Changing our Annual General Meetings

Dear friends,

As you know, we hold three Annual General Meetings every year – one for St Peter’s congregations including the Macarthur Indigenous Church, one for St Andrew’s and one for the whole Parish. At a recent meeting of Parish Council, we discussed the possibility of combining all three meetings into one. I am writing about this proposal to give you the opportunity to give us some feedback.

Our AGM’s are more than a meeting; they are shared opportunities to think, talk and pray. They are an opportunity for you to hear about ministry plans and vision, to ask questions and to become more involved in the decision making of our church. We elect officeholders, receive reports on ministry and provide time for feedback.

As a church we operate under one vision in multiple locations in a myriad of different ways. We have one combined staff who work together to proclaim the gospel to people throughout our region. We believe this is an effective strategy as different people will be reached by different approaches to ministry; if you only do one thing in one way you reach one sort of person! If you do many things in many different ways you reach may different sorts of people.

More and more we are working together across the Parish and breaking down the age-old barriers that have held us back from collaborative and effective ministry. Holding separate AGM’s retains this division and excludes people from hearing about, praying for and partnering with the complete collection of ministry activities in the Parish.

How would a combined AGM work?
We would meet together in one location and have staff reports, finance reports and reports from some individual ministries. We would vote as if we were at three individual meetings, allowing for St Andrew’s members to elect their wardens, St Peter’s members to elect wardens and parish council and for the whole meeting to elect Synod representatives and Parish Nominators. We would have questions and a time for prayer together. Our commitment is that the meeting would be run efficiently and not be long and boring – currently our three meetings go for a total of 150 minutes but there is significant duplication!

This is more than an opportunity for symbolic efficiency. This is really another opportunity for us to recognise structurally that we are in ministry together for the Glory of God in Campbelltown. We would be seeking to acknowledge that together we seek to be a growing Christian community devoted to maturing in Jesus for Glory of God.

So what now? We want to know your thoughts and questions. Parish Council is going to make a decision on this matter at our July meeting. Please put your comments in writing to me via email (nigel@campbelltownanglican.org) or letter.

Thanks for your partnership in the Gospel in Campbelltown.

In Christ
Nigel