Hi there, I'm new to the treasurer role at my church and would like a quick confirmation on ministry shares. In my reading on the CRCNA website and resources passed on to me, I have a fairly comprehensive understanding of how it all works. What I'm curious about is how the exact calculation on membership takes place. For the 2012 year, I know its based on the total membership in the 2012 yearbook, but am I to reduce the calculation by 'inactive members'? On what membership figures is the denomination and classis expecting?

At our church, we have a lot of volunteers who serve in mulitple ministries. For example, one person might be on the Nursery list, they might be on the list to serve at after-church coffee time, and might also teach in one of the children's programs that meets during worship. Each of these ministries asks people to serve every 8-12 weeks, so we inevitably encounter schedule conflicts. Recently, someone suggested that we try to centralize and streamline our schedules to avoid scheduling conflicts. This sounds like a great idea! But also something that would take some time - and is just...

Do you have any resources on mentoring, specifically one on two or three, high schoolers mostly.

Wondering what church do for first time guests to make them feel appreciated? Do you give them gifts? Send them thank you cards for attending?

I was ordained as an elder and served my 3 year term. Now that I am done with that term, am I still considered to be an elder? If I happen to be at a service where there is a call for elders to participate in Communion or laying on of hands for an ordination service, may I participate as en elder?

Hi there, Our Pastor tends to take the Youth Group or other members of the congregation out for meals from time to time for various reasons and then submits his receipts for reimbursement. Should his portion of the meal be considered a taxable benefit? I have wondered a few times about this as although he is technically working, he is receiving a free meal which makes me think this is likely a taxable benefit under Canadian Tax Law. I was going to call CRA and still might but I wondered first if anyone has already looked into this as all too often you can call 3 times and get 3 different...

New to this list--pardon if the topic has been addressed before. Our church has an offer from a cell phone company to lease a part of our building for placement of a booster antenna. Assuming that all our questions and concerns are answered to council's satisfaction, must the measure still come before a congregational meeting for approval? This is not a revenue expenditure (happily, the opposite!) but it does entail leasing church property so might qualify as a 'money matter.' Thanks for any advice you can give.

Is there information on line which would be helpful when thinking about a ministry to inactives?

Hi everyone, hoping some of you have experience in dealing with the many resources available regarding gift based ministry. I have been looking over some resources, and since there are so many of them available, I thought I would see if any of you could share with me what you used and what went well etc. I really like the sound of "The,Network: The Right People, The Right Place,The Right Time, For The Right Reason"......have any of you gone through that book/dvd? Thanks, Mark

So, we are way behind the eight ball in giving our small groups ministry some overdue attention. While we have had a pretty vibrant number of small groups meeting together for years to study a wide range of topics, it has been sort of running without any coordinated effort or inter-action across groups. This has worked well since each group enjoyed their little circles and overall were quite good at inviting any newcomers that might be interested. But lately after some unexpected losses from illness and moving, there are groups that are struggling to feel connected. We can't count on it that...