Meeting Minutes

CBCGB Board of Elders (“BoE”)

November 12, 2016

Present: Ke-Chieh Chu (Chair), Yuguang He, David Ho, Chun-Yi Hu (Chinese Ministry [“CM”] Spiritual Formation Representative), Paul Huang (CM Spiritual Formation Representative), Timothy Lu, Haiguo Wu (Head Deacon), Terry Yang (Acting Secretary)

Absent: Pastor Caleb Chang, Bryan Che (Secretary)

Elder K.C. opened meeting with prayer at 9:06 am.

1. Brief Sharing

Elder Yuguang shared about a recent family health crisis. Elder Timothy shared about his current job situation.

2. Update on State of CBCGB

Elder K.C. provided quick update on:

• Upcoming church-wide events such as the ongoing Missions and Social Concern Conference, Advent and CM Choir Cantata
• Draft church-wide calendar for calendar year 2017 under review by Church Council (“CC”), to be approved in December CC meeting; goal to better coordinate ministry events through the church-wide calendar
• Change in date for fall 2017’s Mandarin Gospel Meeting
• New Mandarin-speaking campus fellowship ministry that began at Gordon College on Friday, November 4
• Revival of Evangelism Explosion (“EE”) program that began three weeks ago at CBCGB with six students, after three members of CBCGB recently attended EE training in Atlanta, GA
• Exploration of potential church plant in Andover underway in a joint venture with Chinese Bible Church of Greater Lowell
• Prayer in the wake of the U.S. Presidential election

3. Board of Deacon (“BoD”) Update

Deacon Haiguo provided quick update on:

• Two different Sanctuary digital mixers under evaluation by Audiovisual Team representatives from both Cross Bridge and CM; final choice to be made after trial periods using the two mixers completed
• Cross Bridge website (https://www.crossbridge.life), now live
• Church-wide digital telephone system update; outgoing message corrected and revised to include new Minister Stanley Chang
• Capital budget approval for entrance parking project to create additional potential 28 parking spaces between “151” and Church Office buildings
• Delay of Chapel/Sanctuary lobby Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (“HVAC”) replacement project due to BoD investigation of possible savings through the Mass Save program in tandem by replacing all lights with Light Emitting Diodes (”LEDs”); investigation nearly complete and HVAC replacement project due to start soon
• Switch of staff health care provider from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to Neighborhood Health Plan for the next yearly cycle

4. CM Spiritual Formation Ministry Review

Deacons Chun-Yi Hu and Paul Huang provided overview, status, challenges and goals for the CM Spiritual Formation Ministry.

Overview:

• CM Spiritual Formation Ministry composed of Bookstore, Library, Adult Sunday School and CM/Kids Ministry Summer Retreat
• Adult Sunday School

• 240-330 attendance in Sunday School each week, with approximately 60 co-workers
• Core courses for new members; five courses for new believers (fifth class, Spiritual Gifts suspended this year due to lack of students)
• Regular theological workshops two times a year
• Spike in Sunday School attendance in 2014, when Cell Group leader training course was offered with participation of three Elders and two pastors; observation that participation of pastors, Elders or experts in the course material encourages Sunday School attendance

Adult Sunday School Challenges:

• Lack of directional guidance
• Implemented improvement requests from church-wide informational meetings do not result in observable attendance gains
• Not attractive to new church members
• Established church members feel they have “nothing left to learn”
• Co-workers give 120%, but effort results in no observable response, leading to disappointment and questions of “What did we do wrong?”
• Increasing number of other ministries requesting use of Sunday School time and facilities, especially during summer
• No current co-worker training programs
• How to measure success:

• Attendance in Sunday School, prayer meetings and other special meetings?
• Offering?
• Willingness to participate in short-term missions?

Short-Term Goals:

• Recalibrate direction based on guidance from pastoral staff, specifically surrounding:

• Need more courses
• Understanding of meaning of true spirituality

• Respond to church vision, emphasizing discipleship and mentorship, even for teachers
• Individual member growth
• Support of and partnership with other ministries

Long-Term Goals:

• Mentorship program, starting top-down

• Purpose: from seeker to disciple to teacher
• Leader-preacher with servant

• Support church planting

Ministry Leader Observations:

• CM very influenced by “known” speakers, but question remains regarding how to follow-up those events (e.g., should follow-up follow the discipleship/mentorship model?)
• Summer Adult Sunday School provides a unique opportunity to try new things, e.g., course in social concerns also offered opportunities to practice what students learned
• Segmentation of pastoral staff with low involvement cross-responsible ministries

Recommendations from Elders:

• Emphasize hunger/appetite for spirituality, starting from pulpit (as spiritual formation is extension of pulpit ministry)
• Offer courses to train “old Christians” to be teachers/preachers/ministry leaders
• Charge to Ministry Leaders:

• Determine what a formal mentorship/discipleship program would look like:

• Accountability class?

• Learning goals
• Student transformation goals

• One-on-one discipleship?
• Small group discipleship?
• Pastors/Elders led?

• Determine how to develop formal mentorship/discipleship program:

• Organic, rather than programmatic?

• CBCGB support mechanism

• Invite dedicated missionaries retired from missions field to give workshops/miniretreat for co-workers (e.g., missionary that traded job at height of career for missions in Africa) as kick-off formal discipleship program?

5. Cross Bridge Lead Pastor Search Update

Elder Terry provided update on status of search, with Dr. Jeffrey Arthurs continuing to provide supplemental preaching, if necessary, through April 2017.

6. December Church Council Meeting Agenda

Elder K.C. outlined agenda for both Thursday (December 8) sharing session and Saturday (December 10) formal meeting:

• Deacon Haiguo to identify two Council members to lead sharing session as well as organize snacks for sharing session and lunch on Saturday.
• Finalized agenda for formal meeting, with extended period set aside for Church Building Expansion (“CBE”) project next steps.

7. Senior Pastor Search Committee

Appointed Elder Yuguang to Chair Senior Pastor Search Committee; charged Elder Yuguang to identify desired members of Search Committee for approval at December BoE meeting. Approved position posting to specify that expected start date will be January 2019.

Charged Elder K.C. to discuss contract extension details with Pastor Caleb.

8. CBE Phase I Part II Update

Elder K.C. provided quick update;

• Final upper parking lot egress road design completed:

• Revised to move handicapped parking location to avoid necessity of building retaining wall and reduce costs by approximately 50%
• Contractor search underway

• Upper parking lot lighting and stairway from upper parking lot projects underway in design phase

9. Minister Membership

Decided to clarify ambiguity in Bylaws by revising the CBCGB Benefit and Personnel Policies for Pastoral and Administrative Staff to automatically confer membership to all ministerial and pastoral staff. Elder K.C. charges HR Committee to revise Policies as appropriate.

Elder Terry closed in prayer at 12:04 pm.