August Guillaume

We use gmail to send messages.  Having about 125 addresses, we first had problems with hotmail accounts, then all of a sudden gmail sent the messages back generally because we tried and send too many emails at once.  Now we use the google distribution service which after some tweaking works pretty well.  Members first have to accept the invitation to join the distribution list, then a message is moderated, that is checked for appropriateness before approving it to be sent.  Where members have trouble joining, you can force the approval.  A google email address is only needed for the manager who maintains and operates the system. A nice feature is that the person who originates the email is the one who receives the replies, not the manager who approves the message.

We find that asking members to do various things to be sure emails are accepted does not work very well.  Social media is being used almost more than email and so things need to be as simple as possible. We have a policy that emails for activities and matters pertaining to members are accepted, but matters from third parties are denied. We have Sunday bulletins for such information. I guess each church would decide what type of messages to accept or not.

Hi Rob:

There are various ways to be ordained in the CRC. See https://www.crcna.org/candidacy/journey-toward-ordination

It does take some time since the church and local Classis will be involved.  Even if a minister takes courses at Calvin Seminary, the local Classis gets involved before the person is officially ordained.  Hopefully  that is one way to avoid really bad ministers to get ordained, although there is no guarantee.  However it does take some time so the process should start about 6 months or more before the lead pastor goes on vacation!

August Guillaume

I have found that 40 yr old and younger really don't seem to care much about 'membership' as such. They can be very active or in-active as the case may be, but the reponsibility of actually letting the church know about transferring membership is about the last thing they think about. The bigger the church gets the tougher it is to keep track of 'memberships'. Smaller churches hvae it a bit easier because most people know everyone.  Especially when folk leave for study and come back in the summer and Christmas, then get a temporary job somewhere, the tracking gets tricky.

August Guillaume

"membership papers' are actually only a communication between churches, not between a church and its members.

It is likely not appropriate to send such a "communication" to a member who can then show the paper to a new church.

I sometimes write a church whether they would like to have a membership record if we know a member goes to that church.

It is then up to that church whether they need such a paper from us.

For people who leave our church and actually tells us about it(!) it is easy to mark up our records (after the council contacts them about to be sure the person is welcome to come back).

In Canada marriages are the responsibility between the couple and the minister only. If the couple likes to use the church, the church could say that they would not rent the church to a same sex couple.  If the couple are members of a CRC church, the elders may like to meet the couple if they want to be married. We should be very careful if the couple loves the Lord. If the minister does not want to marry them, the couple could go elsewhere to get married. 

To answer your question:  Since the church is not responsible for who gets married, it can not put it in their constitution.

August Guillaume

I think that Mavis' process is about as good as it can get.  Our worship / liturgy team also manages special days and seasons each year which should  be provided before the church season starts. 

Our web site shows the organizations we support with offerings as well as a list of organizations which asks for offerings where there is no room. Hopefully the deacons then have a complete list when they look at the next year's offerings. 

When an organization provides worship / liturgy helps for a special day we can see whether there is a match or not.

Organizations should  check the Calendar as Mavis indicated before they send a request for a special day so that there is no obvious duplication.

Organizations should realize that each congregation has its own special days so that the church can not always provide support for each organization's request.

We have been putting the bulletin out via e-mail during the CV crisis. Our bulletin Editor is planning to go to Europe for her sabbatical and no one has offered to take her place yet.  Although there are many ways to get 'news' via the computer, it would take effort to prepare something and send it out via e-mail.

This requires churches to be part of one community and working with churches in that one community.  I am part of a congregation with members all over a large city. Each member would be close to other churches in their own smaller community. An article showing how churches can work together in such a situation would be helpful.

Thanks Amenda:

In our small church we have a few survivors of abuse who fled to us.  Thanks for letting God lead you in your new position.

August Guillaume

My dad was a minister and my mom helped him a whole lot; not always positive vibes but little suggestions which made him a better leader and preacher.

August Guillaume

Hello

Hi from Edmonton.

(as if the people requested do not know where they send messages to)