If you’re a regular here you’ll know that we have not held ‘normal’ church meetings for a while and indeed we did not hold our Annual Church Meeting last year. However, the leadership have met and feel the time is now right to catch up a little.
We plan to hold a church meeting and annual church meeting including elections for the leadership positions that have reached the end of their terms.
Our church rules lay out that we will announce that nominations for posts are open for two weeks and nominations must be complete three weeks before the meeting where elections will be held. To nominate a candidate you must first seek the consent of that person and then you and a second member must sign your support for the nomination. You can return these to the church office.
After nominations close existing leaders will interview the nominees to ascertain they have suitable spirituality, gifting, experience and character for the role.
It’s proposed that the church meeting will be held in the Sanctuary at Priory Street with appropriate Covid-precautions on Monday 17th May. It is important to the congregational nature of our church that we jointly undertake to discern the will of God. Votes will take place by secret ballot. If you have any questions please address them to a member of the leadership team. Because of the unusual situation at the moment we need to ask people to book and those bookings must be complete a week in advance (10th May) in order for us to make any changes, for example if every member wished to come we may not be able to accommodate them all with the current distancing requirements but we do urge and encourage you to give prayerful consideration to making nominations and to come to participate in the meeting and the vote.
Two elders’ terms (Norman and Ian) and one deacon (Roger) have been completed. In addition to which the leadership wish to stregthen the team with an additional elder and an additional deacon. So that means each member may nominate up to 3 elders and 2 deacons. Ian has indicated he is willing to stand for another term but Norman and Roger have decided not to stand again and so we thank them for their faithful service. Roger has however indicated that he would be prepared to serve until Jan 2022 to provide continuity and handover. That may mean he does stand for a shortened term but the church should be aware this is time limited.
You may read teaching and information on the role of elders and deacons or paper copies are available from the office on request.
- Download Elder nomination form here
- Download Deacon nomination form here
UPDATED 23 Apr 21: The correct teaching that Eddie prepared a few years back is now linked above.