Dear Brothers & Sisters,
As you are all aware, the past year has presented myriad challenges related to the Covid19 pandemic. This has been true for your vestry as well. Two challenges in particular the vestry has been working to solve are finding church members who are able to serve as vestry members starting in 2021 and organizing a fully virtual annual meeting.
Given the added pressure and stress the pandemic has created for all of us, very few church members feel they are able to add the work of serving on the vestry to their lives at this time. Therefore, the vestry has been unable to find three (3) eligible vestry candidates to begin their term in 2021.
In addition to this, due to the pandemic we are not able to have our annual meeting in person this year. Therefore, we will have to use a virtual format for our annual meeting. As you can imagine voting virtually presents several issues in and of itself.
Therefore, in an effort to ensure the vestry maintains its nine (9) total lay members in 2021 and simplify our virtual annual meeting for 2021 the vestry has arrived at the following solution: The vestry will amend our Bylaws to extend the term of each member by one additional year. All of your current vestry members have already agreed to serve an additional year. Given the fact the current vestry members are all acquainted with the issues related to the pandemic this will allow the vestry to continue its work with continuity and without the threat of losing members at this time. This also eliminates the need to organize a vestry election during our virtual annual meeting, which will make our meeting much easier to execute.
The attached document contains the current bylaws and the proposed change. The vestry plans to vote on this issue at its January 19, 2021 meeting. If you have any questions regarding this bylaw change please feel free to contact me or anyone of your vestry members.
As I have mentioned already, we will have our annual meeting virtually this year. With the aforementioned bylaw change, the only order of business which will require a vote at this year's meeting is the approval of the 2021 church budget. Our treasurer, Drew Boatner is preparing a video budget presentation which will be shared with you via email later this month. Along with the budget presentation you will also receive a link, which will allow you to cast your vote electronically. Further details and instructions will be shared at that time. In addition to the budget presentation, we are also preparing the other annual reports which will be submitted to you in writing or via video.
Although I would greatly prefer to have our annual meeting in person, these measures will allow us to accomplish the business we need to accomplish at our annual meeting and ensure the safety of our members as we continue to navigate the impacts of this pandemic.
As always, I thank you for your continued support and I ask that you pray for the vestry as they continue to provide the ministry of leadership in the face of unprecedented challenges.
Yours in Christ,
Ashley Freeman+
