Minutes taken at the Annual Meeting of Immanuel church Saturday April 13 th, 2013

Transcription

1 Minutes taken at the Annual Meeting of Immanuel church Saturday April 13 th, 2013 About 180 members were present. The meeting began with a short devotion. The chairman of the congregation, Dan Svanell, began the meeting by reading out the vision of the church. Then he welcomed the members and declared the Annual meeting opened. It was confirmed that the meeting had been announced according to the statutes The agenda was accepted, with an addition of changes proposed by the Nomination committee and division of point 13 into a and b, where a) will be election of members of the Board of the congregation and b) election of members of the Swedish ministry board. 4 Johan Arenius was elected chairman of the Annual meeting. No vice chairman was elected as the chairman of the congregation was not chairman of this meeting. Ingrid Jonsson was elected secretary of the Annual meeting. The following persons were chosen to approve the minutes of the Annual meeting together with the chairman: Barbro Malmer and Tobias Andersson. 5 The Nomination committee suggested the following persons to count the votes at the meeting: Ola Gotting (coordinator), Margaret Benson, Ove Engström, Hans-Olof Hagén, Christina Hyltén, Kun-Wan Kim, Ann-Helén Persson and Christoffer Samuelsson. 6 Ulla Marie Gunner commented the 2012 Annual ministry report, as shown on pp 6-53 in the 2012 Annual report, attachment 1. The vision of the church can be read on page 46 in the 2012 Annual report. Lotta Thordson s investigation regarding the deaconal work in the church was presented at the Board meeting in December but is not included in the 2012 Annual report.

2 About 750 people gather for worship in five services in three different languages every Sunday. The new website of Immanuel church now exists in three languages. The Annual report has been sent out to the members of the congregation. An information meeting prior to the Annual meeting regarding finances and ministry was held on April 10. The Annual report was accepted and gratefully submitted. 7 The Administrative report for the ministry in 2012 was presented, attachment 1, pp Color pictures of the street festival and other activities arranged in conjunction with Immanuel church 50 th anniversary were included in the Annual report. Anette Engkvist, Director of Finance and HR, commented on the Profit and loss account and the Balance sheet (including the cash flow analysis) of the concern as well as the church ministry, see attachment 1, pp The revenues for 2012 were 8.5 million kr which is about 400,000 less than in The total cost exceeded the budget by 2 million kr. Some of the reasons were higher than expected costs for the street festival in August, large costs for moving the sound table from the balcony to the sanctuary and one-time costs for redesign of the website of the church. The year-end result was minus 1.1 million kr. For further information about finances and ministry, see the published 2012 Annual report. 8 Jonas Grahn, permanent auditor of Immanuel church, presented selected parts of the Audit report for the annual accounting, concern accounting and bookkeeping of the church, as well as the Board s management in the Immanuel church for the ministry in 2012, see attachment 1, page The Annual meeting confirmed the Profit and Loss Account of the church and the concern for 2012 and the balance sheet as per December 31 st, The Annual meeting granted the Board discharge from liability for the financial year With this the ministry for 2012 was gratefully submitted. 11 Christer Zettergren, chairman of the Nomination committee, presented the committee s proposal for volunteers for the various areas of responsibility within the church, according to

3 attachment 2. Some changes and additions are shown in the attachment as well. At the Annual meeting more than 900 voluntary positions are filled by about 600 persons, suggested by the Nomination committee. 12 Dan Svanell was unanimously elected chairman of the Board of the congregation for a period of one year. 13a Christer Zettergren explained that the Nomination committee had decided to submit a list with the exact number of Board members needed for election at the Annual meeting. A written presentation of the seven candidates, three of whom were first-time elected, was submitted, attachment 3. Before the election took place there was a time of discussion. Several approved the decision to submit a list with the exact number of Board members, while others were against and advocated a list with more names for next year s election of Board members A suggestion was passed on to the Board to take up questions of principle at the congregational meetings to a higher degree than is currently done. The Board should show diversity and when we elect Board members the factual matters should be more important than the personal matters. After this discussion and a short presentation of the candidates that were present at the meeting, the congregation was ready for election. The Annual meeting unanimously elected the following Board members for a period of two years: Patrick Amofah (first-time elected), Ingegerd Berg (re-elected), Kristina Gustafsson (re-elected), Stephen James (re-elected), Johannes Nilsson (re-elected) and Lina Mattebo (first-time elected). Sungha Wendin was elected for one year and will replace Ho-Jun Choi who has moved to Korea and thus left the Board before the end of his mandate period. The following members remain in the Board until the Annual meeting 2014: Marco Helles, Göran Johansson, Andreas Linderyd, Camilla Mattebo and Karin Pettersson. 13b As a step towards the re-organisation that the congregation has agreed on, it was the task of the meeting to elect members of a Swedish ministry board. The Annual meeting unanimously elected the following persons to be members of the Swedish ministry board: Josefine Arenius, Ann-Margret Bergman, Katarina Bodin, Mia Fernando, Karl Högberg, Fredrik Hössjer, Jonas Gustafsson, Stefan Nilszén and Karin Sandström. Convenor is Jonas Gustafsson. Adjunct to the ministry board are Jenny Dobers and Charlotte Höglund. Ulla Marie Gunner will also be adjunct in the set-up stage.

4 On the suggestion that a deacon should be adjunct to the board, Ulla Marie Gunner answered that the members of the ministry board are not representatives of special groups but of the whole congregation and that if necessary the board can choose an adjunct. 14 The Nomination committee had suggested Jonas Grahn and Christina Gotting as permanent auditors of the finances of the congregation, and they were elected by the meeting. Mats Bernö and Susanne Westman were elected auditor substitutes. 15 Concerning election of members for other functions, attachment 2, the Annual meeting decided to elect Board members and coworkers for the Senior Citizens Fellowship Association, RPG, in accordance with the proposal of the Nomination committee. The Annual meeting also decided that the deacons of the church should be adjuncts to the Council of deacons. At present there is no clearly expressed mandate for the different groups and Johan Sahlén called for some form of organizational map in order to better understand which mandate different councils and committees have and how they relate to each other and to the Board of the congregation. The Annual meeting gave the Board the assignment to clarify the role, function and mandate of the various councils and to present this to the congregation in a suitable way. A written instruction should be attached to the suggestions of the Nomination committee for next year s Annual meeting. 16 The Annual meeting decided to elect a a nomination group consisting of Ingvar Kvernes (convenor), Ellinor Brengesjö, Christopher Dalid, Christina Eriksson, Claes Jonsson and Kerstin Mjönes to suggest a Nomination committee for 2013/2014. Their proposal should be ready by September so that a congregational meeting can elect the Nomination committee. 17 Jonas Grahn and Christina Gotting were elected auditors for the Retirement home Rådmanshemmet with Susanne Westman and Mats Bernö as substitutes. 18 The Annual meeting confirmed the elections of Board members and coworkers for the Senior Citizens Fellowship Association, RPG, as per attachment 2, pp The Mission Covenant Youth Organization, SMU, did not have a board in the past year and the organization is dormant. Therefore there was no reelection of Board members. Berit Ekespong and Monica Helles are responsible for Skaparsöndag and Stefan Nilszén, Joseph Fernando, Monica Helles, Mime Brinkmann and Inger Gillerstarnd are part of the reference group for the children s ministry. 19

5 There is no detailed planning for collection Sundays until the Annual meeting 2014, but in general, Immanuel church will follow the collection periods of our denomination Gemensam Framtid. April 28 th is the collection day for the national work of Gemensam Framtid and October 13 th is the collection day for the youth organization Equmenia. Collection period for the international work of Gemensam Framtid is from the first of Advent 2013 until Epiphany 2014 and for the deacon and pastoral education in Gemensam Framtid during February/March Dates for these and other collection days will be identified by the Senior pastor. 20 Ulla Marie Gunner gave some information about Gemensam Framtid. About 800 congregations are part of the new denomination. The Church conference of Gemensam Framtid will take place in i Karlstad May About 15 people from Immanuel church will participate. There are two important questions on the agenda: the name question and finances. Jenny Dobers is suggested as regional church leader in Stockholm.. Karl Högberg is member of the regional council which will give advice to the regional church leader. 21 Ulla Marie Gunner reminded the congregation about the congregational meeting on April 24 th at 6.30 pm. Agenda items: calling of pastor, information about the Church conference and a formal decision regarding Stensnäs due to a change in the company concern. The Board s suggestion is to call Tobias Frelin as pastor with a special focus on children, youth and families. Tobias is currently a Senior pastor at Triangelkyrkan and has earlier been a substitute pastor at Immanuel church. From the autumn onwards there will be screens at the church square with information about the church and various events. September 21 st will be a day of fellowship for all church groups. More information to come! The church square shall be a deaconal meeting place and there are currently discussions on what changes are needed in order to meet existing needs. A working group will be appointed to find out what kind of ministry is needed and how this can function in practice on the church square. Ulla Marie thanked all those who are working as volunteers in the church and showed a short picture presentation of the staff.

6 22 According to tradition SMU has always been responsible for the youth work in the church. Christopher Dalid asked what will happen with this work now, when there is no SMU Board and when the SMU organization is dormant. Ulla Marie Gunner answered that there is a ministry, but that we will need to find a form that will fit our congregation and within which we can develop the work for children and youth even more. The decision to call a pastor with a special focus on children/youth/families is a step towards the goal growing the youth work. 23 Dan Svanell thanked the presidium of the Annual meeting and presented flowers and a warm thank you to Vida Afua Attah and Jonas Gustafsson who are now leaving the Board. In closing, the chairman thanked the congregation for their attention and declared the Annual meeting 2013 closed. Secretary: Ingrid Jonsson Approval: Johan Arenius, Tobias Andersson, Barbro Malmer