August 2-4, 2007
MINISTRY COUNCIL SUMMARY OF ACTIONS
The Ministry Council met August 2-4, 2007, at the West Nashville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee.
20 of the 22 Ministry Council members were present. Members Present: Betsy Atkins, Jill Carr, Elizabeth Horsley, Richard Hughes, Iwao Satoh, Roy Shanks, Gwen Roddye, Sam Romines, Rickey Page, Ellie Scrudder, Breann Murray Tolley, Leo Whinery, Mike Wilkinson Wayne Wood. Youth Advisory Members Present: Billy Black, Corey Faulkner, KyleSmallen. Advisory Members Present: Don Hubbard, Robert Rush, Frank Ward. Absent: Member Hillman Moore and Advisory Member Rose Mary Magrill due to health reasons.
The first evening, the Ministry Council adjourned to the Birthplace Shrine at Montgomery Bell State Park for a prolonged season of prayer for the council members and the task before us.
We determined that the officers of the Ministry Council will be: President, 1st Vice-President, 2nd Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. These officers, except the Treasurer, will make up the Executive Committee of the Ministry Council. The following people were elected: President—Mike Wilkinson, 1st Vice-President—Gwen Roddye, 2nd Vice-President—Iwao Satoh, Secretary—Elizabeth Horsley. (A treasurer will be elected at a later date.)
In response to concerns from the church-at-large, we will ask the General Assembly Nominating Committee to be especially mindful of presbyterial and global representation on future councils.
Members voted to recommend to the General Assembly that a staggered rotation for our Youth Advisory Members be established.
We want to encourage presbyteries to submit to the General Assembly Nominating Committee information forms regarding potential members, including Youth Advisory members.
After much discussion regarding the transparency/confidentiality of the Ministry Council’s work, we adopted an Open Information Policy. As part of this policy, we hope to have representatives available to the various Spring meetings of presbytery to share information and gather questions to be brought back to the Ministry Council. Furthermore, we will 1) ask The Cumberland Presbyterian magazine, CP UPDATES, and The Missionary Messenger to publish a Summary of Actions of each of our meetings, 2) establish a website for both information and correspondence, 3) meet with existing program boards and agencies at their fall meetings, 4) meet with the denominational staff at the next Ministry Council meeting, and 5) send a Summary of Actions of each of our meetings to the Presbyterial Clerks for inclusion in Preliminary Minutes.
Recognizing that we are a global church that speaks many languages, we appointed 2nd Vice- President Iwao Satoh to coordinate the distribution of our Summary of Actions to presbyteries and congregations whose primary language is not English.
We plan to soon take advantage of an online survey tool to aid us in receiving responses from the church-at-large on various issues regarding the program ministries of the church. We encourage all Cumberland Presbyterians to participate in these surveys when they become available.
We met with legal counsel Jamie Jordan regarding the legal issues involved in the restructuring process. He also shared with us some concerns of our Permanent Judiciary. We fully recognize that a deadline for the full initiation of our new structure is impossible to determine at this time, but we will work with due diligence to bring it about in accordance with both ecclesiastical andcivil law. Therefore, in order to fully abide by the laws of Tennessee governing the dissolution of chartered corporations and in order to protect the assets and limit the liability of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the approved dissolution of the current boards and agencies will not be immediate.
We met with Dr. J. David Hester concerning the progress of the work of the Center Task Force.
In light of the upcoming retirement of two board executives, we acknowledged that each programming board and agency still have the responsibility to fill vacant positions until such time as they (board and agency) are fully dissolved.
For background information, we reviewed Report Two of the Organizational Task Force that was presented to the last General Assembly.
To aid in understanding the task before this council, we reviewed the Report of the Organizational Task Force Committee that was approved by the last General Assembly. As a result, we plan to ask the next General Assembly to concur in the following recommendations:
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1. That as a point of clarification, we make it our policy that no denominational employee can serve as an elected member of the Ministry Council.
2. That due to liability reasons and upon advice of legal counsel, that the Ministry Council have the responsibility to employ the Chief Ministry Officer. This is a change from the General Assembly electing all but the initial Chief Ministry Officer.
3. Due to the fact that all current program boards may not be transformed into Advisory Committees by the next General Assembly, that the General Assembly Nominating Committee begin proposing membership once the Advisory Committees are in place.
4. Due to translation and sensitivity issues, that General Assembly change the title “Chief Ministry Officer” to “Director of Ministries.”
Appointed subcommittees in the areas of “Chief Ministry Officer” (Director of Ministries) Job Description and Ministry Council Operations Policy Manual to bring recommendations back to the council.
The next meeting of the Ministry Council will be in November in Memphis, Tennessee, with the date to be determined.
Asked the Executive Committee to examine the timing of future meeting dates.
Adjourned after an additional season of prayer.
Respectfully submitted,
Ministry Council