On Sunday evening, January 31^st, we gathered together to review our year-end reports and celebrate what God has done with and through us.  Our Moderator opened the meeting with Lamentations 3:21-22, ”This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end…”  The meeting was about ‘calling to mind’ what had happened and been achieved over the past year, showing how God had been at work in the lives of our people and acknowledging how we had honoured Him in our love and service.

After the minutes of the November meeting were accepted, we rejoiced in accepting Susan and George Shallcross and Jennifer and Sean Major into membership at WRBC.  Then it was on to the reports from the Senior Pastor, Moderator, Associate Pastors, The Wave, and Children’s Ministries which were presented, discussed and accepted.  Dave Barton, the Chair of Finance, then presented the Financial Report and advised the meeting that the yearend numbers had changed slightly from what was published in the Annual Report in the amount of about $1,500.  Dave led us through the results of our General Fund, Benevolent Fund, Capital Fund and Missions Trip Fund to the result that we had missed meeting our overall disbursements by only $1,847.  Dave then went on to issue a challenge to us as follows:

“That we will continue to meet the requirements of our General Fund (and Missions Trips and Benevolent Funds) as we enter into our Capital Funds Campaign.”

Please note that the corrected financial reports have been updated in the Annual Report 2015 final.

After the Financial Report was accepted, the Church Clerk’s Report was presented showing our present membership at 183 and this was accepted.  (187 with the four additions from this meeting.)

Having looked back and reviewed this past year, we changed our focus to what lies ahead.  David Wynne reviewed our attendance numbers for the past four (4) years and updated the meeting on the Board Retreat from November and how the Board has been looking at our attendance with a view towards growth.  The Board has been looking at many options including replacing the pews with chairs, moving Children’s Ministries to the first service to make more room in the second service, parking at the Dairy Queen and other potential options to open up more room in the second service.  There was excellent participation and discussion from the floor as we considered these options and these questions will be taken out to the rest of our congregation.  Our hope is that our people will share their thoughts and even volunteer to shift their attendance to the first service for the next couple of years to open up space and parking in the second service for new comers.  Throughout this discussion it was wonderful to note the interest, openness and support for new ideas aimed at growing our outreach, worship and service to God.

From the focus on growth, we started to look ahead at what is happening with our plans for building.  The plans have been posted for a few weeks now and the Building Committee has received many questions and good feedback.  The attendees were informed of the importance of asking questions now while changes can be made because once the plans are drawn, it becomes prohibitively expensive to make changes.  The Moderator then updated everyone on Azhar Laldin’s role as Project Manager to draft the plan and steps of each committee and the Board in order to plan the timeline and ensure that each step is successfully completed and the appropriate responsibilities are set and signoffs received.

Finally, we moved to the most important part of the evening – prayer.  The Moderator commented of the different methods available to request prayer and of the encouragement received when emails are received saying “I prayed for you.”  The chairs of the three committees were then called to the front along with the pastoral staff and we prayed over them asking for the Lord’s guidance, directions, strength and blessings while they continue to move us through the building process.  The meeting was then turned over to Tim Hague, The Chair of the Prayer Committee, as he led us through a time of group prayer.  Tim also commended the people on being so open and receptive of the discussion on potential changes to our current services etc.  Tim then closed the prayer time by leading us all in our Guiding Prayer.

The Moderator then asked if there was any business from the floor and, hearing none, entertained a motion to adjourn.

David Wynne

Moderator

Download: Annual Report 2015 final