouldn’t create a development project with the purpose to bring forwards ”Immanuel 2.0” – a renewed fellowship which energises people far beyond its own walls. Thus the discussion concerning the Swedish fellowship, which the Swedish council is already driving, was introduced to the Board. It was decided to take this up again at the next Board meeting.