MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION TO DISCUSS FUTURE PLANS FOR OUR MINISTER’S HOUSING
FEBRUARY 2, 2016
7 PM
FELLOWSHIP HALL
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
–Mark 12:29-31
The parsonage is in need of substantial work – the most visibly obvious is the need for a new roof. The needs will involve substantial investment, and before we make those investments, we want to know the consensus of the congregation regarding the housing that we provide for our minister.
The options:
- Keep the existing parsonage as the minister’s home and make substantial renovations
- Pay our minister a housing allowance, the minimum for which the Conference presently dictates shall be $1,655.50 per month
- Build a new home to serve as the parsonage on the southern-most land of the Church, generally to the right of the existing parsonage and not “in” the graveyard
- Buy a newer home (without lead paint or asbestos issues and with appropriate design) somewhere else in the community to serve as the minister’s home
The purpose of the meeting is to decide on one of the above four choices as our plan.
The meeting is NOT about deciding what we do with the existing parsonage if we do not select the first option. What we do with the parsonage IF we, as a congregation, do NOT choose Option 1, will be the result of further discussion/meeting. The structure could be minimally rehabilitated and used for other purposes, if we so choose. The meeting is also not about firm costs and financing of those costs – that will be developed by the Trustees and the Finance Committee once we have a defined “goal”.
The Trustees have made an inventory of conditions in the existing parsonage and approximated costs of the urgent needs – these will be shared at the meeting.
If you cannot attend the meeting and want to share your thoughts with our current Trustees, they are:
- Julia Reinhart
- JoAnne Laboissonniere
- John Litynski
- Jack Brong
- Margaret Sommerman
- Leigh Grube
- Bert Hewitt
- Ken Funk
Our email is trustees@baldwinmemorial.org