{"id":164,"date":"2007-06-18T12:36:02","date_gmt":"2007-06-18T17:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marktime.org\/?p=164"},"modified":"2009-01-27T13:47:33","modified_gmt":"2009-01-27T18:47:33","slug":"annual-congregational-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marktime.org\/?p=164","title":{"rendered":"Annual Congregational Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville<\/a> held the Annual Congregational Meeting yesterday.<\/p>\n

I won’t bother to comment on the many reports that were given.\u00a0 In general, the church is healthy.<\/p>\n

The only slight negative in any report was that the Stewardship Campaign for last year didn’t reach it’s goals.\u00a0 Those goals were tough – a 10% increase in pledges and a 10% increase in total pledge amount.\u00a0 The committee achieved a 5% increase in total pledge amount with a decrease in pledges.<\/p>\n

The Youth and Young Adult Ministry was by far the longest and most comprehensive report – covering 2.5 pages with 9 pt. type.\u00a0 I was mentioned as a youth leader several times – including being credited with being a “devoted” leader of the Jr. High group even though I attended only once.<\/p>\n

The “Green Team” wasn’t mentioned except in passing as the sponsor of one adult education event.<\/p>\n

The Stated Clerk’s Report rolled up the membership numbers for the year.\u00a0 We started the year with 867.\u00a0 There were 29 new members (13 by Profession\/Reaffirmation of Faith, 14 by letter of transfer, and 2 restored to the roll).\u00a0 We lost 65 members – 6 by Letter of Transfer, 11 by Death, and 48 by Session Removals (making them inactive).\u00a0 If you take out the Inactives, we had a net gain of 12.\u00a0 We ended the year with 831.\u00a0 There were also 10 infant baptisms and one adult baptism.<\/p>\n

The Sunday School and Youth programs total 256 youngsters.<\/p>\n

Aside from one remark made by the pastor regarding inactive members (and which I’ve contacted him about via e-mail) there was nothing to be concerned about.\u00a0 All seems to be well.<\/p>\n

But I’m concerned.<\/p>\n

I believe that I am guilty of the sin of envy.<\/p>\n

The Nominating Committee nominated 5 people to serve as elders, 8 people to serve as deacons, and one person to serve the remaining two years of a term as deacon.\u00a0 I was pleasantly surprised to see a youth nominated to fill that unexpired deacon term – Claire will do a great job and if I have her year in school correct she’ll be able to finish her term before going to college (which I unfortunately was unable to do so many years ago).<\/p>\n

Three of the officers were members of the same New Members class as me.\u00a0 I was very surprised to see them nominated – I figured that nobody that new would even be considered (indeed – one of the pastoral associates said something to that effect to me).\u00a0 The man nominated to be an elder is actually a returning member (he moved away and then back).\u00a0 All three of them are devoted members and completely appropriate for the office.
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\nBut a voice inside me asks “Why them and not me?\u00a0 Haven’t I worked hard enough?”<\/p>\n

Another voice answers “Why does it matter?\u00a0 What do you want from the church?”<\/p>\n

Yet another voice says “If you’re upset about this, you clearly aren’t worthy anyway.”<\/p>\n

I do make a solid contribution to the youth ministry and feel appreciated there.\u00a0 I know that I made a good contribution to the Green Team and I have felt appreciation from some about that.\u00a0 I try to pitch in wherever I can.<\/p>\n

I know that I make valued contributions at camp, and they are recognized.\u00a0 Camp feels like home – what I do there to help (while sometimes tiring) never feels like work.<\/p>\n

Clearly the pastor sees a future contribution from me – it shows in his choice to ask me to lead the new task force.\u00a0 This is partially offset by the fact that it’s been over 2 months since I talked to him about the task force and it still isn’t populated yet.\u00a0 When last we spoke we had three members (out of a target of 8) and we had named another 8 members to ask.\u00a0 Our plan for meeting before the summer went out the window – we’ll now be lucky if we can start our task in September.<\/p>\n

So what am I looking for anyway?<\/p>\n

Clearly, any consideration of the church as a future full-time vocation has to go on the back burner.<\/p>\n

I feel like I’m back at square one with my discernment process.\u00a0 Did I really join the church for the reasons that I thought I did?\u00a0 Am I being fed?<\/p>\n

As I said last week, there is turbulence.\u00a0 Now it’s revealed to be inside my head.<\/p>\n

In the mean time, I persevere.\u00a0 I’ll keep working on things as planned.\u00a0 I’ll still be at camp in about 2 weeks to help with check-in.\u00a0 I’ll still work on the task force when\/if it gets going.\u00a0 I’ll still be working with the youth.