June 13: Conference Call

On June 13 there was a conference call to inform the larger group about the Council Meeting earlier that week.   This meeting was information  sharing only.  No decisions were brought to the group so there were no need for formal minutes.  Unlike the other posts in this blog these comments are entirely mine.

Phil Taylor was an invited guest and answered a few of our questions.  He was primarily there to listen.  His presence was welcomed by all.

A few points of interest.

The group still seeks a meeting with church council leadership.  Phil indicated that HRM wanted a 'facilitator' and the lack of agreement on this has delayed the call.  It was in lieu of this call that representatives of the group were invited to listen in to the church council meeting.

Phil provided some background that was new to some of us.

HRM started to reconsider the pastor policy in Oct. 2019.  This was not brought to the attention to the congregation at the annual congregation meeting in Jan. 2020.

When HRM recommended the policy to the council in March apparently no consideration was given at that time to bring this to the attention of the congregation before the council voted to approve.  (JB Note:  Phil could not recall any discussion about bringing this to the congregation).

This week when HRM recommended to "suspend" the new policy again there was no discussion of bringing this to the congregation.

Now that the March policy change has been suspended  it is not clear if the prior policy is in effect.

Some members expressed hope that we could bring this matter to the congregation soon and have a Yes/No vote.

Some members expressed the need for an updated, more robust and clear policy that would be allow former pastors to rejoin the church.