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Women of the ELCA

Financial Report 2016

Balance Forward $3,363.95

Income

W/ELCA Meetings 209.00

Coins for Hunger 50.05

Rummage/Bake Sale 3,411.38

Lasagna Supper 1,427.50

Funerals 1,345.00

Quilt Raffle 406.00

Check Refund 30.00

Thankoffering 70.50

Cookbooks 80.00

World Day of Prayer 206.00

Kitchen Shower 50.00

Total 7,285.43 7,285.43

$10,649.38

Total Income $10,649.38

Total Disbursements 7,151.29

Ending Total $ 3,498.09

Report submitted by,

Verena Schwartz, Treasurer

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Outreach activities for 2016:

Easter meals for 3 southern Price County families. (1 adult and 2 children and 1 adult and 1 teenage boy.)

(Both through Social Services.) A large extended family in Ogema.

College boxes to students and military in May (+20) and (12)

Thanksgiving dinners to 3 families in southern Price County. (Dad and 4 boys; 2 adults, 3 teenage boys and 3 younger children; 4 adults and 3 children.)

Sponsored a family at Christmas (Dad and 4 boys.)

Thanks to the Ogema Pantry and Elk River Outfitters for their generous donations.

Fair Trade coffee and chocolate are available in the Fellowship Hall.

If anyone knows of an outreach project or need, please contact: Virginia Nelson, Alce Johnson or Pat Schnepf.

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Election of Officers 2017:

Church Council

Members of the Council who served three years and are retiring. Thank you for your faithful Service.

Al Schnepf, Leroy Steffen, Peter Jacobson & Jeff Hallstrand.

Members with one year left to serve.

McKenzie Hallstrand, Dave Henthorn, Alyce Johnson & Dawn Carlson

Members with two years left to serve.

Ed Johnson , Joey Nelson, Scott Raab & Daniel Schwartz

Proposed nominees for (4) - 3 year terms:

Jeff Hallstrand__________________ ______________________

____________________________ ______________________

____________________________

Audit Committee

Member who served 3 years and is now retiring. Thank you for your faithful service

Dolores Olson

Member with 1 year left to serve

Jeff Hallstrand (?)

Member with 2 years left to serve

Wally Villarreal

Proposed nominee(1) - 3 year term to Audit Committee:

________________________ __________________________

Delegates:

Conference Assembly Synod Assembly

(1 male & 1 female) (1 male & 1 female)

March 18, 2017 at Walking Together April 29, 2017 in Eau Claire at

UW - Eau Claire Trinity Lutheran Church

______________________________ __________________________

______________________________ __________________________

Election of Treasurer—Tracy Raab

Election of Financial Secretary—Irene Villarreal

If Cooperative Ministry Agreement passes, Parish Council members (2) (only one can be a member of the

Ogema Council.)

_________________________________ _______________________________

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Volume , Issue

8

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The Four Congregation Shared Ministry Agreement

Why to Pass it Now

1. The Committee that put the Shared Ministry Agreement together was made up of members from all four congregations chosen by their respective congregation councils. The Committee worked together with Pastor Rick, Pastor Bob, and Pastor Linda for 15 months to put together the Agreement in its present form, giving the congregation councils multiple opportunities to review the document and offer suggestions for changes. These suggestions were taken into consideration in producing the final doc-ument.

2. After multiple meetings, all four congregation councils voted unanimously to pass the Shared Ministry Agreement as it now stands to their congregations for a vote.

3. The Shared Ministry Agreement is intended to be a work in progress. Provisions are provided in the doc-ument itself for annual review and revision, and each congregation has the opportunity to offer sugges-tions and/or decide to end the Agreement each year. There is no need to wait until the document is “perfect,” which is an impossibility anyway.

4. The timing for implementation works out well if the Agreement is passed now. This gives the new parish council the opportunity to work with each other, the congregation councils, and the pastors to put all the actual details of how the parish will function—division of duties, etc.—into place by July 1, which means the Parish could be functioning by the beginning of the 2017-18 school year.

Why Delaying Passage is a Bad Idea

1. As stated in #4 above, there will never be a “perfect” Agreement. Trying to produce one when the ability for revision is built right into the Agreement is a waste of time.

2. As it stands, if all four congregations pass the Agreement at their Annual Meetings, we will know the Parish will be happening when we interview candidates for internship for the 2017-18 year and can tell them so. If not, the future of our congregations will be “up in the air” from the perspective of those potentially interested in being interns, which is likely to discourage those who might otherwise be interested, while knowing there will be a four congregation Parish with multiple staff as guides will prob-ably increase interest.

3. The current staffing arrangement for First Ogema and Westboro—only a half-time pastor—is only intended to be temporary and is not sustainable for an extended period of time. It was agreed upon with the assumption that by fall of 2017 we would either have a full-time intern and/or the four congregation Parish would be a reality with a full-time pastor and a part-time pastor (and potentially a full-time intern) serving all four congregations. It requires Pastor Bob to not have the three uninterrupted months off in the summer that was originally agreed upon in the Internship plan, which he is willing to do only for one year.

4. If we do not enter into the Shared Ministry Agreement, and there is no four congregation Parish formed, that would leave First Ogema and Westboro with a potential financial crisis. While entering into the Agreement will realize a significant financial savings for each congregation (as outlined in other doc-uments previously distributed), not entering into the Agreement will mean First Ogema and Westboro must come up with the entire amount budgeted with no savings. In addition, with no Parish, the two congregations will not have the possibility of paying the Intern and (minimal hours) part-time Pastor out of the amount currently budgeted for pastoral staff, because the part-time Pastor will have to be at least half-time. This would mean an additional annual $20,000-$30,000 in staff salaries borne by First Ogema and Westboro.

5. If we do not enter into the Shared Ministry Agreement, and there is a three congregation Parish formed among the other three congregations, that would leave First Ogema on its own footing the entire bill for all ministry. It would also mean either trying to call a pastor to a one-congregation part-time ministry or trying alone to pay for a full-time pastor.