Welcome to this week’s update from Village Green Community Church. This is a long update so please take time to make sure you are up to date with all that is happening.
Leadership Retreat
Many of you have been praying for the Retreat so we wanted to give you a summary of the discussion points and decisions made over the course of the latest meetings.
We adopted in early 2019 a Vision 2020 proposal which asked: What do we need to have in place or in process that will position Village Green for a fruitful decade of ministry?
At the time, none of us could have imagined how important this would become as our present situation is ample evidence. Further, Vision 2020, when first proposed allowed us to see the necessity of online streaming of services and adopting Microsoft Teams, to name just a couple. These in turn allowed us to adapt quickly when the lockdown happened. As a continuation of our commitment to Vision 2020, we adopted the following 4 pillars.
1. Adapt (early)
2. Communicate (often)
3. Connect (deeper)
4. Lead (missionally)
These, in turn, became the foundation for our talking points during the Retreat and the highlights are as follows:
- We see the present trend of streaming as part of the regular offering of the church, which is of no real surprise. What it does mean, though, is the creation of a ‘Media Room’ that would allow us to do our own video production and editing, podcasting, streaming of Life Groups and Bible studies, training videos, and a host of other services.
- Since LINC has made the decision not to return in September it has implications for our budget and financial projections going forward. The Finance Team is in the throes of preparing a budget for mid-to-late June that reflects our new reality.
- In terms of staffing, the biggest changes will be in the custodial staff. Due to LINC leaving the demands for custodial staff are dramatically decreased. Further, without clear projections for reopening of the building we are still in the process of determining what the actual needs will be when the time comes.
- With respect to reopening, we spent much time discussing the variables involved is such a decision. We, as a leadership, continue to monitor government and health officials recommendations in this matter. As this continues to evolve, the leadership will make decisions on reopening that we feel are in the best interest of our church and is in keeping with protecting and safeguarding the congregation. This will even include Life Groups, youth meetings, and other social events hosted by the church.
- Facility usage became another point of conversation. Our building will now be available during the day for the first time in 15 years since LINC is no longer here. This does open the possibility of abuse and wrongful expectations of the buildings availability. Therefore, the Board is developing a policy that expands on our present one to clarify and define appropriate usage of the building and the rental costs/expectations that will accompany the policy.
- We really have no idea what a post Covid-19 world will look like as it relates to our physical building and meetings. At the very least, it will likely mean a cleaning regimen before and after all meetings that adhere to strict protocols that the church is developing. This, in turn, will likely affect our ability to rent the building, due to stricter guidelines that will likely come from the government.
- One project that has been put on hold due to the pandemic was the installation of new doors at the rear of the auditorium. The present door system is awkward for those in walkers and wheelchairs as it impedes easy access to the building. The proposal was to install ‘patio-style’ doors to rectify the problem. We are awaiting the new budget proposal to determine whether this project is a go.
The majority of our Leadership Retreat is now complete, with one short meeting scheduled for May 27th, to finalize prospective names for the next round of nominations for the Board of Directors. Again, we thank you for your continued prayers.
Expanded Sunday Mornings!
Beginning this Sunday we are opening the online chat 15 minutes before the service and extending it 15 minutes after the service. You will still see the countdown begin 5 minutes to service start-up but now will be able to greet people sooner and say goodbye afterwards. We are also looking at streaming the sermon PowerPoints during the closing 15 minutes of the chat time, in case you weren’t able to get all the notes during the message.
Elders
The Elders continue to meet weekly (through Teams online). As part of our responsibilities we spend time in prayer weekly for you! Calls are also being made on a regular basis to connect with you, pray with you, and help in whatever way we can. We are in this together!
Kids Connection
Here also is this week’s link for the Kids Connection videos. Kids Connection videos.
Life Groups – Chat Etiquette Guidelines
Communicating on teams brings with it some unique challenges, here are some suggestions for how to use it:
- When you are doing something that creates a lot of noise (like eating something crunchy or rustling around), please mute your microphone. Also, turn off your television or background electronic noise, this will keep your mic active if not on mute.
What you may not realize is that background noise will activate your camera and if someone is speaking, they won’t easily be heard as your camera and background noise will drown them out.
- When you are talking to someone or doing something that is not directly related to the people in voice chat, please mute your mic. Children playing in the background can also activate your microphone.
- Be aware of your voice time and be considerate of the fact that many people wish to participate. Merely waiting for your chance to speak, as opposed to listening, creates a less-than-optimal environment. When two people try and speak at once it creates noise and feedback.
- Please try and frame yourself properly in the shot. There is nothing more frustrating than looking at a ceiling whilst someone is talking.
- Administrators and Leaders can both do a “Mute” where the member’s audio is cut from the voice chat. This power should be used VERY sparingly. With great power comes great responsibility.
- Also, be aware that you can individually mute anyone else (it will only apply to you, everyone else will still be able to hear them). But muting a member and forgetting about it creates a lot of cross-talk that is very difficult for others. So if you mute someone, make sure you UNMUTE them again.
It’s also a good idea to start a half hour earlier to assist members that are struggling. You can also call members on your phone and put it on speaker. This will allow non-technical members to participate.
Ways to Give
A reminder that you can now use envelopes@villagegreenchurch.com to make e-transfers to the church, as well as the PayPal portal on our website: villagegreenchurch.com. You can also drop off your offerings through the mail slot at the church. It is checked on a regular basis.
How to Study the Bible – Now into Week 7!
Join us every Monday evening at 8:00 pm, for a YouTube Live study on How to Study the Bible. To be part of the study you can search on YouTube for livestream/jonkorkidakis or find the links on facebook.com/jkorkidakis, or on my website at www.jkorkidakis.com
Stay strong, stay healthy.
May the Lord bless you and keep you,
And may the Lord make his face shine upon you!
Jon Korkidakis
0 Comments