Present: about 42 members
§ 1 Welcome and opening of the meeting
The congregation’s Chair, Stephen James, welcomed everyone and said that it is just today, 24 February 2019, 45 years since the inauguration of Immanuel church.
§ 2 Election of secretary
Cathrin Sjöström was elected secretary of the minutes.
§ 3 Election of verifiers
Karin Sandström and Brenda Taylor were elected to verify the minutes.
§ 4 Agenda
The agenda was approved.
§ 5 Election of representatives for annual meetings and conferences
Karin Pettersson, chair of the joint Election committee, repeated the names of the members of the committee (see minutes from the congregational meeting 7 October 2018) and moved on to presenting the Election committee’s proposals for representatives for annual meetings and conferences.
The Council of free churches in Stockholm
Pastor Anna Berndes
The organisation Hela Människan in Stockholm’s province
Anna-Carin Stenbäck
Monica Ahlberg
The organisation Sociala Missionen
Anders Segersson
Chung-Soon Yoon
Egle Ampah Korsah
Johannes Nilsson
Stefan Nilszén
The Uniting church’s Council of trustees for the Stockholm region
Johnny Jonsson
The Annual meeting of the Uniting church in Jönköping
Dan Svanell (convenor)
Anna Walfridsson
Johnny Jonsson
Jonas Gustafsson
Kerstin Gustafsson
Kjell Walfridsson
Mikael Ivarsson
Mirjam Olsson
Sven Britton
Ulla Marie Gunner
Substitutes to the Annual meeting of the Uniting church
2 vacancies, by-election later.
The congregation decided according to the proposal.
§ 6 New address book
A new address book of the church members will soon be available. It will have a new format and will be printed in the house on demand. This will be more environmentally friendly and it will also be safer from the perspective of the new GDPR legislation.
Those who want a new address book should write their names on a list that was circulated in the meeting, and which will then be available at the information desk. The cost of the address book is 40 kr and the easiest way to pay is via Swish or bank giro / postal giro. If a member wants the book to be sent by post, a postage cost of 30 kr will be added. In that case, please contact the church secretary, preferably by e-mail.
The members were also reminded of the importance of updating changed telephone numbers. This does not happen automatically via Skatteverket, but needs to be done by the members themselves.
§ 7 Congregational meetings and Annual meeting
On Sunday 7 April at 13.00 there will be a preparatory meeting in advance of the Annual meeting. At this meeting the Board candidates and Chair will be interviewed, and there will also be ‘stations’ for various issues, as budget and ministry.
On the same day the photo exhibition “Faces of Immanuel” by Marco Helles will be inaugurated. The exhibition will run until 5 May 2019.
The church’s Annual meeting will take place on Sunday 28 April at 13.00. The meeting will be arranged in the same way as last year.
On Wednesday 8 May at 18.30 the representatives for the Church conference will meet with others who are interested in preparing the issues for the conference together.
§ 8 Information
a) The ministry
The lenten services will start on Ash Wednesday, 6 March. After this there will be communion services every Wednesday during lent until Holy Week. The services will be in the main sanctuary and there will be different stations. The Uniting Church’s theme this year is climate fast, which will be in focus at the services.
b) Staff
Christina Lindén is employed at 80% as a strategic communicator and graphic designer.
Isak Wang is employed at 50% as IT support.
Jacob Molander will leave his position on 1 March 2019 for freelance assignments, primarily in music.
Bibbie Ydrefors has been hired for 20% during the spring, in order to cover up part of
the vacancy in the deaconry while solutions are sought.
§ 9 Any other business
A question was asked based on the breakfast conversation that was held on 16 March in the Swedish language group. There was then a discussion about meetings over generational boundaries and the question now was whether there is any ongoing discussion on the issue, any process and timetable.
The Chair replied that Jonas Gustafsson, Chair of the Swedish Council, touched on this issue when he visited the Board meeting on 21 February. The Council currently has many discussions to get a better grasp of who they are and where they are going in the Swedish language group. So there is a process, but no explicit timetable is communicated at this time.
§ 10 Conclusion
Ulla Marie Gunner prayed a prayer and the Chair declared the meeting closed.
Secretary: Cathrin Sjöström
Minutes verified by: Stephen James (Chair), Karin Sandström, Brenda Taylor