CBCGB Church Council Minutes, Q3 of 2016

September 17, 2016

1. In Attendance:

1. Board of Elders (“BoE”): Bryan Che, Ke-chieh Chu, Yuguang He, David Ho, Terry Yang
2. Board of Deacons (“BoD”): Joshua Chang, Christopher Cheng (Secretary), Chun-Yi Hu, Lance Pan (Treasurer), Phil Sailer, Beata Shih, Xin-Wen Wang, Haiguo Wu (Head Deacon), Jimin Xiong, Jian Zhang, Shanchuan Zhao
3. Pastoral Staff: Pastor Steven Bowman, Senior Pastor Caleb Chang, Pastor David Eng, Pastor Jennifer Lin, Pastor Ju-Ta Pan, Minister Yuegang Zhang
4. Absent:

1. Elders: Timothy Lu
2. Deacons: Tuanfeng Zhang
3. Pastors: Pastor Steve Chang, Pastor Jiang Wei

2. Location: 151 building main meeting room

3. Meeting Agenda & Minutes

1. Meeting started at 9:06 am.  Pastor Caleb opened in prayer.
2. Reports from the pastoral staff

1. Church-wide activities highlights

1. Fire drill and 131st Baptism were held on August 28.
2. Fall Mandarin Gospel Meeting with speaker Dr. William Ho will occur on September 23-25.
3. 47th anniversary to be held on October 16.
4. Missions and social concerns conference with speaker Todd Engelson from Peer Servants will be on November 11-13.
5. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve fall on Saturday this year with potential for evening services.

2. Senior pastor report

1. Year-end missions-related events:

1. Chinese Missions Conference in Baltimore
2. Short-term trip to Chinese Overseas Christian Mission in London
3. NEWS camp in western Massachusetts

2. Pastor Chuck and Pastor Sandy have recently retired, but praise God that Minister Stanley Chang will start as youth pastor in mid-October.

3. Lexington Chinese fellowship ministry

1. Fellowships and small groups keep growing.
2. Inductive Bible study training was completed for twelve trainees.
3. Started two new small groups (for an overall total of 10 small groups)

1. ‘Joyful Home’ group in Lexington
2. ‘Route 9’ group in Needham and Newton

4. Co-workers are ready for the Fall Mandarin Gospel Meeting.

4. Lexington Chinese caring ministry

1. Stephen Ministries

1. 2016-2017 ministry team consists of 34 active members including 8 brothers.  
2. Six new stephen ministers have joined the team this year.

2. Working Place Ministries (WPM)

1. Special workshop with speaker Mrs. Lily Gao Yang to be held on October 23.

3. Funeral ministry

1. A memorial service was held for our missionary, Rev. Eric Yang, on August 20.
2. The annual memorial service at Puritan Memorial Park, Peabody will be on September 25.

4. Marriage Enrichment Retreat (MER)

1. There will be no MER until March 2017.  Follow-up of 2016 MER attendees continues.

5. Lexington Children’s ministry

1. Praise God for new AWANA core leaders.
2. Awana Kick Off on September 9 went smoothly.
3. Core leaders’ meeting was held on September 11.
4. Children’s ministry teacher training to be held on October 16.
5. Pastor Bowman to preach and teach on September 23, 24, and 25.
6. Bible quizzing has experienced tremendous growth, challenging many adults to also start memorizing God’s word.
7. Core leaders are needed for Sunday School, Friday nursery, and summer/special programs.

6. Lexington Youth Ministry

1. Lynn, NYC, and Hopi teams had great short-term missions experiences.
2. Pastor Sandy has retired.  Minister Stanley Chang will start in mid-October.
3. Upcoming quarter transitions:

1. New Senior High Youth Minister - Stanley Chang
2. New counselors - Max Ke, Shana Wang, Natalie Chong
3. New Student Leadership team - in selection
4. New focus on families and church - the youth will more often be joining English Ministry and combining senior high/junior high together for worship.

4. Kickoff was on September 16, which was delayed one week to allow for more time for transition and counselor recruitment.
5. The ministry is still in need of more counselors (specifically women for Senior High and men for Junior High)
6. Counselors will undergo training at LEAD Youth Conference in October.
7. Fall parent meetings to be held on September 25, October 30, and December 4.

7. Lexington English ministry

1. English ministry identity: the branding, naming, and website projects are near the end.
2. English Ministry is preaching through Philippians in the fall, with Dr. Jeffrey Arthurs from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary assisting in preaching duties with Pastor David.
3. Petek returned from the missions field and has started studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.  Chris Cheng has also begun full-time studies there.
4. English Ministry retreat with speaker Dr. Karen Mason will be held on September 30 - October 2.  The theme is “How to stay mentally healthy according to the Bible.”
5. Inter-collegiate fellowship had their kickoff on September 2 with over 40 in attendance.  The foci for the year are: 1) Having a “Joyful Union in Christ” and 2) “Living Sacrificially”    
6. Charis kicked off on September 9.  This year’s focus is “Finding our joy and purpose in Christ”.  Several new graduates and those moving to the area have recently joined.

8. City outreach ministry (COM)

1. First COM short-term missions trip was sent to Maine this summer on July 15-20 with 24 adults and 4 children serving refugees from Somalia.
2. A series of programs to welcome newcomers were scheduled to start the new school year:

1. Newcomers’ service on September 11
2. COMBand Concert, Food Festival, and Market Day on September 17
3. Fall Mandarin Gospel Meeting on September 23-25
4. Fellowship welcoming activities

3. Fall Gospel Retreat, to be held on October 21-23, has begun the registration process.

9. Metro-south (MS)

1. The personal loans from MS families for purchasing 383 Old Post Rd. have been completely paid off a year ahead of schedule.
2. On request of the Board of Elders, the MS executive council has discussed and proposed that MS become independent on January 1, 2017. However, formal celebration will be held on the anniversary of Metro-south which is the first Sunday of March.
3. Metro-south is having an evangelical meeting this weekend with former CBCGB senior pastor, Rev. Tsu-Kung Chuang as the main speaker.

10. Pastoral Off-Campus Service

1. Pastor Steven and Pastor Jen will be at Chinese Missions Conference in Baltimore from December 27-31.

3. English and youth pastor search update (Elder Terry and Elder Bryan)

1. As already mentioned, the youth pastor search committee process has completed.  Minister Stanley Chang will start on Wednesday, October 12.
2. There have been some promising candidates in the English pastor search, but the search and interview process continues.

4. Report from the Board of Deacons (Deacon Haiguo)

1. Stewardship Update

1. Property projects

1. The middle stone stairway between the carriage house parking lot and the church office building has been closed and made inaccessible because of the carriage house parking lot expansion.  It was suggested to plant some grass in its place.
2. A flower bed dripping system was installed at the entrance of the church as part of an eagle scout project.
3. A new children’s playground has been installed, which had frequent use over the summer.
4. The upper level parking light project was delayed while the circular driveway plan was being finalized.
5. The circular driveway design is complete. It will be a one-way driveway from the upper level parking lot and come down between the church office and 151.
6. Our long-term parking contract with Boston Properties expired in June and is on a month-to-month basis.  Contingency plans are being investigated.  A new parking lot between the church office and the 151 building is being explored which would support 20-25 cars.
7. A new HVAC system is being installed in the main building for the chapel, hallway, and first floor rooms.  Replacing the HVAC for the third floor classrooms has being postponed.  The project will start in late September and should be complete around early November.

2. Property maintenance

1. Church bathroom faucets have been replaced.
2. The church office front steps have been fixed.

3. Property management

1. A Google spreadsheet has been created to facilitate room reservation management.
2. A new air conditioner has been installed in the church office.
3. The church office has a new refrigerator.

2. Technology Update

1. The church telephone system has been replaced; training is ongoing.
2. The sanctuary audio mixer stopped working last month; a newly purchased digital mixer has arrived and will hopefully be installed by tomorrow.

3. TowerNorth, LLC is interested in developing a wireless communications facility on our church property for Verizon.  The church council discussed and is not interested in proceeding for many reasons, among which are the size of property requested and the long-term nature of the facility.

5. Report from the Board of Elders (Elder Ke-chieh)

1. The elder nomination process is complete with nominees:

1. Yuguang He (second term)
2. Timothy Lu (second term)
3. Loren Shih (first term)

2. The deacon nomination process is also complete with nominees:

1. Paul Huang (first term)
2. Zhong-Kui Ma (first term)
3. Ji-Yong Wang (first term)
4. Jian Zhang (second term)
5. Jessica Chang (first term)
6. Bow-Nan Cheng (first term)
7. Jason Lee (first term)

3. Pastor Chuck Lowe retired at the end of June 2016.  Pastor Sandy Liu retired in September 2016.  Minister Stanley Chang will start in October 2016.
4. Two new policies/guidelines were approved during the August 2016 Board of Elders meeting.

1. Elders and Deacons Participation Policy
2. Church Position on Transgender Bathroom Laws and Petition Signing (guideline)

5. A new part-time English administrative assistant staff position (30 hours/week) was created to support English Ministry, Youth Ministry, and Children’s Ministry.
6. For more information, please refer to the September 2016 Board of Elders meeting minutes.

6. Quarterly Financial Report (Deacon Lance)

1. FY2016 final budget report

2. July final financials:

3. August financials:

4. Up to September 30, our total expense is at 10.8%, and our total offering is at 14.9% of the total annual budget (fiscal year ending June 30).  The target percentage is 16.7% (2 months of a year).
5. Metro South building member loan update: $26,917.11 (50% General Fund surpluses attributed to Metro South in fiscal year 2016) was transferred to the Metro South Building Fund (MSBF). Two payments totaling $126,429.44 were made from the MSBF to “383 Old Post Road Trust” to pay off the member loans related to the purchase of the property. The remaining MSBF balance will be applied towards the construction of a new church building.
6. Out of the capital budget, only a little over $100,000 remains if removing money allocated for the HVAC project, sanctuary audio mixer, and amounts owed for repaving.

7. Deacon Nomination Updates (Elder David)

1. Elder David and Deacon Phil submitted the list of deacon nominees to the church council for the new term beginning 2017 (as required by the bylaws).  The nominees are:

1. Jessica Chang (first term)
2. Bow-Nan Cheng (first term)
3. Paul Huang (first term)
4. Jason Lee (first term)
5. Zhong-Kui Ma (first term)
6. Ji-Yong Wang (first term)
7. Jian Zhang (second term)

8. CBCGB mission statement development process (Elder Bryan)

1. The goal of the mission statement is to answer the question of how we will accomplish the high level goal outlined in the vision statement.  Elder Bryan outlined key components of a mission statement and the process by which the church will create it.  The first step is for the Board of Elders to charter a mission statement committee comprised of church council members to draft an initial statement.  Elder Bryan requested church council members to consider joining the committee.

9. Metro-south independence and financial support package (Deacon Haiguo)

1. During past Board of Deacon meetings, deacons concluded that it is important for the church to make sure the church planting process in Metro-south finishes well.  Praise God that the independence process has been smooth and is ahead of schedule.  While the property has been purchased and is paid off, they are still in process of raising funds for a new church building.
2. The Metro-south building project support package proposal is:

1. Allocate 50% of the Metro-south surplus (Metro-south general offering minus Metro-south general expenses) to the Metro-south building fund between July 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016 to be disbursed after the end of FY17 from the general fund surplus.
2. Provide $150,000 towards the building project of Chinese Church of Boston Metro South (CCBMS) in 3 fiscal years (FY17, FY18, FY19) as follows:

1. At the end of FY17, FY18, FY19, allocate $50,000 from the general fund surplus to CCBMS, provided that the surplus is over $50,000.  CBCGB will be flexible to meet payment deadlines if the building project progresses faster than expected.

3. Deacon Chris motioned to approve the Metro-south building project support package as outlined above.  Deacon Xinwen seconded.  The motioned passed unanimously.

10. Church Building Expansion document review (Deacon Phil)

1. Deacon Phil presented a summary of requirements for worship capacity gathered from the brainstorming session held at the last church council meeting.  Based on the brainstorm session, six options were discussed:

1. One large Chinese ministry worship service
2. Multiple worship services
3. Live-stream to on-campus overflow locations
4. Live-stream to satellite campuses
5. Do something else
6. Do nothing

2. The church council discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each solution and unofficially ranked the feasibility/desirability of the possibilities in order of most feasible to least feasible as follows:

1. Multiple worship services
2. Live-stream to satellite campuses
3. Live-stream to on-campus overflow locations
4. One large Chinese ministry worship service
5. Do something else
6. Do nothing

3. If the top two feasible solutions were implemented, this would remove worship capacity as a focus for the CBE team, so church building expansion could focus instead on other requirements (for fellowship and education).
4. It was proposed that a committee be created for assessing the feasibility of implementing the top two possibilities to enable a formal vote on the final direction at the next church council meeting.  The Board of Elders will decide how to form this committee and its charter.

11. Pastor David closed in prayer and Elder Ke-chieh adjourned the meeting at 12:46 pm.