Dear friends,
There are so many encouraging and exciting things unfolding in our family of churches that there is no room in 1 letter to touch them all. Next week there will be an awful lot of stories… Stories from Haupi Tombing as a chaplain with the Navy on a frigate over Christmas and from Jodi Spargur (Grandview Calvary Baptist) and Catherine Morris in their work with indigenous concerns to name a few. There are also some very heartening initiatives so that we might broaden our nominations for the myriad of Boards that we appoint to as the CBWC… These things and much more.
For today we will look at some realignment of staff time. A very gifted and encouraging staff they are.
Bob Webber will assume a greater involvement with the Communications and Stewardship group, along with the new and developing ministry of Legacy, Wills, and Bequests. (It will be of interest to several of you that Jack and Catherine Farr’s estate passed on a very generous gift in these last few months).
Louanne Haugan, who at present is our Office Manager, and supervises Pensions and Benefits, will be delegating some of those responsibilities and over the next few months, redirecting 40% of her time to development. Development simply means the encouragement and support of donors who seek to engage particular ministries in our family of churches. Many of our partner organizations have people in these positions: our sister denominations, CBM, many of our camps, and Carey Centre.
Faye Reynolds will be broadening her portfolio to include some of the tasks Bob Webber has been engaged in and will become Director of Ministries. The Director of Ministries has 2 primary roles. The first is to ensure, along with the Executive Minister, all the resourcing needed in our churches and our programs to collaborate in meeting the needs of local congregations. The second major role is to nurture effective communication between ministries, partners, local areas and regions so as to ensure that the best work is done at an appropriate cost. There are over 3 dozen ministries and areas of service to keep track of and Faye, like Bob before her, has considerable experience and trust in the constituency. It was a position mandated by the 2010 Board review of Executive Staff.
Zoe Ducklow, who is finishing her Masters in Journalism, will be our new Senior Writer, replacing Ceal McLean, who having served us ably, is retiring. The role of writing in our denomination has been shared for some time now with Cailey Morgan, who will continue to contribute in this area and will also continue her work in social media. Ceal has chaired our Communications & Stewardship group, been our Senior Writer, and conducted our communications audit. She is a remarkable writer, prompter of excellence, and a person who is equally comfortable with the overview as she is with details. She came to us from the private sector and has been a profound encouragement to this work and this family of churches. She was a member of Kits Community Church. She has returned to Victoria with her husband Ged where they used to live. She is a good friend and a cherished colleague. She will be deeply missed. Many thanks, Ceal.
Warmly,
In Christ,
Jeremy
Quote of the Week: T. S. Eliot’s Father Confessor once commented about Eliot: “He was a thoroughly converted man.” Am I a thoroughly converted Christian?
News from the Family: Please pray for those churches in transition and in need of settlement. Please pray for Dennis Stone as he works with the Regional Ministers in this very important area.