Board of Elders (“BoE”) Meeting Minutes

        October 12, 2013

Present: Ming-Jer Tsai (Chair), Pastor Caleb Chang, Pastor King-Fai Choi, Liqin Chen, Ke-Chieh Chu, Terry Yang (Secretary), Loren Shih (Chair, Board of Deacons [“BoD”])

Absent: David Ho

Invited for Mission Committee review: Eric Chiu, Christopher Cheng

Invited for 151 Spring Street relocation update: Howard Chen

Invited for directory update: Ying Yuan Zhang

Elder Tsai opened with prayer at 9:05 am.

1. Brief Sharing

Elder K.C. shared prayer requests, Deacon Loren shared about his recent trip to Japan and other Elders shared their thanksgivings. BoE spent time in prayer.

2. Update on State of CBCGB

Pastor Caleb provided the following updates:

• Review of recent events, including MetroSouth gathering, English Ministry (“EM”) Conference, and Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International (“STEMI”) Boston gathering. Concluded that replacement of CBCGB’s twice-a-year CM evangelistic meetings with a STEMI-style rally does not provide enough return-on-investment to justify.
• Update on calling of Chinese Ministry (“CM”) pastor with initial focus on Fellowship Ministry.
• Upcoming church events, including today’s City Outreach Ministry Gospel Camp, CBCGB’s 44th Anniversary, and Missions/Social Concerns Conference.
• Update on conversion to natural gas heating for 151 Spring St. and Church Office buildings; to begin in Spring 2014. Pastor Caleb to assist Stewardship Committee with investigating alternative methods of heating the church office building in the short term.

3. BoD Update

Deacon Loren provided update on major BoD tasks (current and in planning), including security concerns and logistics regarding special speaker during this year’s combined Missions/Social Concerns Conference, logistics regarding room usage on Friday nights in light of upcoming 151 Spring Street construction, development of sign-off and approval process for church expenditures, and development of process for prioritization of expenditures in the General and Capital Funds.

4. Ministry Review: Mission Committee

Brother Eric presented brief overview on:

• Committee membership;
• Missionary updates;
• Efforts to expand adult short-term mission participation and short-term mission trip partnerships with CBCGB-supported full-time missionaries;
• Joint Mission/Social Concern conference planning;
• Spring 2013 CM special spiritual revival meeting with Rev. Cheng, where 45 members committed to missions with follow-up through a summer mission class and formation of mission fellowship/task force;
• Financial situation;
• Potential revision of Mission Policy in light of current situation;
• Communications with CBCGB-supported missionaries;
• BoE charges Missions Committee to develop process for review of annual budget in compliance with CBCGB Bylaws.
• Challenges:

• Improving adult participation in short-term missions;
• Mission education;
• Identification of and preparation for future full-time missionaries;
• Focus areas outside of our current emphasis on missions fields tied to Chinese heritage;
• “Picking up the torch” from CBCGB-supported missionaries at retirement age;
• Lack of dedicated/“on-demand” resources for achieving Mission Committee goals;
• Missionary-care, including visits from CBCGB members while missionaries are in the field, care packages and fund-raising support.

5. Annual Meeting

Elder Ming provided update and solicited feedback on logistics, agenda and slide deck for the upcoming Annual Meeting on October 20, 2013 with inclusion of new segment requesting suggestions from the congregation.

6. 151 Spring Street Renovation

Elder Ming requested focal point for logistics of church operations during displacements caused by the upcoming 151 Spring Street renovations; BoE charges Stewardship Committee to be focal point in coordination with the BoD. Elder K.C. provided status update on CM adult Sunday School classroom arrangements to accommodate the relocation from 151 Spring Street of the Children Ministry’s Philly program on Sunday Morning. Deacon Howard provided update on plans for adding fire escape to Carriage House to accommodate relocated fellowships.

7. CBE

Elder K.C. provided update regarding drafting of potential alternative Phase II design.

8. Directory

Brother Ying-Yuan Zhang provided update on directory project. Team of seven assembled to design, distribute and collect questionnaire for populating directory database from scratch. Directory sorts to include individual names, family unit and town of residence.

BoE reiterates that only those who opt-in will receive a copy of/access to the directory and suggests that the questionnaire be distributed with the voting ballots at the Annual Meeting on October 20, 2013; Brother Ying-Yuan to coordinate with Church Secretary.

9. Bylaws Revision

BoE reviewed inputs from Church Council regarding how to proceed with the Bylaw revision, both next steps and timing. BoE decided to proceed with the congregational vote at a special membership meeting between the CM and EM worship services on December 15, 2013; final version to be distributed prior to the special membership meetings per current Bylaws.

Pastor Caleb closed with prayer at 12:30 pm.

長老團會議記錄

2013年10月12日

出席：蔡明哲（主席），章開第牧師，蔡景輝牧師，陳利欽，朱克潔，楊德禮（秘書），施志寧 (執事會主席)

缺席：何明治

邀請宣教委員會作檢討報告：趙宏鈞, 鄭嘉文

邀請報告151 Spring Street 搬遷事宜近況：陳國榮

邀請報告通訊錄更新：張應元

蔡長老於上午9點5分作會前禱告。

1. 簡要分享

克潔長老分享代禱事項，施志寧執事分享他最近去日本的旅行，以及其他長老分享他們的感恩。長老團有一些禱告。

2. 關於CBCGB的近況報告

開第牧師提供以下近況：

• 概述最近的事情，包括南區聚會，英文部事工（EM）會議，唐崇榮國際佈道團(STEMI)在波士頓的佈道會。結論是STEMI方式的佈道會，其投資報酬率，不足以取代本教會中文部事工一年兩次佈道會的果效。
• 關於徵召一位專門負責中文部，以團契事工為初始的牧師。
• 即將到來的教會活動，包括今天的城區事工福音營，本教會44週年慶，宣教/社會關懷年會。
• 有關151 Spring St.和教會辦公室轉換為天然氣暖氣的近況，將在2014年春季開始換裝。開第牧師協助產物管理委員會，為教會辦公室暖氣系統研究短期過冬的補救方案。

3. 執事會報告

施 志寧執事報告了執事會的主要事項（現在的和規劃中的），包括今年聯合宣教/社會關懷年會特殊講員安全考慮和流程安排，即將到來的151 Spring Street開工後，週五晚的房間安排，編製有關教會支出的簽署和核准的程序，編製經常費及資本基金中，評定先後次序的程序。

4. 宣教回顧：宣教委員會

趙宏鈞弟兄提供了簡短概況:

• 委員會會員
• 宣教士近況
• 努力擴大成人短宣的參與，以及與本教會所支持的全職宣教士合作;
• 宣教/社會關懷聯合年會的計劃
• 2013年春季中文部事工邀請鄭牧師的特別培靈會，其中45個成員承諾去宣教，並在夏季開設宣教課程來跟進，組成宣教團契/任務組隊;
• 財務狀況
• 鑑於當前形勢，修訂宣教政策的可能性;
• 與本教會所支持的宣教士的溝通
• 長老團促請宣教委員會制定與本教會的憲章符合的有關年度預算的評估程序.
• 挑戰

• 提高成人短期宣教的參與
• 宣教教育
• 未來全職宣教士的兴起和装备
• 在目前以華人民族為主的的地區之外尋找重點宣教工場
• 從本教會所支持將屆退休年齡的宣教士手中“接棒”。
• 缺乏專用的/必備的資源，以實現宣教委員會所立的目標
• 宣教士關懷，包括本教會會員到宣教士的工場探訪，關懷包裹以及奉獻支持。

5. 年會

蔡長老報告2013年10月20日即將舉行的年會，有關流程，提案和幻燈片等近況和回應的徵集，其中包括增加會眾提供建議的新項目。

6. 151 Spring Street 裝修

為 即將到來的151號修建所引起的變動，蔡長老請求以教會運作正常為要務; 長老團促請產務管理委員會著重與執事會的協調。朱長老報告為安排兒童事工Philly班從151號遷出，有關星期天早上中文部成人主日學教室的調整。執事 Howard報告有關計畫加添馬房的防火出口，以配合搬移過來的團契。

7. 擴堂委員會

朱長老報告擴建第二期工程，可能的替代設計草案。

8. 通訊錄

張應元弟兄報告通訊錄的進展。七人小組負責為將來錄入通訊錄數據庫而設計，分發和收集的調查問卷。通訊錄將包括個人姓名，家庭單位和居住市鎮。

長老團重申，只有選填的人，才能收到通訊錄／進入通訊系統，並建議調查問卷在2013年10月20日的年會上和投票選票同時派發; 應元弟兄與教會秘書配合。

9. 憲章修訂

長老團綜合了教會聯會在如何進行憲章修訂，包括下一步驟和時間安排，所提出的建議。長老團決定在2013年12月15日中文部和英文部主日崇拜之間的空檔，進行一個特別會友大會，來進行會友投票；根據現行憲章，最後版本會在特別會友大會之前發布下來。

開第牧師於12:30 pm作會議結束禱告。