Presbytery of Lochaber

Achnacarry Church

The Committee Reports from the Presbytery meeting on 7th June are below. For a copy of the full minute contact the web master at kirk@mirlos.co.uk   

 

Appendix 1

Report to Presbytery 7^th June 2011

 

Stewardship and Finance

 

At the meeting of the finance committee on the 2^nd April 2011 the following matters were agreed:

 

A request from the Rev Alan Lamb for £100.00 to take approximately 48 children and adults from Kilchoan and Acharacle to the Bible World Exhibition in Strontian was approved.

This has been paid to the treasurer of Acharacle church and as this was a mission based request the funds came from the mission account.

 

We also had a request from the Rev Richard Begg for funding to support pulpit supply costs when preaching on the islands.  This takes place 5 times a year and the committee has agreed that £400.00 should be set against the mission and ministry 3% allowance specifically for this purpose.

 

As part of the discussions regarding the ministry and mission allocation for 2011 it was also agreed that 5% of the 3% allowance should be allocated to vacant charges to assist with pulpit supply.  This will apply pro rata to the linked charge of Strontian, Ardgour  and Morvern and also to Acharacle and Kilhoan.  Any other charges becoming vacant during the year will also be considered at he next meeting of the finance committee in early September.

 

The ministry and mission allocations have to be finalised by the 30^th of September 2011 at which time these allocations will be submitted to 121 along with any others which may be received prior to that date.

Again I would urge minister who have projects that they need to fund fully or partially then submit your proposals to the finance committee as soon as possible.

 

The attestation of financial records is complete and it still took slightly longer than anticipated.  For next year we have a list of the more common errors and omissions that we can include in the reminder so the treasurers will be better informed.  I feel it is only a matter of communication and would offer the following statistics which may be of interest to members of presbytery.

 

1. 7 churches accounts were all correct

2. 1 Church - submitted a trustees report dated incorrectly (should be dated prior to the independent examiners report).

3. 1 church – submitted an independent examiners report dated accounts 2010

4. 4 churches – failed to include a statement relating to expenses

5. 1 church – submitted the incorrect checklist

6. 1 church  -  failed to include a list of the trustees

7. 3 churches  - submitted unsigned or undated accounts

1 church - submitted an unsigned and undated independent examiners report.

 

May I also advise presbytery at this time of the Church of Scotland’s recommendations regarding ethical investments.  The Church of Scotland disapproves of any investments or shareholding in any organisation that has any connection with gambling, the tobacco industry, alcohol production or distribution, the production or distribution of armaments and certain mining stocks. 

Members are to be advised that they should satisfy themselves that any investment outside of the Church of Scotland funds are fully researched prior to purchase. 

 

form part of the budget for the year.  The proposal is to provide a claim form within the presbytery hand book and which presbyters could photocopy as necessary. A form will also be available on the Presbytery web site which may be downloaded, and forms would also be available from the treasurer.

It would be expected that trustees would make every effort to car share where at all possible.

 

Appendix 2

Report of the Ministries Working Group

June 2011

 

The group would like to thank those who responded to our questionnaire concerning pastoral care for ministers. The response was interesting: we had eight written replies, including one from a member of the group, and, of course, the input from the other five group members – a total of thirteen responders. This is not a great number from a presbytery of nearly forty, suggesting that the majority of Presbytery do not feel this is a vital issue.

On the other hand, every reply which we did get did feel that the issue was important.

There was agreement that Presbytery had some responsibility for dealing with this. The point that ministers might find it difficult to justify “time out” was acknowledged, but with the rider that this ought not to be the case.

The point was very firmly made that the geography of Presbytery works against ministers simply dropping in to visit one another, and there can be a real sense of isolation.

After wide-ranging discussion of various aspects of the difficulties inherent in the provision of pastoral care for ministers, and of various possible actions, we want to bring one very simple proposal to Presbytery :we would like permission to arrange a Ministers’ Lunch. This would be an opportunity for ministers to meet informally, to relax with each other and discuss any topic whatsoever they wish. It would be a lunch in town, which would not take up “another evening”; all our ministers visit Fort William from time to time; and even the busiest of ministers has to eat! 

Further more, we agreed that we would in the first instance be involving only ministers in a charge. We recognise that Readers, Deacons, Auxiliaries, retired ministers acting as interim moderator or locum all share some of the same concerns, but we feel that having the ultimate long-term responsibility for a parish is a very particular situation, and that those to whom it applies are our first responsibility.

 

We would suggest the early autumn as a good time for the meal, and this means that it is unlikely we would be looking at more than six, and probably only five, participants.

 

We have the offer from the Alexandra of the exclusive use of a room, with the ordinary restaurant lunch menu being available, to be served in the private room, and the only charge would be for the actual food. A two-course meal and coffee could be had for under twenty pounds a head.

 

We feel that this would be a reasonable charge on the Presbytery, as the welfare of each of our ministers directly affects every parish.

 

Therefore we hope that Presbytery will agree to the proposal, on a trial basis, for the coming autumn.