First United Methodist Church of Germantown
SERVING GERMANTOWN SINCE 1796
Reports for the
Annual Church Meeting
Administrative Reports
Discusses responsibilities of the Staff Pastor/Parish Relations committee, and upcoming leadership transitions.
"Our stewardship campaign went for a different angle this year. Our brainstorming group came up with "Searching, Praying, Loving” as our theme. We sent 3” x 5” bumper stickers out in the mailing along with pledge cards and self-addressed envelopes. The initial mailing was 158. Barbara Mitchell and Ruth Thornton took a number (300?) of a smaller edition of the sticker to a Saturday fair in Vernon Park and gave them all away. I have seen several cars in our parking lot with the sticker on the back window. The number of pledgers continues to decline due to death and some people simply choosing not to respond. We did send out a follow-up mailing to people who we believed had a good probability of pledging. The Financial Secretary contains pledge totals and numbers of pledges." Submitted by Janet Tebbel, Stewardship Chair
"Because of COVID, some of the jobs have been way behind. We are now caught up on the filing of all the bulletins for the past 2 years. Changes in members information is up to date. Michael Yancey always has the latest address, etc. information, as long as the office receives it. Delores Broberg and Priscilla Shaffer have begun a project of up -to -dating our directory. This brought about a discussion of an on-line program we could purchase which was presented to Administrative Council and has been approved. With the participation of Bruce McNeel, Delores, Priscilla, Michael Yancey, and me we will be proceeding with this change. Church members will hear more about what will be needed as we progress in the new program." Submitted by Jean Walker, Secretary
"Archives has not been so affected by Covid and having an absence from the building. Material to be saved has continued when possible. There continues, occasionally, to be requests from families for family baptism, marriage and death dates." Submitted by Jean Walker, Chair
Report on Programs Mission & Outreach
"Due to the Covid lockdown, the Committee was less active during 2021. Our support for Fonkoze has continued through Jim Wilson's $100 @ month which we forward to Fonkoze. The Julia Morgan Fund of FUMCOG granted Fondwa $9,000. Fr. Joseph Philippe came and preached at FUMCOG on February 27th and also led that morning's Adult Academy. A special offering was taken for Fondwa; a total of $3,110.65 has been contributed. The committee renamed the Haiti Account: The Fred and Karen Clark Fund for Haiti. Members of the committee gave Fr. Joseph funds to set up a social loan fund. Ray Torres and former member Frank Chism, were asked by Fr. Joseph to serve on The Fr. Joseph Network. There is still about $1,000 in the Haiti trip fund. If you have an interest in being involved in the Haiti Committee, please contact Rodney or Ray." Submitted by Rodney Chonka and Ray Torres, co-chairs of Haiti Committee
"Flowers on the altar are donated by individuals in the congregation to highlight significant events in their lives, such as remembering a loved one, congratulating someone on an accomplishment, or recognizing the faithful service of another congregant in a particular ministry. A local florist supplies two bouquets a week for the period of in-person worship from Homecoming in September to the church picnic in June of the following year. This year eighteen donors placed flowers for a total of thirty Sundays, as some donors contribute more than one Sunday a year. In-person worship was not conducted every Sunday in 2022-23, so participation was lowered from previous years." Submitted by Bonni Zetick