Dear Friends:
I am writing to you to let you know that the meetings planned for this Sunday have had to be postponed. Unfortunately, subsequent to our circulating the Amalgamation Plan documents to you last week, a legal complication beyond our control has arisen regarding the Grace church lease-back arrangement that could have some impact on the proposed arrangements as outlined in the circulated materials. On Wednesday I held conference call meetings with our consultants, the Bishop’s Assistant and the chairs & pastors of our four congregations. We all agreed that this complication represents a bump in the road, not an unsurmountable obstacle. However, in the spirit of our work so far, any amendments to the amalgamation plan need to be fully discussed by your representatives on the amalgamation steering group, which can only meet next Wednesday, September 11th. As well as discussing what adjustments may be needed to the plan circulated to you, the steering committee will review the timetable for the town hall meetings and subsequent amalgamation vote. This will be shared with you all just as soon as we can. I appreciate that this delay is a disappointment, and that many of you will have made special arrangements to be able to be present at the meetings. However, I also feel sure that you will agree that it is important to be clear about what the plan is, and that it is better to have some delay but a clear pathway forward as together we prayerfully discern the future for our ministry and mission as Lutherans in Hamilton and the surrounding area. Sincerely, Michael Schuster Chairperson, Hamilton Amalgamation Steering & Implementation Team
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The Hamilton Lutheran Steering and Implementation Team met again this past week on Wednesday, June 26th at St. John’s Lutheran Church.
Our meetings seem to be longer now. There is just so much more to discuss as we continue to map out our final amalgamation plan. We are confirming our timeline and dates up to and after the vote. We have a longer meeting coming up on July 27th at Faith Lutheran Church from 9:00 – 3:00 pm. This will give us lots of time to report back from our working groups, discuss, and continue to finalize our plan further. We would like to extend a HUGE “THANK YOU” to all those who submitted suggestions for the naming of our new amalgamated church!! We received 63 different suggestions. Wow!! From those, we are going to pick our “top 4” suggestions and share them with you soon – you can let us know which of them you like best. Then, our committee will make a final selection. Just to remind you, here is the summer schedule of church services leading up to our vote on September 29th:
Oneinchristhamilton.weebly.com (the official site - calendar of joint worship, etc.) Visualisevision.weebly.com (the site for new ideas and styles of worship) Wishing all of you a wonderful July! Enjoy this beautiful, warm weather! A poster has been sent to the churches inviting people from all four congregations in the amalgamation talks to a BBQ and discussion about exploring how we can offer new styles of worship.
What is the purpose? To explore different types of worship services that will address the spiritual and worship needs of people who find themselves unfulfilled with current worship offerings or find themselves outside of the church, yet with a spiritual hunger. Who should attend? Anyone who has attended alternative types of worship services such as Taize, Jazz Vespers, Centering Prayer, Contemporary, Celtic, etc., and would like to see alternative services offered, and anyone who is interested in learning more. When and where? Thursday, June 27 here at Grace. BBQ at 6 pm with discussion starting at 7 pm. Sausage and hamburgers on the grill. Please bring a salad or dessert. Please come with your stories and questions and invite family and friends who might be interested. We want to hear what you have to say! Please RSVP by June 26 Not to worry! The traditional hymn book service offered at Faith, St. John's and Transfiguration and the blended service at Grace will continue to be offered each week. Delight in your day! We hope to see you there! The Hamilton Lutheran Steering and Implementation Team met again this past week on Monday, June 3rd at Faith Lutheran Church. Updates were given from all the working groups and we spent time talking about our timeline for the next year if amalgamation is passed in September. It is exciting to hear that the women’s groups from our four churches have come together to form the “Lutheran Ladies United”. The first event they have planned is to provide activities for children/students on the September 20 PD Day. The event will be held at Faith. The ladies’ group will provide the church space and organize the event; they will bring in help and expertise for the activities that day.
We briefly discussed alternative worship and the different styles that can take. Some events you may want to consider attending to familiarize yourself and learn more include: - Friday June 14 – St. Paul’s Anglican in Burlington - Taizé worship – 7:30 pm - Sunday, June 16 – St. Andrew’s Anglican, Westdale - Jazz Vespers – 4:00 pm - Thursday, June 27 at Grace – 6:00 pm – a Barbecue. Along with food and fellowship you will have the opportunity to discuss in small groups what your spiritual needs are, and how different forms of alternative worship can be a part of that (further info given at end of this Communication) As far as the location for our amalgamated church goes, we are still looking at our three properties as well as others that have come on the market. Don’t forget to submit your suggestions for a name for our new church. We encourage you to participate and use your creativity for the benefit of our new amalgamated church! Deadline for submissions is Sunday, June 23. We invite you to view our amalgamation websites: Oneinchristhamilton.weebly.com is the official site (calendar of joint worship, etc.) Visualisevision.weebly.com is the site for new ideas. Pastor Chun has posted some awesome YouTube videos. They really give us an idea of what the possibilities can be in our future. We have an opportunity to honor traditions and start something new, no matter what location we choose. Wishing all of you a wonderful June! The sun was shining bright when the Steering Team met this past Monday, May 6 at Grace Lutheran Church! With the promise of warmer weather, a feeling of positivity and hope was evident at our meeting as well. God is good!
Many things with amalgamation are starting to take shape. We reviewed the meeting notes from our Working Group gathering, held on the morning of April 13. The various committees updated us on any developments since then. After discussion, further directives were given. Here are the highlights of our meeting: …Finances first! Our Finance committee has drafted a proposed budget for 2020 as we continue to use all four church locations during our transition period. …Our Governance committee met on Tuesday, May 7 to begin working on the new constitution and transition plan for our future amalgamated church. ... We now have joint services planned for right up until September 22. These services are such wonderful opportunities to share in our faith and really get to know each other - mingle, mingle, mingle! The schedule is as follows: May 26 Transfiguration at Grace and St. John’s at Faith 10:30 am June 9 Joint service - all four congregations at St. John’s 10:00 am June 30 Grace at Transfiguration 10:00 am July 7 Grace at St. John’s 11:00 am July 14 Grace at Faith 10:30 am Transfiguration at St. John’s 10:00 am July 21 Transfiguration at Grace 10:30 am July 28 St. John’s at Transfiguration 10:00 am Aug 4 Faith at Grace 10:30 am Aug 11 St. John’s at Grace 10:30 am Aug 18 Faith and Grace at Transfiguration 10:00 am Sept 8 Town Hall Meetings (at individual churches) Sept 22 Joint service – all four congregations at Faith 10:30 am Sept 29 Amalgamation Vote (at individual churches) … Our Outreach working group is going to look at all the wonderful projects and outreach initiatives that our four churches are currently involved in, then work out how we can continue to keep them all up and running in 2020. ...We identified our top priorities in determining a location for our new church. Using these, we will be looking at our three current properties, as well as whatever other properties may become available in the upcoming months. Rest assured, we will have a home!! ... We need a name for our new church-to-be and we want your help! We have a short list of criteria to be used in suggestions for this name: - no hyphens - doesn’t have the name of any of our four churches in it - a name that speaks to outsiders - a name that is easy to remember/memorable Now, feel free to run with your ideas and submit your suggestions by June 23. Your church will give you further details on how to do that. …We set up a separate committee to look at the non-rostered staffing positions for the amalgamated church i.e. musicians, janitorial, etc. … And, we’ve saved the best news for last - our pastors aren’t going anywhere! Pastors Daniela and Thomas Mertz and Pastor Loretta Jaunzarins will be the official “called pastors” in our new amalgamated church going forward. After amalgamation, Pastor Doug Schweyer will be retiring (for the second time!). We thank him for staying on at Transfiguration to help his congregation through this important process! That’s all for now. We are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! As the Working groups and Steering team continue to meet to find solutions to all challenges, please keep this process in your prayers. We want all of you to be able to vote with confidence on September 29! Have a wonderful week! We met on March 11 at Transfiguration. All the working groups are meeting and developing their plans and recommendations. We are actively hearing and responding to concerns and desires arising from the congregations. Due to the volume of work ahead of us, we have decided to move the final vote to Sunday, September 29 with townhalls on September 8. This will allow time for the congregations to see and consider detailed plans for the future. Worship planning for joint services will extend until the end of September.
On January 28th the Amalgamation Implementation and Steering Committee met by conference call due to a region wide snow storm. We heard of the great work done at the initial meetings of the subcommittees on Property, Finance, Transportation held on January 12 at St. John’s. As well, a team gathered on January 22nd to plan for a Community Roundtable event which will invite individuals from different organizations and agencies to discuss the needs of the city especially in the area of children and youth. The Community Roundtable results will be used to focus the vision for the new congregation. Volunteers will be needed at this event which will be held on Thursday, March 28 from 9:30 am - noon at Transfiguration. Your help at this event is much appreciated! There is a joint calendar on the amalgamation website for you to explore: www.oneinchristhamilton.weebly.com
The Amalgamation Working Committee met on Monday, January 7, 2019, and, on the advice of the TUCC consultants, have changed their name to the Hamilton Lutheran Steering and Implementation Team. This new name not only reflects the second phase of amalgamation talks between the four congregations, but the specific work that they will be engaged in to put the final vision proposal together. Much work was done at the January 7th meeting and plans are well underway. Congregational delegates to the Finance, Property and Transportation subcommittees met for orientation on January 12th at St. John’s. As well, women from all four congregations gathered on January 12th for discussion and planning.
The Steering and Implementation Team and sub-committees will be guided by the following principles and encourage all congregational members to affirm that: - We will get to know each other better through working, worshiping, praying, and playing together. - We will work toward our shared vision-focused plan for ministry (the Amalgamation Vision Proposal) - We will recognize and honour each congregation’s traditions and be open to new things. - We embrace this time - from January through to June 2019 - as an opportunity to extend generous hospitality to each other: person to person, working group to working group, committee to committee; council to council. - We will use this opportunity to try out each other’s ways and habits of doing things. Please continue to keep our work toward amalgamation in your daily devotional prayers and corporately at worship. We have thankful and joy filled hearts as we announce that all four congregations voted to proceed to the next phase of amalgamation. Here are the results:
Faith 87% Grace 78% St. John’s 97% Transfiguration 92% Thank you to all the Working Committee members for all their hard work this fall! Their work is truly appreciated. Now the challenging and satisfying work of hammering out the detailed plan begins and members from each congregation will be called on to be part of sub-committees to make this happen. As the councils/boards meet in December to discuss, they will be prayerfully considering all the tasks before us and calling upon many to bring their skills, knowledge and enthusiasm to further our goal of amalgamation. What will start immediately will be joint worship and other events. Watch out for news and dates! Task Force Meetings: Monday, January 7, at Grace; Monday, January, 28, at Faith; Tuesday, February 19 at St. John’s. All 4 congregations got quorum and all voted strongly to proceed.
Grace - 78% Faith - 87% Transfiguration- 92% St John - 97% Congratulations on all your hard work. Onward we go! |
Our JourneyHere you can find all the congregational communication update from the amalgamation working committee (previous task group). If you have any question or comment please use the contact form by clicking the "contact" tag on the top right of this page. Archives
June 2019
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