WRITTEN NOTICE OF SGM - ANNOUNCED AND PUBLISHED ON SUNDAY 5 JAN 2025
I am giving notice of a Special General Meeting to be held at St Mary’s on Sunday 26 January at 11:30am. The purpose of the SGM is to seek your input on a possibility that came to the attention of Vestry at the end of last year.
At the SGM we’ll put a motion forward for discussion to consider whether as a parish we agree in principle to a detailed investigation of the feasibility of building a new vicarage on our church site.
God has given Bierz and I a vision for this place. A model of Parish life that goes beyond the Sunday service.
The vision is a vicarage on this site, enabling an extension and enlargement of the ministry that is bubbling over at St Mary’s. An open door with a long table, offering hospitality to our church family and everyone in our neighbourhood.
Through that hospitality, we see Spirit led discipleship and Spirit formed community. We see organic and organised gatherings of prayer and fellowship, community and teaching.
As we’ve worked together with Vestry these last few months, it’s become clear that’s a vision we all share and have been thinking about how God might enable us to embrace our parish community even more closely. That was when this option came to our attention.
Vestry has undertaken some preliminary work to establish if it is feasible to build a vicarage on the church property and it appears so, but obviously more investigation is needed and we didn’t want to proceed any further without bringing it to a parish discussion. The SGM will seek endorsement to complete a full due diligence investigation.
MOTION FOR SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING
Mover: Merv Gaskin
Seconder: Simon Ryder Lewis
1. The parish agrees in principle to a detailed investigation of the feasibility of building a new vicarage on the existing church site.
2. Vestry is authorised, at its discretion, to:
a. complete the detailed investigation and to develop such plans as the Vestry considers appropriate;
b. incur professional fees of up to $30,000.00;
c. enter a term loan agreement to borrow funds from a parishioner to immediately meet the costs incurred;
d. sell the existing vicarage at 2 Gloucester Street, Silverstream to repay the parishioner loan with the balance then available being used firstly for provision of a vicarage and, secondly with any remaining funds being used only for parish property maintenance requirements;
e. give notice to the tenant of the existing vicarage of termination of the tenancy.
Vestry and I ask you to spend some time in thought and prayer between now and the SGM - 26 January, 11.30am, in advance of our discussion together.
We’re asking God to more clearly show all of us what’s in his heart for the community we serve and how we can best manage the resources we have together to serve his vision.
We look forward to the discussion with you at the SGM on 26 January. Can I encourage you to be a part of this important decision, and, like the disciples in the early church, we trust that God will make his will known to us through our dialogue together.
Kath
I am giving notice of a Special General Meeting to be held at St Mary’s on Sunday 26 January at 11:30am. The purpose of the SGM is to seek your input on a possibility that came to the attention of Vestry at the end of last year.
At the SGM we’ll put a motion forward for discussion to consider whether as a parish we agree in principle to a detailed investigation of the feasibility of building a new vicarage on our church site.
God has given Bierz and I a vision for this place. A model of Parish life that goes beyond the Sunday service.
The vision is a vicarage on this site, enabling an extension and enlargement of the ministry that is bubbling over at St Mary’s. An open door with a long table, offering hospitality to our church family and everyone in our neighbourhood.
Through that hospitality, we see Spirit led discipleship and Spirit formed community. We see organic and organised gatherings of prayer and fellowship, community and teaching.
As we’ve worked together with Vestry these last few months, it’s become clear that’s a vision we all share and have been thinking about how God might enable us to embrace our parish community even more closely. That was when this option came to our attention.
Vestry has undertaken some preliminary work to establish if it is feasible to build a vicarage on the church property and it appears so, but obviously more investigation is needed and we didn’t want to proceed any further without bringing it to a parish discussion. The SGM will seek endorsement to complete a full due diligence investigation.
MOTION FOR SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING
Mover: Merv Gaskin
Seconder: Simon Ryder Lewis
1. The parish agrees in principle to a detailed investigation of the feasibility of building a new vicarage on the existing church site.
2. Vestry is authorised, at its discretion, to:
a. complete the detailed investigation and to develop such plans as the Vestry considers appropriate;
b. incur professional fees of up to $30,000.00;
c. enter a term loan agreement to borrow funds from a parishioner to immediately meet the costs incurred;
d. sell the existing vicarage at 2 Gloucester Street, Silverstream to repay the parishioner loan with the balance then available being used firstly for provision of a vicarage and, secondly with any remaining funds being used only for parish property maintenance requirements;
e. give notice to the tenant of the existing vicarage of termination of the tenancy.
Vestry and I ask you to spend some time in thought and prayer between now and the SGM - 26 January, 11.30am, in advance of our discussion together.
We’re asking God to more clearly show all of us what’s in his heart for the community we serve and how we can best manage the resources we have together to serve his vision.
We look forward to the discussion with you at the SGM on 26 January. Can I encourage you to be a part of this important decision, and, like the disciples in the early church, we trust that God will make his will known to us through our dialogue together.
Kath