At their meeting in May, the consistory acted on the following issues that came before them:

  • The consistory accepted the resignations of Laurie Beyer Braaksma from her position as Church Administrator and Anne Duinkerken from her position as Youth Ministry Director. The consistory expressed their deep gratitude for both Laurie and Anne for their years of faithful service. Laurie concluded her position on May 15th. Anne will continue to serve until August 9th.
  • The consistory approved the proposed job description for the Church Administrator position and authorized the Personnel committee to conduct a job search and hire someone for the position with a goal of having someone in place by June 16th if at all possible.
  • They authorized the Personnel committee to appoint a search committee for the Youth Ministry Director position keeping in mind the following categories when forming that committee: a consistory member, a Personnel committee member, a Fish Club parent, a High Hopes parent, an 8th grade student, a 12th grade student, and both pastors. Their first task will be to update the job description and bring that back to consistory for approval.
  • Consistory also approved the job description for the 10 hour a week summer internship for Julia Brown, one of our seminary students.
  • After reviewing feedback about ministry meeting frequency, the consistory set aside the months of March, July, and December as sabbatical months in which ministries would not meet unless there is a need determined by the ministry that requires their attention. Additional values were affirmed regarding ministry meetings such as the freedom to meet only when necessary rather than assuming a monthly meeting schedule, the importance of pastors as resources to ministries but allowing for pastors to confer with chairs when they are unable to attend, as well as affirming the small group connections that happen among ministry members and the commitment to nurture those relationships.