Octagon Benefice Council Meeting, 17th January 2012
Finance
Accounts, inspected and approved by Mark Dunn, were presented. All five PCCs have made their contributions in full to the Diocese and to the Octagon Central Fund according to the agreed formula for 2011. Assets for 2011 are £31,250, of which some £13,665 has been designated in some way. These include:
a) £10,000 towards School Hall building costs as an advance purchase for use of the hall for Parish activities.
b) £909 for future Youth Group activities.
c) £250 towards the purchase of an Octagon Digital Projector.
d) £566 held towards Jubilee Celebration expenses.
£1,940 was committed as a contribution towards the increased cost of insurance for the Churches of Stoughton, Compton and Up Marden, thereby maintaining our contributions to the Diocese at 100% of what is asked of us.
Becoming one Parish and Mission Action Plan
The draft Pastoral Scheme for the Church Commissioners to unify our Parishes has been received. The Vicar explained that if our parishes are only able to identify one Churchwarden in April 2012, this could helpfully be viewed as a “stepping stone” towards becoming one Parish when we will have one Churchwarden for each Parish Church and one other Representative of each Parish Church on the (single) PCC.
The Bishop requires each Parish to have a Mission Action Plan. This has not been a priority whilst preparing to become one Parish, but it will be discussed fully at the next Benefice Council meeting. It was suggested it would be good to have an outward looking component of the plan, helping people overseas, or perhaps outside the Parish but closer to home, with parishioners volunteering time, not necessarily money, to Projects in local areas of deprivation, especially during the current economic climate. The Benefice Council agreed unanimously that continuing work with young people needs to be supported.
New Octagon policy for the Commissioning and Remuneration of Organists
The Parish Priest is responsible for appointing organists for each regular service. In practice this is delegated to the Churchwardens who in turn may nominate someone to undertake this task but the Churchwarden remains the responsible person. A Register of Organists will be maintained. Where a church has a regular organist, he/she should normally be the first port of call for all services including weddings, unless the Parish Priest decides otherwise.
All organists recorded in the register of organists are approved by the Parish Priest to play at any of the organs in the Octagon churches, unless specified otherwise in the register. We have a wide array of organs in the Octagon and not all organists will feel comfortable playing all of them. The final decision as to whether an organist plays in a particular church is a matter for the Parish Priest and each organist who is invited to play.
The Churchwardens will ensure that the organist for a service is notified of the hymns. Details of hymns will be posted on the web site. If they feel it appropriate the Churchwarden or organist are welcome to propose a different hymn to the Priest or other Minister taking the service.
There will be a single level of remuneration for each service for all organists. For 2012 this is set at £25. All organists will be offered this fee; the decision to accept or decline is theirs to make.
Churchwardens in each church are responsible for ensuring that the organ is maintained to an acceptable level. A register of maintenance of the organ will be maintained.