Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of St. Ursula's Church, Berne

held in the Church on Sunday 18 March 2018 at 12:00

  1. Welcome and Apologies for Absence
    Chaplain Stephen Stuckes welcomed all present and led us in prayer.

    The meeting was attended by:
    Walter Bisig, Angus Carrick, Jonathan Carrick, Patricia Carrick, Hector Davie, Ruth Freiburghaus, Art Funkhouser, Esther Hutchison Funkhouser, Donna Goepfert, Hans Goepfert, Hans-Martin Grieper, Maya Grieper, Richard Gugelmann, Andrée Kamarys, Peter Hawker*, Vreni Hawker, Sue Higson, Kathy Hoag, Beat Hodler, Chloë Hodler, Jacqueline Holloway, Henry Hope, John Hutchison, Vinitha Jacob, Judith Josi, Cecily Klingler, Rolf Klingler, Wendy Martinek-Inward, Peter Masciadri, Mary Mead, Mary Lou Melville, Brian Morgan, Lynn Morgan, Liz Perrett, Pieter Perrett, Hans-Karl Pfyffer, Elisabeth Pfyffer, Anne Provini, Libby Stewardson, Stephen Stuckes* (chairperson), Annemarie Walthert, Joan Wehrli, Isabelle Wienand, Mark Wienand, Darcy Wildhaber*, Edi Wildhaber, Matthew Wildhaber, Maxine Wildhaber, Ruby Wildhaber, Shelley Wildhaber*, Barbara Winfield, Adrian Wymann and Deborah Wymann.
    This is 50 electoral roll members, two clergy and two guests.

    Apologies were received from:
    Sara Hutchison, Archana Jacob, Hans Kamarys, Sonia Klein, Jana Kutesko, Tony Read, Marianne Simon and David Winfield.

  2. Reception and Approval of the Electoral Roll
    There were seven additions and one deletion making a total of 124 members. The electoral roll, which had been on display for over two weeks, was approved by the meeting.

  3. Approval of the Minutes of the last AGM held on 2 April 2017
    The minutes were approved nem con by the congregation and signed by the chairperson.

  4. Approval of the Audited Accounts for the Year 2017

    a. Treasurer's Report
    The treasurer, Sue Higson, presented the consolidated accounts for the Church and for the Charitable Association, which had been approved by council and displayed for over eight days.

    The treasurer pointed out that the accounts show positive balances and that we have a surplus of 38,898.15CHF; running costs are already down partly due to savings on heating after the renovations. The 80,000CHF target for the special building fund appeal was achieved and the final energy project costs can be met and total approximately 400,000CHF (the final figures are still outstanding). The treasurer thanked Hans Goepfert for heading up the energy project and thanked all those who worked voluntarily on the project resulting in substantial building cost savings.

    b. Auditor's Report
    Angus Carrick reported on behalf of himself and Beat Hodler, the appointed auditors, that both the full accounts and the consolidated account statement provided to the AGM give a true and fair view, in all material respects, of the financial situation ending 31 December 2017 of St Ursula's Church and St Ursula's Charitable Association.

    Approval of the Accounts
    Sue Higson proposed and Lynn Morgan seconded that the 2017 accounts should be approved. The congregation unanimously agreed.

    The treasurer thanked the auditors for their work.

  5. Presentation of the Budget for the Year 2018
    The treasurer presented the budget for 2018.

    She then thanked Angus, who is stepping down as auditor, for his years of help. She also thanked Hector for his backup help as well as Stephen and the council for their support.

  6. Elections

    Two Churchwardens
    NominationProposed bySeconded by
    John HutchisonHans-Karl PfyfferRuth Freiburghaus
    Maxine WildhaberHector DavieHans-Karl Pfyffer

    As there were no other nominations the Chaplain declared John and Maxine duly elected and their election was greeted with applause.

    Six Council Members
    NominationProposed bySeconded by
    Tricia CarrickMaxine WildhaberElisabeth Pfyffer
    Hans GoepfertEdi WildhaberElisabeth Pfyffer
    Susan HigsonTricia CarrickHector Davie
    Henry HopeRuby WildhaberVinitha Jacob
    Cecily KlinglerMaxine WildhaberSusan Higson
    Lynn MorganCecily KlinglerSusan Higson
    Tony ReadHector DavieHans-Karl Pfyffer
    Isabelle WienandMaxine WildhaberElisabeth Pfyffer
    Ruby WildhaberJohn HutchisonVinitha Jacob

    There were nine candidates for six positions. While Peter Hawker, with the assistance of Darcy and Shelley Wildhaber, was counting the votes light refreshments were served in the upper hall.

    Tricia Carrick, Hans Goepfert, Sue Higson, Tony Read, Edi Wildhaber and Ruby Wildhaber were declared duly elected and the congregation applauded.

  7. Appointment of Auditors
    Beat Hodler will continue as auditor but Angus is stepping down. Therefore, Hans-Karl proposed and Art seconded that Diane Lohri, who had agreed to be a candidate, be named as the second auditor. The congregation approved her selection unanimously.

  8. Chaplain's Report
    Stephen expressed thanks to the wardens John and Maxine for their support. He also thanked Sue for her work as treasurer and Jana for her administrative work.

    Stephen spoke about the following subjects:

    He is trying to establish a rhythm of prayer and worship that was already started by Henry Hope. St Ursula's now offers regular morning and evening prayer and a mid-week Eucharist.

    Teaching is important and he mentioned St Ursula's Bible studies and the Lent course, information evenings about doing intercessions or having an altar ministry, the visit to Bose Monastery and Douglas Pratt's talks about religion and extremism.

    He is seeking God's vision in expanding the pastoral ministry and developing a healing ministry. He expressed gratitude to Elisabeth and Hans-Karl for their role in providing music for worship.

    Children and young people are today's church, not just the future church. He would like youth work to be developed and expanded.

    He desires to help us develop and change as a giving church. This may mean not just supporting long distance charity projects but being actively involved in local work in areas of need.

    Something that could be tried is having sub-groups of people with knowledge or expertise in various fields such as buildings, youth, music, etc. They would convene to discuss issues outside of council meetings and then bring their ideas and findings to council for final discussions and decisions.

  9. AOB
    Hans-Karl thanked Stephen for his capable leading of our congregation. He also thanked everyone on the building committee for their hard work in helping to complete the energy project.

  10. Close
    The meeting closed at 13:30 with the grace.

Donna Goepfert (Council Secretary)