As we make our way as a regional council and experiment with new ways of working, we want to introduce this news bulletin, Bedrock, another component of our new communication plan. From this point forward, an issue of Bedrock will follow each Executive meeting to share regional news and decisions.
Our new Executive has met three times: June 29, September 17, and November 12-13, 2019. The minutes, as they come available, are posted on the website. In the meantime, here’s a round up of news that happened at the most recent meeting in November.
HOLD THE DATE FOR THE 2020 REGIONAL COUNCIL MEETING
The next CSRC Meeting will be held on Friday, June 5th – Sunday, June 7th, 2020. It will be held in Sudbury, ON at St. Andrew’s United Church (111 Larch Street, Sudbury). Planning for the meeting is well in hand and the theme has been chosen: “Growing the Connections.” For the convenience of the delegates from out of town who will be staying at a hotel, the decision was made to make a bus available to shuttle delegates from the main hotel to St. Andrew’s UC (to avoid the parking issues downtown). There will be a Celebration of Ministry Service at St. Andrew’s UC on the Sunday morning and a worship service will be created and distributed to communities of faith for that service. There will be a mass choir for this event. More details to follow… stay tuned!
UPDATES FROM COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES
- Pastoral Relations Commission: the Commission has completed a Pulpit Supply Policy that was distributed to the Region; they continue to appoint Liaison Officers, re/license Sacraments Elders; the last of 4 “Online Practice for Ministry Personnel” lectionary readings is happening on December 4th, 2019; planning is happening for a possible MP retreat in 2020 (possibly before or after the RC Meeting in Sudbury).
- Support to Communities of Faith Commission: the Commission continues to support communities of faith, offer leadership training, support and track the work of the Resource Teams, and are currently working on covenants between the RC and communities of faith.
- Nominations Committee: the committee would like to welcome two new members to Executive: Christina Stricker, Rep from the Support to Communities of Faith Commission and John Watson, Rep from the Pastoral Relations Commission; Helen Smith is now the Executive Rep to the Nominations Committee; Jim Jackson and Paul McAllister have been welcomed to the Property Resource Team; In conjunction with the Executive, Nominations is reviewing the nominations process for the CSRC; the committee is still looking for 4 more members to join the Nominations team
AGREEMENT WITH THE SJNOR
The CSRC has a new covenant with the SJNOR (Social Justice Network of Ontario Regions). The SJNOR replaces the SJNOC (*Conferences) and is a body that encompasses all The UCC Regional Councils in Ontario and involves staff and elected members with an interest in the social justice issues in The UCC.
EXECUTIVE MINISTERS REPORT
- Governance: Our Policies were established in June 2019 and will be reviewed as needed. Our Commissions and Committees have now been established and have started their work.
- Communication: Part of our role as staff is to ensure and promote communication. We have established a communication policy and which Susan Whitehead is now implementing, as well as supporting the website.
- Explorers Program: The Explore program, initiated by Toronto Conference, continued in 2018 through the primary support of Shining Waters Regional Council. The program has now moved to the General Council Office as a National Program. Regional Councils across the country will support the project, including CSRC staff.
- Policy Update and Compliance:One of the roles of the Executive Secretary is to focus on key parts of our Governance Policy:
- Relationship with Shining Waters Regional Council: we need to form a four-person team, 2 appointed from the CSRC Executive, which will provide support and oversite to the Executive minister;
- We need to set a meeting with the SWRC Executive;
- The President of SWRC will join our November 12, 2019 CSRC Executive meeting.
REMINDER: COMMUNITY EVENTS CALENDAR
This is a reminder regarding the new communication tool on the CSRC website called the Community Events Calendar. Anyone may add an event that is related to the UCC onto our website and it will be reviewed, approved, and put up on the website for all to see. Please click here for the “how to” document that will help you get started!
The second phase of this plan will include an email that you can subscribe to that will give you a listing of all events happening. Stay tuned for that!
Please see the CSRC Executive DRAFT Minutes posted on the CSRC website.